Yale student who reported rape can be sued for defamation due to school’s procedures - Printable Version
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Yale student who reported rape can be sued for defamation due to school’s procedures - Levin - 24-06-2023
By DAVE COLLINS
yesterday
HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) — In a decision scrutinizing how colleges investigate sexual assault allegations, Connecticut’s highest court ruled Friday that a former Yale student is not immune from a defamation lawsuit by a fellow student who was exonerated in criminal court after she accused him of rape.
The Connecticut court ruled 7-0 that because he had fewer rights to defend himself in university proceedings than he would in criminal court, the rape accuser can’t benefit fully from immunity granted to witnesses in criminal proceedings.
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It’s one of the few state court rulings on the topic in any U.S. court and could be cited widely in future cases, legal experts said. It ruled that Jane Doe, the pseudonym she used in court proceedings, was not immune from liability for statements she made to Yale investigators accusing fellow student Saifullah Khan of raping her in her dorm room in October 2015.
The decision could add to the already vexing problem of sexual assaults going unreported, violence prevention groups said in a brief to the state Supreme Court.
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Khan is suing Doe and Yale over the rape allegations and his November 2018 expulsion from the school, saying the sex was consensual. Khan was criminally charged, but a jury acquitted him earlier in 2018.
Justices said Doe was not immune because Yale’s sexual assault disciplinary proceedings are not “quasi-judicial,” meaning they don’t have standards analogous to traditional courts. As in many U.S. universities, Yale’s procedures do not subject accusers to cross-examination and do not require witnesses to testify under oath.
If proceedings were quasi-judicial, then accusers would have the right to “absolute immunity” from their statements to school investigators, the Justices ruled.
“Because the (Yale) proceeding lacked the basic procedural safeguards ... necessary to ensure the reliability of the information presented, we decline to recognize the ... proceeding as quasi-judicial in nature,” the court wrote.
Better to read full report at: https://apnews.com/article/yale-rape-acquittal-colleges-sexual-assault-1d74bbe89517db23c49a4a098186bd89