Penn State Student Sues over Lack of Due Process Rights on Campus

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A Penn State student is suing his university over its failure to provide him due process rights during an investigation into alleged sexual misconduct.

According to a report from The Pennsylvania Record, an unnamed student at Penn State is suing the university after they failed to provide him with legitimate due process rights during their investigation into an alleged sexual misconduct complaint against him.

The report details the student’s complaint against the university, which explains that the university failed to provide him with the most basic due process rights during the investigation.

According to the complaint, the plaintiff alleges he was suspended based upon a Title IX Hearing Panel’s finding that he allegedly violated the University’s Code of Conduct’s sexual misconduct policy. The investigation and hearing process deprived Doe of the most basic due process protections, including the rights to call witnesses on his own behalf; to confront and cross-examine his accuser and adverse witnesses, and to have a fair, unbiased and unconflicted tribunal comprised of individuals.

The plaintiff holds Pennsylvania State University responsible because the student disciplinary proceedings at state-funded universities must be conducted in conformity with the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.

The student is asking the court to prevent Penn State from upholding their decision that he violated the school’s policy against sexual misconduct.

Breitbart News reported last week about a student at the University of Cincinnati who received a $47,000 settlement after the university failed to provide him due process during a similar investigation. In 2016, the judge on the case issued an injunction preventing the university from imposing the suspension on the student until a proper investigation had been conducted.

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