Lawsuit: Indiana Wesleyan Expelled Student over Sexual Misconduct Charge Without Due Process

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A student at Indiana Wesleyan University recently filed a lawsuit against former his university after he was expelled over a three-week investigation into a sexual misconduct allegation made against him by a peer. After falsely being accused of transmitting HIV to the alleged victim, the immunocompromised student was required to travel to a hospital during the height of the Chinese virus pandemic to take an HIV test, which was negative.

According to a report by Reason Magazine, a student at Indiana Wesleyan University that was allegedly deprived of due process has filed a lawsuit over the university’s decision to expel him just three weeks after he was accused of sexual misconduct by a fellow student. The student’s attorney claims that the short investigation into the student’s alleged misconduct violated the basic principles of fairness that are outlined in Title IX regulations.

The student had been engaging in a sexual relationship with his accuser for several weeks before she accused him of misconduct. According to the report, the accusation was not limited to sexual misconduct. The woman accused him of giving her HIV. As a result of this allegation, he was forced to travel to a hospital during the Chinese virus pandemic to be tested for HIV. John tested negative.

That’s because Amy didn’t just accuse John of sexual misconduct. She also allegedly told one of her professors that he had given her HIV, according to documents obtained by Reason and cited in the lawsuit. What’s more, IWU never told John about this: The information didn’t come to his attention until months later, after his attorneys uncovered it. The discovery necessitated that John—an immunocompromised person—take a trip to a medical facility to be tested for HIV in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. His test came back negative.

“We did not have to bring a claim against [Amy], but once we dug into the documents and saw what was there, it was shocking,” Kristina Supler, an attorney for John, tells Reason. “We knew IWU’s process was markedly unfair, but what has already been learned through expedited discovery, it’s far worse than we could have imagined.”

The lawsuit raises a number of concerns about Amy’s credibility. For example, Amy stayed in John’s room following the sexual activity. Moreover, Amy continued to communicate cordially with John throughout the next day over text without mentioning the incident.

Breitbart News reported in April that a student at Transylvania University in Lexington, Kentucky, was put into solitary confinement after he was accused of “unwanted kissing.”

Correction — This article as originally published inaccurately stated that Ohio Wesleyan University is the target of the student’s lawsuit and has been corrected to state that Indiana Wesleyan University is the school in question.

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