Hadn’t seen this posted anywhere yet...CR Gazette Story:
A U.S. District Court judge has dismissed a lawsuit accusing Iowa State University of Title IX violations — which the U.S. Office of Civil Rights also is investigating — after finding the university “was not deliberately indifferent” to the woman’s plight.
“While there may have been other ways for ISU to have handled this unfortunate sequence of events, such possible options do not render ISU’s actions deliberately indifferent,” Chief U.S. Magistrate Judge Helen Adams wrote in her Tuesday decision to grant Iowa State’s request for summary judgment, dismissing the suit.
The dismissal does not necessarily affect the U.S. Office of Civil Rights’ investigation associated with the same case. That office has three open investigations at both Iowa State and University of Iowa, including ones related to sexual violence and the schools’ grievance procedures.
In a statement about this week’s order, Iowa State administrators said, “While we are pleased with the Court’s ruling, our thoughts are primarily with Ms. Maher and other survivors of sexual assault.”
Maher, a former ISU student who now lives in Texas, reported her assault to ISU police, who dispatched an officer to meet with her within 15 to 20 minutes, according to the lawsuit. The officer took Maher to the hospital for a rape exam and enlisted an advocate, who told Maher a criminal investigation and prosecution would be “hard.”
A U.S. District Court judge has dismissed a lawsuit accusing Iowa State University of Title IX violations — which the U.S. Office of Civil Rights also is investigating — after finding the university “was not deliberately indifferent” to the woman’s plight.
“While there may have been other ways for ISU to have handled this unfortunate sequence of events, such possible options do not render ISU’s actions deliberately indifferent,” Chief U.S. Magistrate Judge Helen Adams wrote in her Tuesday decision to grant Iowa State’s request for summary judgment, dismissing the suit.
The dismissal does not necessarily affect the U.S. Office of Civil Rights’ investigation associated with the same case. That office has three open investigations at both Iowa State and University of Iowa, including ones related to sexual violence and the schools’ grievance procedures.
In a statement about this week’s order, Iowa State administrators said, “While we are pleased with the Court’s ruling, our thoughts are primarily with Ms. Maher and other survivors of sexual assault.”
Maher, a former ISU student who now lives in Texas, reported her assault to ISU police, who dispatched an officer to meet with her within 15 to 20 minutes, according to the lawsuit. The officer took Maher to the hospital for a rape exam and enlisted an advocate, who told Maher a criminal investigation and prosecution would be “hard.”
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