Two Title IX complaints were filed against Syracuse University during the fall 2019 semester, according to records obtained by The Daily Orange under the Freedom of Information Act. 

One of the complaints has led to an ongoing U.S. Department of Education investigation into alleged sex discrimination. 

But the other complaint was quickly dismissed last November by the federal agency’s Office for Civil Rights, records show.

That now-closed complaint was seemingly made by an expelled SU student who previously filed a separate Title IX complaint against the university in 2016.

In the 2016 complaint, a former woman student accused SU of failing to respond “promptly and equitably” to a report of sexual assault. OCR started to investigate her allegations that year, but later closed its case in 2018 after she took the matter to federal court and filed a lawsuit against SU using the pseudonym “Jane Doe.”

A Title IX complaint that was sent to OCR on Oct. 9 and later dismissed Nov. 22 closely mirrors Doe’s lawsuit. The October complaint alleged that SU retaliated against a former student for filing a complaint with the office in 2016 and did not properly investigate reports of student plagiarism.

Office for Civil Rights Cas… by The Daily Orange on Scribd

OCR closed the new complaint after concluding that most of the alleged conduct would have occurred too long ago to open an inquiry. OCR generally requires that complaints be filed within 180 days of alleged discrimination. One of the former student’s claims also lacked sufficient detail, according to the office.

“Your complaint is inappropriate for investigation,” an OCR official wrote to the former student, whose name was redacted in records released to The D.O.

Doe’s court case is still pending, but the proceedings have ground to a halt as her lawyer, Joon Park, tries to drop out of the legal action over a payment dispute with Doe. Park did not respond to requests for comment.

The university placed Doe on disciplinary probation in 2015 for falsely accusing other students of stealing her design ideas, according to court documents SU filed. Later that year, she was expelled after the University Conduct Board found she had harassed her ex-boyfriend and “intentionally altered” information in a separate case.

Doe in the lawsuit claimed that, during the latter conduct case, SU ignored a complaint of sexual assault she had lodged against her ex-boyfriend. She also said the university was unfair to her when she raised plagiarism concerns.

An SU spokesperson declined to comment on the latest Title IX complaint, citing pending litigation. 

Published on April 17, 2020 at 5:11 pm

Contact Sam: sfogozal@syr.edu | @SamOgozalek