There is a situation out of Haverford College involving a “John Doe” that I think will generate some interesting discussion…
Huge caveat up front: We only have one side of the story. There are lots of reasons why a victim may choose not to cooperate with an investigation, that does not mean it did not happen.
I have posted the initial complaint in this lawsuit. The response from the school was filed under seal, but the response from John Doe was not, so I posted that as well, and I posted the opinion from the judge who denied his request to force the school to put him back on the team.
The short version of this story is that John Doe was a college junior chosen by the coaches to be a captain of the Haverford track team. Allegedly a rumor was started that he had sexually assaulted a female student in the school, and the other co-captains on the team wanted him removed from the team.
The coach asked him to step off the team while the matter was investigated, which he voluntarily did. No complaints were made to the Title IX office or anyone else. The Title IX office reached out to the alleged victim and she declined to cooperate.
Having no case, the matter was closed and the Title IX office confirmed he was in good standing with the school. But the coach refused to reinstate him. The bottom line seems to be that the coach and other athletes did not like him. Doe alleges that they do not like him because they believe this false rumor, he denies having ever had any sort of physical or sexual contact with the alleged victim.
Doe also alleges that because they would not reinstate him to the team, it makes him look guilty in the eyes of everyone else on campus. This started a year ago, he filed this lawsuit to try to get an injunction to put him back on the team so he could participate in his final season.
One of the overarching questions here is, “should coaches have the right to remove athletes from the team at any time for any reason?”
May 2024 update: “The coach and the college were vindicated, their impeccable reputations intact.” https://casetext.com/case/doe-v-haverford-coll-1
