PRESS RELEASE
Contact: Rebecca Stewart
Telephone: 513-479-3335
Email: info@saveservices.org
OSU Leads as the Worst Offender in the Ohio Kangaroo Court ‘Hall of Shame’
WASHINGTON / December 17, 2021 – Eight Ohio schools have been on the losing side of a growing number of judicial decisions for campus sexual harassment cases. Typically handled by school Title IX offices, the cases involved a broad range of due process failings, including a presumption of guilt, lack of timely notification of allegations, guilt-presuming investigations, overly biased hearings, and sex discrimination.
The school with the largest number of adverse rulings is Ohio State University, with four decisions against the institution to date. Highlighting the problem of sex bias against male students, one judge stated alarmingly:
“OSU has affirmatively stated that it promises to continue to aggressively discipline male students accused of sexual misconduct with no reassurance of ensuring fairness and due process in the disciplinary process.” (Doe v. The Ohio State University 239 F. Supp. 3d 1048, 1072 (S.D. Ohio Mar. 10, 2017)
Ohio State University is not the only college or university ignoring guarantees of campus fairness. Judges have ruled the following seven other Ohio institutions violated due process, fundamental fairness, Title IX, and/or contractual obligations:
- University of Cincinnati – 2 judicial decisions
- Miami University – 2 decisions
- Case Western Reserve University – 1 decision
- Muskingum University – 1 decision
- Oberlin College – 1 decision
- Xavier University – 1 decision
- Youngstown State University – 1 decision
In total, judges have issued 13 rulings against 8 Ohio colleges and universities. Three of those decisions — Doe v. Oberlin College, Doe v. Miami University, and Doe v. University of Cincinnati — made their way to the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals, resulting in decisions that determined campus policies in the other states within the Sixth Circuit. The case citations are listed at the bottom of this release.
The campus adjudications that have been challenged in court represent a small subset of the total number of Title IX cases, suggesting that due process protections are widely ignored by Ohio institutions.
More information about these and other judicial decisions is available in SAVE’s Analysis of Judicial Decisions Affirming the 2020 Title IX Regulations: https://www.saveservices.org/title-ix-regulation/analysis-of-judicial-decisions/
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Case Citations
| Name of College | Number of Decisions | Case Citation (in reverse chronological order) |
| Ohio State University | 4 | Doe v. Ohio State University, 311 F. Supp. 3d 881 (S.D. Ohio Apr. 24, 2018)
Roe v. Adams-Gaston, No. 2:17-CV-945, 2018 WL 5306768 (S.D. Ohio Apr. 17, 2018) Doe v. Ohio State University, 239 F. Supp. 3d 1048 (S.D. Ohio Mar. 10, 2017) Doe v. Ohio State University, No. 2:15-CV-2830, 2016 WL 1578750 (S.D. Ohio Apr. 20, 2016) |
| University of Cincinnati | 2 | Gischel v. University of Cincinnati, S.D. Ohio No. 1:17-CV-475, 2018 WL 9944998, (S.D. Ohio Jan. 23, 2018)
Doe v. University of Cincinnati, 872 F.3d 393 (6th Cir. Sep. 25, 2017) |
| Miami University | 2 | Doe v. Miami University, 882 F.3d 579 (6th Cir. Feb. 9, 2018)
Nokes v. Miami University, No. 1:17-CV-482, 2017 WL 3674910 (S.D. Ohio Aug. 25, 2017) |
| Case Western Reserve University | 1 | Doe v. Case Western Reserve University, No. 1:17 CV 414, 2017 WL 3840418 (N.D. Ohio Sept. 1, 2017) |
| Muskingum University | 1 | Schaumleffel v. Muskingum University, no. 2:17-cv-000463-SDM-KAJ (S.D. Ohio Mar. 6, 2018) |
| Oberlin College | 1 | Doe v. Oberlin College, 963 F.3d 580 (6th Cir. June 29, 2020) |
| Xavier University | 1 | Wells v. Xavier University, 7 F. Supp. 3d 746 (S.D. Ohio Mar. 12, 2014) |
| Youngstown State University | 1 | Richmond v. Youngstown State University, No. 4:17CV1927, 2017 WL 6502833 (N.D. Ohio Sep. 14, 2017) |