John Doe Drops Lawsuit Against College

Legal action in the John Doe v. Middlebury College case formally ended on Dec. 21. Doe, the student expelled over a charge of alleged sexual assault, dropped his lawsuit against the College after the two parties reached a settlement.

“The lawsuit has been resolved by the parties and they have agreed that the Plaintiff will complete his education elsewhere,” Vice President for Communications and Marketing Bill Burger said this week.

The case against Doe involved an alleged sexual assault that took place while he was studying abroad during the fall 2014 semester at a program run by the School for International Training (SIT). SIT investigated the complaint by a non-Middlebury student and found Doe not responsible in December of that year.

In early January 2015, the alleged victim, anonymously identified as Jane Doe,contacted Associate Dean for Judicial Affairs and Student Life Karen Guttentag, which ultimately led Middlebury to begin its own investigation. The College said last September that it had concerns about the SIT investigation and adjudication.

“Under its policies, a Middlebury student’s off-campus conduct may be subject to Middlebury’s disciplinary processes when, among other things, such conduct may represent a threat to the safety of the Middlebury community or any of its members,” the College said in a statement at the time. “Middlebury initiated an investigation and adjudication of the student’s conduct on that basis and we believe we properly applied our policies in this case.”

The College, after conducting its internal investigation through Ellen Coogan, an independent contractor who has investigated sexual misconduct cases on behalf of the College, ultimately found Doe responsible for the assault and, in late August, expelled him. Coogan concluded that John Doe’s conduct towards Jane Doe constituted sexual misconduct based off a preponderance of evidence, a decision that was reached by an evaluation of all evidence and her own assessments of credibility in which she was “struck by the consistency of Jane Doe’s account.”

Doe then filed suit against the College in federal court, claiming his expulsion was “unjust and unlawful,” noting that the SIT investigation did not find him responsible for the charge. According to Doe’s complaint, the College relied “on SIT’s determination to permit [Doe] to return to Middlebury for the spring semester” and did not conduct its own investigation until the alleged victim of the assault had contacted the College. Doe’s counsel consisted of Lisa B. Shelkrot of Langrock, Sperry & Wool LLP in Burlington, VT, and Monica R. Shah and Naomi R. Shatz of Salkind Duncan & Bernstein LLP in Boston, Mass.

On Sept. 16, the same day classes began for the fall semester, U.S. District Court Judge J. Garvan Murtha issued a preliminary injunction ordering the College to re-enroll Doe while the legal proceedings continued, ruling that Doe would suffer irreparable harm if he were to win the lawsuit but be prevented from accepting a job offer because he had not been allowed to complete his courses and graduate. Murtha’s decision sparked public demonstrations on campus by students dissatisfied with the ruling and led students to create a go/doe link and a social media campaign with the tagline, “Doe must go.”

The College later filed an appeal to reverse Murtha’s order.

The College declined to comment on details of the settlement of the lawsuit, including whether he ultimately will receive a Middlebury College diploma or a degree from another institution once he receives the credits needed to graduate.

“It is difficult to say what I feel about the Doe settlement because the exact terms of his settlement with the College remain unknown,” said Maddie Orcutt ’16. “I hope that the survivor in this case, Jane, knows that there are students at Middlebury who were deeply unsettled by John’s actions to file civilly. I hope that Jane knows that even if she didn’t have a voice in [the case], there are students on this campus who believe her and stand with her.”

“My hope is that the recent developments in the John Doe case allow those who felt unsafe this past semester to feel more comfortable on Middlebury’s campus,” said Kyra Gray ’17, who acts as co-director for sexual and relationship respect on the Student Government Association (SGA) Cabinet.

According to administrators, the case has prompted the College to review the wording of its sexual assault policies governing Middlebury students studying abroad.

“It’s not uncommon for us to make revisions to our policies and we’ve done so every year in the last few years,” Burger said. “Policies and regulations governing how institutions of higher education should handle allegations of sexual assault change often, as do practices by other colleges and universities that are determined to do the best job they can investigating and adjudicating these cases. We always try to learn and adjust our practices based on our experiences.”

John Doe did not respond to our request for comment. Doe’s counsel, Lisa B. Shelkrot, declined to comment on the specifics of the settlement.