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D2 player files suit alleging wrongful sexual assault suspension
A former football player at Colorado State-Pueblo has filed a federal lawsuit against the school and the U.S. government's guidelines for campus sexual assault investigations for what he says is a wrongful suspension regarding a sexual assault investigation.
Grant Neal was suspended from the school after an investigation into sexual relations with a woman described as his girlfriend. The woman, a trainer on the football team, became friends with Neal and the relationship progressed from there after the two went to a movie together.
Two nights later, the two were together at the woman's apartment. From CBS 4 in Denver:
On Oct. 25 the female student invited Neal to her apartment saying she was alone. After a short amount of time the two students ended up in her bedroom, undressed. The two were making sexual contact when Neal said “She was very adamant in pulling me close and wanting me to have intercourse with her. At the beginning, when I was lying on top I didn’t have a condom.” Neal said the woman said she was not on birth control.
“I immediately got off her and asked if I should put a condom on and she said yes and then we engaged in sexual intercourse. She never said no and never told me to stop.”
The woman's friend then reportedly told university officials about an alleged rape the next day after seeing a hickey on the woman's neck and finding out she and Neal had sex. The school started a Title IX investigation the next day, and this is what the woman said to investigators.
According to CSU-Pueblo’s internal investigation, obtained by CBS4, the woman told an investigator, “Grant was lying on top of me and I told him that I did not want to have sexual intercourse with him that is unprotected because I am not on any birth control. Although I told Grant no, Grant ended up penetrating me … and I told him to stop. He stopped and pulled out from me immediately. Grant then said to me that if he used a condom, would I be okay with that. I told Grant yes to the condom. Grant placed on the condom and we began to have protected sex at this point which I was okay with it.”
One of the reasons Neal is filing the suit is because he has audio of a conversation with the woman where she said “I hope you know I don’t think you did any of that, right? I may be acting like the typical girl who just got raped, but I hope you know I don’t think I did." She also claims she told a university investigator that Neal was a "good guy" and "not a rapist" or a "criminal" and "it's not even worth any of this hoopla."
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Neal's roommate also told CBS 4 that he saw the couple having sex at Neal's apartment on Oct. 27, the night the investigation began.
Per Newsweek, the lawsuit is believed to be the first of its kind according to legal experts because of its inclusion of the government. The suit, alleging gender bias, names the U.S. Department of Education and the department's Office for Civil Rights as defendants.
“We believe the ‘Dear Colleague’ letter issued by the U.S. Department of Education is illegal and unconstitutional,” Andrew Miltenberg, who represents Neal and has become a go-to lawyer for male respondents in sexual assault cases, tells Newsweek via email. “By essentially encouraging male gender bias, the Administration’s directive has violated Title IX and created a new class of victims on campus—accused male students who have had their right to due process stripped away.”
As part of the terms of his suspension, Neal is banned from campus until the woman graduates. A statement from CSU-Pueblo to CBS 4 said Neal was afforded due process in the investigation and the unversity could not comment because of privacy laws.
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Nick Bromberg is the assistant editor of Dr. Saturday on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at nickbromberg@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!