This was just released by Jack Montague's lawyer.
STATEMENT OF MAX STERN, COUNSEL FOR JACK MONTAGUE
Boston, MA – March 14, 2016 –
Jack Montague was expelled
from Yale University on February 10, 2016 after a panel of the Yale
University-Wide Committee found that he had unconsented-to sex 15 months
earlier, in October 2014, with a female student who is currently a junior
at Yale. He was expelled during the second semester of his senior
year.
Last week, the media widely
reported on statements made by Yale students and posters put up on campus
which condemned Jack Montague directly as the named culprit and as a
rapist, thus slandering him with this accusation. He was never
accused of rape and Yale took no steps to correct these actions.
As a result, Mr. Montague has no choice but to correct the record.
The University hired an
independent investigator to investigate this matter and, as reported
by her, the facts
not in dispute and as stated in the female student’s account
are these:
The two students developed
a relationship that led to them sleeping together in Jack’s room on
four occasions in the fall of 2014.
On the first occasion,
the woman joined Jack in bed and stayed the night.
On the second occasion,
she entered his bed voluntarily, removed all of her clothes and, during
the night, woke him to perform oral sex.
On the third occasion,
she joined him in bed, voluntarily took off all her clothing, and they
had sexual intercourse by consent.
On the fourth occasion,
she joined him in bed, voluntarily removed all of her clothes, and they
had sexual intercourse. Then they got up, left the room and went
separate ways. Later that same night, she reached out to him to
meet up, then returned to his room voluntarily, and spent the rest of
the night in his bed with him.
The sole dispute is as
to the sexual intercourse in the fourth episode. She stated that
she did not consent to it. He said that she did.
A year later she reported
the incident to a Title IX coordinator. A Title IX official –
not her – filed a formal complaint with the University-Wide Committee.
Only two persons could
have known what happened on that fourth night. The panel chose
to believe the woman, by a “preponderance of the evidence.”
We believe that it defies logic and common sense that a woman would
seek to re-connect and get back into bed with a man who she says forced
her to have unwanted sex just hours earlier. And yet the Dean
accepted this conclusion and ordered Jack to be expelled. His
decision was then upheld by the Provost.
We strongly believe that
the decision to expel Jack Montague was wrong, unfairly determined,
arbitrary, and excessive by any rational measure. Yale has been
oblivious to the catastrophic and irreparable damage resulting from
these allegations and determinations. The expulsion not only deprives
Jack of the degree which he was only three months short of earning,
but has simultaneously destroyed both his educational and basketball
careers.
We cannot help but think
it not coincidental that the decision by Yale officials to seek expulsion
of the captain of its basketball team followed by little more than a
month the report of the Association of American Universities (AAU) which
was highly critical of the incidence of sexual assault on the Yale campus,
and the Yale President’s promise, in response, to “redouble our
efforts.” From what appears, Jack has been pilloried as a “whipping
boy” for a campus problem that has galvanized national attention.
There is no doubt that
institutions of higher learning must take the problem of sexual abuse
seriously and take effective steps to protect its women students.
But that obligation cannot justify imposing so drastic a punishment
on the basis of such flimsy evidence.
Mr. Montague intends to
sue Yale University to vindicate his rights.
No comments:
Post a Comment