A Morgan County judge is deciding whether to dismiss a lawsuit filed against MacMurray College stemming from the handling of an alleged sexual assault of a student.
The suit, filed in January, alleges a student, after a night of drinking, was raped by a fellow student in 2015.
It claims MacMurray College determined there had been a violation of the college’s sexual conduct policy, but that the finding was then reversed due to the college committing “procedural errors during its investigation.” The suit then says MacMurray refused to further investigate the matter.
The suit claims MacMurray’s response to the alleged incident was “clearly unreasonable” and a violation of federal Title IX statute.
In Morgan County Court on Thursday morning, attorney Amy Jackson argued the complainant in the case failed to set forth sufficient facts in her claim and disputed that there was “severe, pervasive discrimination” by MacMurray.
Attorney Jonathan Nessler, representing the student claiming she was raped, said MacMurray acted “deliberately indifferent” to the alleged assault, and didn’t do anything to address the issue.
Jackson responded that the college did do something and referenced its investigation, but suggested the alleged victim was “unhappy with the result”.
Judge Chris Reif said he would consider the arguments and issue a ruling. A time for the ruling wasn’t specified, but another hearing was scheduled for July 7th.
The student alleged to have committed sexual assault is named as a respondent in discovery in this lawsuit. No criminal charges have been filed against him.