text: Acknowledging that survivors of sexual violence often behave differently than victims of other crimes, researchers at the University of Texas at Austin released an expansive report Monday that the UT System will use to train hundreds of officers who handle campus sexual assaults. 
   
   The Blueprint for Campus Police, drafted by UT Austin’s Institute on Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault, will be incorporated into training for almost 600 officers across all eight of the system’s academic institutions. 
   
   “Police in America, historically, have responded to the investigation of crimes in kind of a generalized fashion, regardless of whether it’s a homicide, robbery, theft,” or assault, according to Mike Heidingsfield, the UT System director of police. Because assault victims have experienced trauma, their cases often call for a more specialized officer response he said. 
   
   The training is especially necessary because of the prevalence of sexual assault, according to Noël Busch-Armendariz, the report’s principal investigator. One study, released in September, found that more than 18 percent of female undergraduates at UT Austin had been sexually assaulted since arriving on campus. 
   
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   The report offers specific guidelines for officers from the moment they first interact with victims. “Let the victim know that they are safe,” the report reads. “Let the victim know they will not be judged,” and “understand that a victim’s alcohol or drug use is an issue of increased ‘vulnerability rather than culpability.’” 
   
   The specificity of the report allows officers to approach abstract concepts, like empathy, in immediate, real-world ways, according to Busch-Armendariz. “We wanted to make the blueprint a product that was meaningful and useful,” she said. 
   
   Some signs that might indicate an individual is lying about being the victim of a crime — if their story changes between retellings, or if they can’t remember key details, for example — must be reinterpreted in the context of assault, she added. 
   
   “Trauma victims often omit, exaggerate, or make up information when trying to make sense of what happened to them or to fill gaps in memory,” the report reads. “This does not mean the sexual assault did not occur.” 
   
   The eight academic institutions in the UT System have unique cultures — and unique prevailing beliefs about assault — but some misunderstandings about rape are widespread nationally, Heidingsfield said. Two years ago, the U.S. Department of Education launched a federal investigation into UT Pan American (which has since been merged into UT Rio Grande Valley) and 54 other colleges over their handling of sexual abuse complaints. 
   
   The report acts as sort of a primer about the reality and impact of sexual assault, addressing a number of “common rape myths” as well as concepts such as victim blaming. 
   
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   “If a girl is raped while drunk, she is at least somewhat responsible for letting things get out of control,” reads the first entry on the myth list. Other items include “if a guy is drunk, he might rape someone unintentionally” and “a lot of times, girls who say they were raped agreed to have sex and then regret it.” 
   
   After adapting their perceptions based on the reality of assault, police officers are encouraged to adopt policies that are “victim-centered, science-based, and trauma-informed,” Heidingsfield said. 
   
   Another dominant theme of the report is victim behavior after an incident of assault. Although officers might expect survivors to be hysterical or crying, they are often “in shock and passive, quiet, and unemotional,” the report reads. 
   
   “The crown jewel to this research effort for us is that we now have the science to understand neurobiology, and victimology, to apply that to how victims present themselves to police officers,” Heidingsfield said. This “allows us to push tradition to the side and now understand why victims say what they do.” 
   
   Although the report outlines best practices for dealing with survivors of sexual assault, researchers did not actually interview survivors in the process of conducting their study. Instead, they relied on 27 interviews with campus presidents and police officers, among others. 
   
   The report’s authors did employ previously collected data from survivors in other institute studies, Busch-Armendariz said. 
   
   “The retelling of incidents wasn’t really necessary for the data they’re collecting, and they had the information they needed,” said Jenny LaCoste-Caputo, a UT System spokeswoman. The researchers did not want to “reopen real emotional wounds,” she added. 
   
   Disclosure: The University of Texas at Austin is a corporate sponsor of The Texas Tribune. A complete list of Tribune donors and sponsors can be viewed here. ||||| Male student files lawsuit seeking court’s help to dismiss pending disciplinary hearing 
   
   The University of Texas at Austin has been sued for allegedly wrongly seeking to expel a male student over accusations that he sexually assaulted a non-UT student in her off-campus apartment. 
   
   No criminal charges were ever filed against the male student over the alleged assault. The alleged victim herself never filed an official complaint with campus or city police officers, according to the lawsuit. 
   
   But the University of Texas at Austin has recommended that the 21-year-old male student, who is one semester away from earning a degree in physics, be expelled for violating the institutional rules of the college, the suit states. 
   
   The attorney for the male student has asked a judge to stop UT-Austin from holding a planned disciplinary hearing at which Title IX investigators for the school have recommended his expulsion. 
   
   Court documents state the male student has not been afforded his Constitutional due process rights and that the allegations in question do not constitute sexual assault, among other protestations lodged by the plaintiff’s attorney. 
   
   Drunken sex? 
   
   On the night of the alleged assault on March 6, 2015, the plaintiff, John Doe, met two girls, Jennifer Smith and non UT-Austin student Jane Roe (names changed to protect privacy) at a house party near campus. 
   
   After several hours of excessive drinking and flirting, the plaintiff went to Roe’s apartment along with Smith. Roe was drunk and largely incoherent, and Smith allegedly told Doe at that point that if he had sex with Roe it would be rape, court documents state, adding Doe asked to crash on the couch and Smith and Roe went to sleep in the bedroom. 
   
   However, not long after, Smith came out from the bedroom and asked Doe to have sex with her, a version of events both agree upon, court documents state. They had sex on the bed as Roe was asleep next to them. 
   
   The following morning was just as eventful. 
   
   According to the lawsuit, “Ms. Roe, who had fallen to the floor during the night, woke up and got back into bed” – the bed where Smith and Doe were asleep. Roe and Doe then began to touch each other in suggestive manners. Smith left the bed during the foreplay to give the two privacy, the lawsuit states. 
   
   “While collecting her things, Ms. Smith heard Ms. Roe talking, saw her responding to the plaintiff’s touching, and believed that Ms. Roe intended to have consensual sex with the plaintiff as she was about to leave,” the suit states. 
   
   “At no time during sex was Ms. Roe unconscious,” it added. “She was an active sexual participant at all times during the intercourse that took place that morning.” 
   
   Later that day, however, Roe texted Smith that she was unconscious during the sex and was upset her friend had left her alone in her apartment with Doe: “I don’t remember throwing up, or coming home, or having this random fucking guy in my bed. … I didn’t want this guy. At all. This guy wanted me and got me when I wasn’t conscious.” 
   
   In reply to Roe’s text, Smith said: “Dude I didn’t realize you were unconscious, you were talking to me…” 
   
   In the weeks after the incident, Doe and Roe texted each other. At first, Roe indicated she was upset with Doe and said she thought the sex was nonconsensual because she was unconscious. However, through chatting on Facebook and texting, Roe became satisfied “that both the plaintiff and Ms. Smith believed Ms. Roe was awake and sober during the sex that took place, despite her own lack of memory,” the suit states. 
   
   “Ms. Roe would acknowledge that she believed the sex between her and the plaintiff ‘sounded passionate’ and she was surprised that she had confided in him that she had appeared in pornographic films,” the suit states. 
   
   In texts, Doe and Roe talked about meeting up, but never did meet face to face again. 
   
   RELATED: Students taught determining factor between sex and sexual assault is consent 
   
   Investigation launched 
   
   About a month later, on April 8, 2015, Roe’s father called the University of Texas Police Department claiming his daughter had been sexually violated by the plaintiff. However, the department contains no record of Roe reporting any assault and no charges were pursued against the plaintiff, the suit states. 
   
   But the father’s call to police was referred to UT Austin’s Dean of Students office, which commenced a Title IX investigation into the events, despite Roe not being an actual student at the University of Texas. 
   
   On May 18, 2015, during the campus investigation, Doe told campus Title IX officials he believed he had consent from Roe because “she was talking dirty, she was enjoying it,” court documents state. 
   
   “We had sex and then she fell asleep and then woke up and had sex again,” Doe had added. “That’s when she told me she had a girlfriend and that she had done a porn movie a few months prior. I feel like as evidence she is telling me all this personal stuff about her, it’s not just me raping this drunk girl.” 
   
   “I don’t remember her puking at all,” Doe also told investigators of Roe. “There was a time when she passed out and I had written her off then. After she passed out, (Ms. Smith) let me chill on the couch so I didn’t have to walk home. Nothing after that would have happened if (Ms. Smith) hadn’t invited me back into the bedroom.” 
   
   But the campus Title IX investigators, also named as defendants in the suit, found that the plaintiff “had sexually assaulted another student …” court documents state. 
   
   RELATED: Student expelled for ‘gray rape’ accusation settles lawsuit against university 
   
   Due process in question 
   
   In November 2015, Doe received word that his expulsion had been recommended for violating the institutional rules of the college, but that he would be granted a hearing to contest the recommendation. 
   
   The lawsuit argues that there was gender bias by investigators against the plaintiff in violation of Title IX, and that the hearing Doe has been afforded has such strict rules on presenting evidence that it hampers his due process rights under state law. For example, he cannot cross examine Roe. He cannot subpoena witnesses. 
   
   “Students have a protected liberty interest in public higher education, and therefore cannot be deprived of that protected liberty interest without due course [due process] of law,” it adds. 
   
   Due course of law in the state is provided by the Texas Constitution. It directly states: “No citizen of this State shall be deprived of life, liberty, property, privileges or immunities, or in any manner disfranchised, except by the due course of law of the land.” 
   
   What’s more, according to the lawsuit, the university’s “definition and application of the term ‘consent’ in the context of sexual assault disciplinary actions is so broad that the University may expel a student without proving that there were any objective indicators of non-consent from the alleged victim.” 
   
   The plaintiff’s attorney is Brian Roark, an Austin-based lawyer known for successfully defending former Texas Longhorn football player Kendall Sanders, who was found not guilty of sexual assault last October. Sanders had been kicked off the team after his arrest in July 2014 and faced two to 20 years in prison if convicted. 
   
   Roark did not respond to a request for comment from The College Fix on when the judge is expected to rule on the request to halt the expulsion proceedings against Doe. 
   
   RELATED: Rape accusers sue University of Tennessee for giving accused students due process 
   
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   IMAGE: Shutterstock ||||| A physics major one semester away from graduation is suing to stop University of Texas-Austin from expelling him based on the unproven accusation he sexually assaulted a woman in a drunken, off-campus encounter. 
   
   In one of the latest cases of male college students turning to the courts after being punished by public universities for being accused of sexual assaults, the 21-year-old man identified as John Doe in legal papers claims the school is violating his Constitutional right to due process. His alleged victim, who did not attend the school, never filed a police report, according to his lawyer, yet the school took action based on her father’s complaint. 
   
   “What we’re seeing here is a nationwide movement that has gone too far in what the system sees as victims of campus assaults,” said Brian Roark. "Give us a fair hearing, and we'll deal with the consequences." 
   
   “My law office gets phone calls every day from students who want to defend their right to due process.” - Andrew Miltenberg 
   
   Doe, who claims the sex was consensual, is facing a disciplinary hearing that could result in his expulsion, The College Fix reported. He filed the suit about two months ago with the goal of clearing his name. 
   
   The alleged incident occurred on March 6, 2015, after a night of heavy drinking at a house party where Doe met two unnamed women, according to the lawsuit. The three spent the night at an off-campus apartment belonging to one of the women, where Doe had sex with one woman that night and the other the next morning, according to the lawsuit. 
   
   The father of the woman who had sex with Doe the next morning told campus police of the encounter a month later, prompting a school investigation. Doe told investigators that the woman was enthusiastic about the encounter and talked about being in a pornographic movie. 
   
   “It’s not just me raping this drunk girl,” Doe told investigators, according to the lawsuit. 
   
   But the alleged victim later told her friend, who had had sex with Doe hours earlier, that she was still intoxicated from the previous night and was in fact unconscious during sex. 
   
   “I don’t remember throwing up, or coming home, or having this random … guy in my bed,” the alleged victim texted her friend, according to the lawsuit. “I didn’t want this guy. At all. This guy wanted me and got me when I wasn’t conscious.” 
   
   Her friend reportedly responded, “Dude I didn’t realize you were unconscious, you were talking to me,” according to the lawsuit. 
   
   Differing accounts of drunken sexual encounters are at the core of most similar cases being dealt with by colleges and universities in the wake of a 2011 directive from the U.S. Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights. In that letter, the federal government threatened to withhold funding under the gender equity law known as Title IX if schools did not demonstrate they were taking serious action to halt the epidemic of sexual assaults on campus. 
   
   While proponents say the federal efforts have protected women on campus, critics say it sparked a rush to judgment against young men who can have their lives ruined by unproven accusations. 
   
   "The university has been placed under enormous political pressure to appear tough on those accused of sexual assault and as a result have adopted a practice of expelling males from the university without regard to the rights of the accused student of the evidence,” the lawsuit states. 
   
   Roark said UT-Austin's policy barred Doe from having legal representation, cross-examining the accuser or even calling on testimony from corroborating witnesses, including the other woman. He scoffed at the “27-year-old education grads” he said typically staff the school-run probes. 
   
   UT-Austin declined to comment, citing a policy of not discussing ongoing litigation or student discipline. 
   
   Dozens of young men are going to court to seek relief from punishment and reputational damage meted out by schools for alleged sexual assaults, according to Inside Higher Ed. As of November, there are more than 50 pending lawsuits filed by men who claim they were unfairly expelled from college after being accused of sexual assault. 
   
   “I think you can have a system that encourages victims to come forward while protecting the rights of the accused,” Andrew Miltenberg, a lawyer who specializes in campus assault due process, told FoxNews.com. “But are we there yet? No.” 
   
   Miltenberg gained national attention when he represented a Columbia University student accused of raping a fellow student who went on to conduct a campaign against the man by carrying a mattress around campus and making a video re-enactment of her alleged rape. 
   
   Paul Nungesser was cleared of rape charges, but is now suing the school in federal court for failing to stop Emma Sulkowicz from harassing him. Sulkowicz, with the help of three friends, carried the mattress when she received her diploma during graduation to the cheers of fellow students. 
   
   Nungesser’s mother, who was at the graduation ceremony, told Newsweek, “I would have liked to go to every single parent in that audience and say, ‘I am the mother of Paul, and I am very proud of my son, and I hope you discuss with your sons and daughters what they did to him.” 
   
   In one of the first of its kind, the U.S. District Court in Rhode Island on Monday ruled to allow a former student’s lawsuit to proceed against Brown University, alleging that the school violated his due process and discriminated against him based on gender during a wrongful sexual misconduct investigation. 
   
   “My law office gets phone calls every day from students who want to defend their right to due process,” Miltenberg said. “The courts are going to have to see enough of these that there is a sense across the country that, Wait, this is coming up too much, there really must be something wrong.” 
   
   Edmund DeMarche is a news editor for FoxNews.com. Follow him on Twitter @EDeMarche. 
   
  
target: – A 21-year-old University of Texas-Austin student is suing the school to keep from being expelled one semester before graduating after being accused of raping a woman, Fox News reports. His lawsuit claims a disciplinary hearing scheduled to decide his fate violates "his Constitutional right to due process." The College Fix explains the unnamed student won't be able to call witnesses or cross-examine the alleged victim during the hearing. The school has already recommended he be expelled. The alleged sexual assault took place last March after the student met two women at a house party and went home with them. He had sex with one of the women that night before having sex with the alleged victim in the morning. The lawsuit states the student believed the alleged victim was consenting to sex, in part, because she "talked about being in a pornographic movie." But she later texted her friend that she was still unconscious from heavy drinking the night before and didn't remember having sex with the student. The lawsuit points out the alleged victim never filed a police report (she did talk to campus police, and her father later complained to the school) and claims she later told her friend the sex must have been consensual because it sounded "passionate" even though she didn't remember it. The University of Texas-Austin released a report Monday detailing how its officers deal with sexual-assault allegations, according to the Texas Tribune. “Trauma victims often omit, exaggerate, or make up information when trying to make sense of what happened to them or to fill gaps in memory,” the report states. “This does not mean the sexual assault did not occur.”