Post by Vince524 on Apr 20, 2017 7:34:46 GMT -5
watchdog.org/292821/male-accused-student-commits-suicide-school-railroading/
A student in University of Texas told a college administrator that another student, Thomas Klocke, had a troubling exchange with him.
The complaint:
Klocke made a comment during a class about “privilege,” and then proceeded to open his laptop and type “gays should die” into his web browser’s search bar. The accuser (who is not being named because Watchdog was unable to contact him for comment) claims he typed into his own browser search bar, “I’m gay.”
The complain was made to an administrator who was friendly with the accused, so much so he would refer to her on a first name basis.
Instead of seeking support services, the accuser reached out to Associate Vice President of Student Affairs Heather Snow, with whom he had a friendly relationship. The accuser was close enough to Snow to refer to her by her first name at times, and Snow quickly became the accuser’s advocate, helping him to draft a complaint against Klocke and conducting the disciplinary procedure without following the school’s Title IX policies.
Klocke denied any wrong doing.
Klocke insisted that what happened in that mid-May class in 2016 was completely different than what the accuser claimed. Klocke said his accuser made unwelcome sexual advances toward him. Klocke rejected the advances, telling his eventual accuser that he was straight. The lawsuit suggests that this rejection led the accuser to make up his story, possibly out of fear that he himself could be accused of sexual misconduct.
There was no formal hearing, no evidence exists that the professor of the class was spoken to who may have been able to verify one story or the other. Klocke was kept out of class, told he could have no contact therefore prohibiting him from trying to find witnesses to support him.
The college didn't investigate Klocke's claim, and bypassed their own rules.
On May 24, 2016, Moore and Snow discussed the case. Snow asked if Klocke acknowledged the behavior he was accused of, to which Moore replied: “not at all.” He told Snow the students had completely different accounts of the incident in question, but did not tell Snow what Klocke’s story was.
Moore also told Snow he didn’t have enough evidence to keep Klocke out of class. Snow agreed, saying “there isn’t enough to go off of” and said Klocke should be allowed back in the class with a mutual no-contact order with his accuser. Instead, Moore said he would look for another way to keep Klocke out of the class, and Snow told him to see if the class would be offered later in the summer. This, the lawsuit states, effectively confirmed “that Thomas not only should remain excluded from the classroom, but that he should be excluded from the Course altogether, despite the fact there was not enough to go off of, to keep Thomas out of the classroom.”
Moore reported back to Snowe that he “worked it out” to keep Klocke out of the class. Snow said it seemed like a “good resolution.”
There is a lawsuit pending, on behalf of Klocke, who was so distraught over the collapse of his dreams and a permanent record of sexual assault that would follow him that he took his own life.
