Six women, all named as Jane Does, have filed a federal lawsuit against the University of Tennessee for creating an environment at that enabled and tolerated sexual assault by athletes, primarily football players. The allegations are levied against five former and current Tennessee athletes, including ex-basketball player Yemi Makanjuola, and former football players Michael Williams, A.J. Johnson, and Riyahd Jones. One current football player is listed as a John Doe.The suit also brings to light a peculiar administrative procedure used, according to the suit, only in the state of Tennessee. During this hearing, students accused of sexual are permitted legal representation, and allowed to cross-examine the victim during an evidentiary hearing in front of an administrative law judge.More, from the Tennessean:
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Nearly one year ago to the day, the Tennessean detailed the University's handling of another victim's case against a football player that illustrates this strange setup: the victim and her mother attended a meeting with school officials who then explained the findings of their investigation. The victim and her mother learned that witnesses were able to question the veracity of her statements, claim things like "she was flirting with him" before the alleged assault, and the football player claimed she said "Go for it" before engaging in intercourse. She denied these claims, but the University already found the case to be one of consensual sex, which almost never happens in similar cases across the country.The current suit claims UT created a sexual environment that was hostile to female students due to the school's "deliberate indifference" to their claims. IT also alleges that high-ranking administrators, including head football coach Butch Jones, AD Dave Hart, and Chancellor Jimmy Cheek, were aware of these assaults and contributed to the hostile culture.The lawsuit claims that UT student-athletes frequently hired prominent Knoxville attorney Don Bosch to represent them in their administrative hearings.
"Athletes knew in advance that UT would: support them even after a complaint of sexual assault; arrange for top quality legal representation; and then direct them to the (Tennessee Uniform Administrative Procedures Act) hearing procedure that denies victims the right to a hearing and to the same equal procedural, hearing, and process rights as given to perpetrators of rape and sexual assault," the plaintiffs said in their lawsuit.