A federal appeals court sided with a woman who accused a former Badger football star of sexual assault, overturning a lower court’s dismissal of her lawsuit against the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
The 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals judges found that a reasonable jury could find in the woman’s favor, rejecting the lower court’s summary judgement in favor of the university and sending the case back to the circuit court for trial.
The judges’ July 9 decision is based on a 2019 lawsuit filed by a woman who said she was sexually assaulted by former Badgers wide receiver Quintez Cephus. She sued the university after Cephus was readmitted to UW-Madison when he was found not guilty at a criminal trial. Her suit accuses the university of acting under public pressure and without considering the impact on her education.
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“A jury is of course free to accept the University’s framing that it was not dismissive of (the woman) and would have acted if there was a more acute threat. It is not our role, however, to decide the strength of competing evidence. That is a role for the jury to play, and we must allow it that opportunity,” the court states in the majority opinion.
UW-Madison spokesperson John Lucas said the university is aware of the ruling and is reviewing it.
A UW-Madison investigation found that Cephus likely assaulted the woman in 2018. The university expelled him. But Cephus was readmitted to the school after a jury acquitted him of the criminal charges.
The woman alleged in her lawsuit that the university shut her out of the reinstatement decision, violating federal gender equity laws.
U.S. District Judge William Conley ruled in 2022 that the woman didn’t provide enough evidence that the laws were violated.
The appeals court judges found “the University acted with deliberate indifference if it made its readmission decision in response to public pressure,” according to the ruling. “But the court rejected (the woman’s) argument that the harassment she suffered was actionable under Title IX because it deprived her of access to educational opportunities.”
The court did find that it’s unclear if the woman’s experience was so severe that it severely affected her education.
“A reasonable jury could resolve these disputes in (the woman’s) favor and find for her on her deliberate indifference claim,” the ruling states. “We therefore reverse the grant of summary judgment and remand the case for further proceedings.”
Cephus, 27, previously played for the Detroit Lions. He bounced around other NFL rosters over the last few years, and he was most recently waived by the Los Angeles Rams last month.
