Former SG leader Samuel Goetz sued the university in June 2017 following his expulsion for alleged sexual assault of another student. The judge denied his petition that his due process rights were violated, but he has asked for a rehearing. Devin Rodriguez | The Crow’s Nest
By Anna Bryson
A Pinellas County circuit judge has denied a former Student Government leader’s petition that his due process rights were violated when he was accused of sexually assaulting another student in his dorm room in September 2016 and expelled in May 2017.
But the student has asked for a rehearing, citing a similar case in California.
The student is not named in the lawsuit, but it is clearly Samuel Goetz, who was elected SG vice president on March 2, 2017, and abruptly resigned seven weeks later.
He sued the university in June 2017, contending that the university denied him due process because it violated its disciplinary procedures, failed to give him proper notice of the allegations and evidence against him, and denied him the opportunity to cross-examine his accuser.
He does not seek reinstatement at USF St. Petersburg; he only asks that his expulsion— and a cloud over his future— be removed from his record.
“I will lose all opportunities to obtain a good education as well as to pursue my dream of going to law school,” he said in documents included in the lawsuit.
On June 12, Judge Jack Day denied Goetz’s petition, ruling that the final decision of the dean of students— who upheld the findings of a student conduct board— did not violate Goetz’s due process rights and “complied with the essential requirements of the law.”
In July, Goetz’s lawyers requested a rehearing, and in a supplemental filing last week they cited a ruling by a California state appellate court in a similar case.
In that case, a male student at Claremont McKenna College was suspended for a year after a college disciplinary committee concluded that he had non-consensual sex with a female student from a nearby college.
A judge upheld the committee’s decision, but the appellate court reversed the judge’s ruling earlier this month.
The female student was not required to appear before the disciplinary committee— in person or by video conference— and that violated the accused student’s right to a fair hearing, the appellate court ruled.
In the Goetz case, his accuser was not required to appear at his hearing or answer his questions.
The woman who accused Goetz of sexual assault did not press criminal charges with law enforcement, only reported the event to the university.
Goetz declined to comment on the case last week. His lawyers did not return calls seeking comment.
