HBC attorneys John Clune and Lauren Groth filed a Peititon for Certiorari to the U.S. Supreme Court in the Title IX matter of Ross v. University of Tulsa. HBC client Aibgail Ross was raped by a student athlete at Tulsa and learned thereafter that another female student had previously reported the same offender to the Campus Security office for an earlier rape. No action was taken by the school following the first report and the security department threw the first victim's written statement in the garbage. On appeal, the 10th Circuit affirmed the dismissal of the case ruling that notice of a dangerous campus offender given to Campus Security is insufficient to put the school as a whole on notice. The court concluded that despite Tulsa's deliberate failure to respond to the earlier report, there is no liability without showing notice to a higher official.
HBC has argued to the U.S. Supreme Court that where the school policy instructs students to report sexual misconduct to Campus Security and where Tulsa's security officers are the school's Title IX investigators, the school was sufficiently on notice and should be held responsible for their deliberate inaction. A copy of HBC's Petition can be found here or at http://www.hbcboulder.com/pdf/RossPetition.pdf