Marshall University in West Virginia has expelled a student for allegedly sexually assaulting two women while he was already on probation for a 2016 attack against a classmate.
Joseph Hardin, 22, was indicted last week on second-degree sexual assault charges stemming from the alleged 2018 rapes of two women who were not students on campus, but who were in the same county as the university.
Hardin had previously been accused of raping a student in her dorm room back in 2016 and ended up entering a Kennedy plea to the lesser charge of battery, according to the Associated Press. The plea allowed Hardin to be convicted without admitting guilt in the crime. As part of the plea, Hardin was subject to three years of probation. Following the conviction, Hardin was allowed to remain at the university.
The victim in the 2016 case filed a federal lawsuit against the university alleging that it botched the disciplinary process after the incident. Further, she claims that Hardin’s continued attendance at the 13,000-student school forced her to leave Marshall altogether. She is seeking unspecified compensatory and punitive damages.
A Wednesday statement from the university provided to the Washington Examiner announced that the school had expelled Hardin. In it, President Jerome Gilbert said that Marshall takes sexual misconduct seriously.
“We have taken, and will continue to take, aggressive steps to make sure the entire Marshall community is safe,” Gilbert said. “I have zero tolerance for inappropriate, illegal behavior, and pledge that we will always treat sexual misconduct and violence with the utmost gravity. The safety of our students is our first obligation.”
