Remember Yale basketball star Jack Montague? He was Public Enemy No. 1 to the outrage industry earlier this year — before they discovered Brock Turner.
Montague was accused of sexual assault a year after he had sex with his female accuser, with whom he had engaged in sexual activity numerous times previously. Montague was expelled and the media had a field day, with activists claiming he was a rapist and trying to shut down any who dare suggest otherwise.
Now Montague is suing Yale for his treatment, and alleging the sex was consensual but that Yale ignored evidence of this to make him the “poster boy for tough enforcement” at the Ivy League institution.
At the time of the accusation, Yale was facing criticism for its handling of sexual assault accusations and how it classified accusations as “nonconsensual sex” rather than the activist-preferred term of “rape.” Yale was also being scrutinized due to a report showing a high level of rape accusations at the university. This, Montague alleges, led to the university making an example out of him, a popular sports star.
The night of the alleged sexual assault, the accuser “willingly accompanied Montague to his bedroom, removed her clothing as he removed his, got into his bed, and engaged in consensual sexual conduct,” according to the lawsuit. The accuser then claimed the “intercourse that followed the consensual sexual foreplay was nonconsensual.”
Even Yale’s own report on the investigation appeared to suggest Montague was right to believe he had consent. For instance, the accuser said she told Montague the she wanted to “hook up but not have sex” but admitted to the panel she didn’t believe he heard her. Based on the accuser’s other actions — which were all similar to what she had done in previous consensual sexual encounters — would give the impression Montague reasonably believed he had consent.
Yet Yale still expelled him, after apparently encouraging the accuser to tell her story. See, it wasn’t the accuser who came forward in this case, it was her friend, who told Yale’s Title IX coordinator in an unrelated conversation that the eventual accuser had a “bad experience.” The Title IX coordinator and the friend then worked to get the accuser to come forward.
After the accuser talked to the Title IX coordinator, she began reinterpreting her encounter with Montague. She started thinking he was dangerous and that she needed to save the rest of the students at Yale from him.
From the beginning, Yale appears to have mislead the accuser into believing Montague had a history of sexual misconduct. He had previously been reprimanded by the university for rolling “up a paper plate from the pizza parlor and put[ting] it down the front [of another student’s] tank top.” He was brought up on charges of sexual harassment even though the incident appeared to be non-sexual, did not appear to be gender-related and seemed more like just a dumb drunken decision. Still, this incident was used to make Montague seem like a danger to the Yale community.
When Montague was informed of the sexual assault accusation against him (which, remember, came a year after the encounter), he was not given specific details.
The Title IX coordinator “said that she was unable to provide him with any additional information about the complaint because it was confidential, and further, that he would not be able to get more information before or during his upcoming interview with the fact-finder,” according to the lawsuit.
So Montague was not allowed to know what he was being accused of ahead of being questioned about an event that had taken place a year earlier. This is apparently fairness in Yale’s view.
Further, Yale’s sexual assault response center appears to have helped the accuser write her opening statement for the hearing against Montague. Montague’s advisor was unaware that he was allowed to even make an opening statement.
The media and activists rushed to brand Montague a rapist. His lawsuit telling his side of the story makes the case look less like clear-cut “rape” and more like a classic he said/she said situation that was elevated by the university for political purposes.
Ashe Schow is a commentary writer for the Washington Examiner.
