Judge rules lawsuit claiming UVA slow-walked sexual abuse investigation can proceed

“There is clear evidence that UVA was on notice of the abuse the plaintiff was suffering long before the investigation was initiated,” says the UVA alumna's attorney.

A federal judge has denied the University of Virginia’s motion to dismiss a lawsuit filed by a 2020 UVA graduate last April claiming that UVA officials and faculty members turned a blind eye as she was groomed, harassed, and sexually assaulted by a professor and former department head 40 years her senior for more than a year, and that a Title IX investigation into the matter was deliberately delayed and prolonged to protect an otherwise beloved and esteemed professor. A three-day jury trial is set for October 1-3, 2024.

UVA, represented by the Virginia Attorney General’s office, didn’t challenge the claims of abuse, which were confirmed by the Title IX investigation, but argued that the alumna’s "difference of opinion" about the "appropriate speed" of the investigation and the "proper disciplinary outcome for the professor" was not a "plausible claim under any legal theory" and should therefore be dismissed.