An expelled student is suing the University of Colorado Boulder and its leaders, alleging the Buffaloes’ coaching staff pressured a player she was dating to file an inaccurate police report to protect the integrity of the football program after she accidentally stabbed him.
The lawsuit, filed Thursday by “Jane Roe” in U.S. District Court of Colorado, also claims CU’s investigation into the 2022 incident involving the woman and the player — identified only as “John Doe” — was biased and unfair, and violated her due process, Title IX and civil rights.
In a statement, CU’s director of issues management, Nicole Mueksch, said the campus’ Office of Institutional Equity and Compliance performs its duties in accordance with federal law and best investigative practices. The office’s investigation preceded Roe’s expulsion.
“Although the campus only recently became aware of this lawsuit and will respond to it through the appropriate legal process, the campus has full confidence in the OIEC’s ability to investigate and make fair determinations in cases involving sexual misconduct and intimate partner violence,” Mueksch said.
CU’s statement did not address The Denver Post’s question about whether the athletic department pressured its football player into filing a misleading police report.
The lawsuit says that in February of 2022, Roe and Doe were at Doe’s off-campus apartment when he asked her to leave. Doe held up a pair of scissors and threatened to cut up Roe’s purse, the lawsuit alleges. Feeling threatened, Roe picked up a small paring knife, according to the legal complaint.
As Roe tried to get her purse back, Doe “accidentally leaned into the knife” and was cut, the lawsuit alleges.
Roe and Doe were concerned about police involvement as two Black Americans, the lawsuit says, but Roe went to the hospital with Doe when they determined the injury needed medical treatment. The lawsuit says Doe and Roe agreed the incident was an accident.
Doe initially lied to his football coaches about why he needed to miss a mandatory team meeting, the lawsuit says, claiming he had food poisoning or an allergic reaction. However, coaches looked up his medical records and saw he had a knife wound below his rib cage that required surgery. Doe was released from the hospital the following day.
Doe first refused to talk with Boulder police when they came to the hospital, but the lawsuit alleges CU football coaches and staff scared Doe into making a report by saying Roe could later make a claim against Doe.
“Doe was encouraged by CU football staff to say Roe committed a crime when she attacked him with a knife and told to exclude true information about Doe’s provoking actions, his violence against Roe, and the accidental nature of the actual events,” the lawsuit says. “This encouragement by CU football staff was designed to protect Doe from any consequences, specifically domestic violence charges that could end his football career at CU Boulder and professionally.”
As a result of the police investigation, Roe was arrested a few days after the altercation and charged with first-degree assault, felony menacing and obstruction of telephone service with a domestic violence enhancer.
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The Post was not able to obtain police or court records from the Boulder Police Department or the Boulder County District Attorney’s Office. According to the lawsuit, Roe “accepted a deferred sentence, which was sealed after successful completion.”
One of the CU coaches contacted the Office of Institutional Equity and Compliance and reported the incident the day after it happened. Roe was investigated for allegations of “dating violence” under the university’s Sexual Misconduct, Intimate Partner Violence and Stalking Policy, and, in August 2022, expelled.
Neither Roe nor Doe participated in interviews for CU’s investigation, which the lawsuit says relied on seven witnesses — all affiliated with the university or football program.
Roe submitted an appeal to the CU investigation, including an impact statement from Doe stating that his injury had “minimal effect” on him and the decision to expel Roe was “excessive” and should be reconsidered, the lawsuit says. The appeal was denied in October 2022.
Through the lawsuit, Roe is seeking an expungement of her expulsion and disciplinary records and a reversal of the Office of Institutional Equity and Compliance’s findings.
“This is a story of a young, Black woman… fighting against the strength and influence of the CU Boulder football organization,” the lawsuit says. “Jane Roe had no chance.”
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