Austin Van Overdam, the Texas A&M swimmer found responsible for sexual abuse by a Title IX investigation, is launching his own Title IX lawsuit at the school, alleging that the school discriminates against male students in sexual misconduct investigations.
Van Overdam rose into the public eye last week when fellow Texas A&M student Hannah Shaw went public on social and news media with criticism of Texas A&M for allowing Van Overdam to return to school and the swim team after finding him responsible for abuse in 2016: a case in which she was the accuser. Shaw tweeted out official documents from Texas A&M’s investigation finding Van Overdam responsible on one sexual abuse charge and not responsible on three other charges. Van Overdam was suspended from school for the fall 2016 semester and was listed on the swim & dive roster as a redshirt. He returned this past season to compete with the Aggies, competing at the NCAA Championships in March.
Van Overdam’s attorney, Gaines West, announced Monday that Van Overdam had filed a Title IX lawsuit against the school for engaging in “gender bias” in the way it investigated Shaw’s claims. West included a copy of the suit, which was filed in a federal court in Houston. In West’s announcement, he claims Van Overdam was “wrongfully disciplined” and criticized Shaw’s claims.
The suit says that the hearing conducted by Texas A&M included testimony from only Van Overdam and Shaw, with no other witnesses. But Van Overdam’s suit says that despite the two giving contradictory testimony, the school accepted Shaw’s testimony and found Van Overdam responsible for one of the sexual abuse charges. Van Overdam did appeal the ruling, but the decision was upheld, according to Van Overdam’s suit. Directly from the suit:
“In the manner in which it approaches the investigation, adjudication, and appeal of allegations of sexual misconduct, Texas A&M University creates an environment in which male students accused of sexual misconduct are nearly assured of a finding of responsibility,” the suit says. “This denies the accused his fundamental due process rights and deprives these male students of educational opportunities solely on the basis of their sex.”
The lawsuit goes on to allege that Shaw was immediately cast as a victim in the hearing and that “Van Overdam’s testimony was totally discounted while Shaw’s contradictory testimony was deemed more reliable without reason or explanation.” The suit seeks compensatory and punitive damages against the school, claiming that its finding Van Overdam responsible has caused him “denial of educational opportunities, loss of scholarship funds, inability to transfer to other educational institutions, reputational damages” and a loss of career opportunities and earning potential, among other things.
West’s announcement says that Van Overdam originally accepted the school’s punishment “instead of spending his family’s life savings fighting Shaw and A&M.” The announcement also says Van Overdam “filed a retaliation allegation with A&M against Shaw, but that the school “denied it so as not to appear being juxtaposed against the #MeToo movement.”
Can’t say who did what but the Title IX process is flawed especially after the “Dear Colleague” letter from the Dept of Ed. that pressed for a low bar of evidence/probability of guilt. The accused has little to no access to the evidence/testimony.
I feel for all sides- any victimized woman,
men who are targeted by unhappy exes or those embarrassed by their actions after the fact and the school that is going to get sued by whichever party loses.
Schools increasingly are deferring to the criminal process 1st. Imperfect but I don’t blame them given the hand dealt to them by parents, students and the DOEd.
WOOMB (The World Organization Of Men’s Benefits) is 100% behind this suit. I applaud Mr.Van Overdam for having the guts to challenge the “political correctness of liberal institutions” by suing for hopefully $20,000,000! If he wins, I trust he will offer a small donation to our website: Dontmesswithmybrother.com
Go back to reddit with your mgtow attitude.
Get annally raped her.
It’s comments like these that will earn him millions of dollars in his lawsuit. Due process is a real thing in America. Presumptuous Guilt by Twitter merits lawsuits.
Everyone keeps referring to his lawyers statement as the true facts of the case… Reality is that thats what he is telling his lawyer, and what his lawyer thinks will sound the best to the public in his favor.
Not to mention she never actually came out and told her side of the story.. All she has said is that she was raped but she never released her entire story cause she didn’t want the details to be public. So regardless of if everyone else in these comments wants to act like they know what happened.. truth is you don’t. And there is a chance you could be protecting a guy who indeed did rape a girl…Im not saying… Read more »
And there is also a chance that you could be punishing a guy who did nothing illegal. That’s the conundrum. Without impartial fact-finding and transparent legal due process, it’s an impossible situation. That being said, in the US the traditional judicial philosophy is NOT “better to punish ten innocent people than let one guilty one go free.”
He went through an impartial Title IX investigstion and hearing not a criminal court of law. Title IX is a civil act NOT a criminal law. He got due process according to Title IX, he appealed the decision and that was lost. He filed a retaliation allegation that was found unsubstantiated. Why unsubstantiated? I guess what she revealed is all public record. Maybe the information you want is private by law and no one has revealed that
But that’s the point, is that it was NOT impartial. They are biased against men or whoever makes it to the Title IX office to report a complaint first.
His claim is that it was not impartial and there was bias. If this Tinder date was so traumatic, then why does she continue to use Tinder according to his filing?
He may or may not be guilty of raping her — I certainly don’t pretend to know anything about what happened between them. My point is that it is far from clear that that any university’s Title IX investigation is impartial or provides defendants with sufficient due process. Van Overdam claims witnesses other than the two parties involved were not allowed. What were the standards for introducing corroborating evidence? Was there opportunity for cross-examination? Legal representation? In a given case some specific facts could be redacted, but the process itself should be publicly transparent. Otherwise, due process becomes whatever the university says it is, meaning that there is no due process. What he was charged with is a serious crime,… Read more »
Impartial Title IX. You are obviously uneducated. Title IX was created specifically to supportfemale preference and dominance. Just look at scholarship numbers or the low number of men who are accepted to colleges despite having qualified with higher grades and test scores.
Bob Swim, you seem to be insinuating that women are consistently out to “get men.” That is not the case at all. Equality for women DOES NOT hurt men. In fact, it helps everyone involved.
With Title IX and sexual assault reporting in general, it is in Title IX’s best interest NOT to find the offender guilty because it “increases their numbers” of sexual assaults, which then decreases the reputation of the school and alumni donations. News flash: MANY MANY more sexual assaults are happening than are even reported (not to mention being reported and being found guilty).
Also, I encourage you not to talk down to people when replying (e.g., “You are obviously uneducated”) as it does not help… Read more »
She didn’t want the details to be public yet she put published the title IX findings which were specific to the acts that were deemed non-consensual
The point is pretty simple. I don’t know and you don’t know what happened. The criminal justice system has the ability to adjudicate this and protect the rights of all. But, Texas A/M doesn’t have this ability. In fact these panels have been demonstrated to be full of bias against men. But the real point is they have no ability to get evidence other than statements from the various parties. So no way to adjudicate what really happened.
It’s sad that people do not understand that after a traumatic event like being raped, a woman may not want to speak out about it right away. It’s certain people that do not understand this that cause women to be afraid to speak out.
Look at Kukors. It took nearly a decade before she had the strength to speak out about what happened to her. Do you not believe her story because it took her that long to come forward? No. Do you not believe her story because it continued to happen for that long and she went along with it? No and No.
If Van Overdam had done nothing wrong, why did he not appeal the charges right away?… Read more »
Actually the new lawsuit says he did appeal and he lost the appeal.
Sure Anon. Out of everything that was said, pick that one thing. I’d like your thoughts on every other question especially those related to Kukors. You sound very pro him, so my question is what are your grounds for this?
In the end if he was found guilty, he shouldn’t have been let back on to the team nor his suspension count as a redshirt year. I don’t believe the way A&M handled the situation was right.
I was just letting you know that he did appeal the Title IX findings in the time allotted and he lost the appeal. The university upheld their findings. Regarding Kukors, I believe her. He was able to redshirt because unfortunately that is in the rules. Beyond comprehension that he was back on the team.
He is back on the team because the school can’t prove he did anything wrong. The only reason he was punished is because he is Male. We live in the era of false accusations and no one cares because women and #metoo. Facts no longer matter.
Bob, I encourage you to check out the following website discussing false reports: https://qz.com/980766/the-truth-about-false-rape-accusations/
The #MeToo movement is not about being “out to get men.” Rather, it is supporting women (AND MEN) who have been sexually abused. All of the behaviors people are calling out now? They were NEVER okay. We (women AND MEN) were just socialized to keep quiet about them.
It’s people like Brutus comments. White males have ALWAYS been privileged, given the benefit of the doubt, and protected.
I’m sure we will never know the true story of what happened that night and I do understand some women “cry wolf” which puts those truly victimized in a tough situation. But if someone, regardless of gender, believes they were raped the first instinct shouldn’t be “it’s her fault” “she put herself in that situation” etc etc.
A retaliation allegation? Can someone explain this? Was he saying her allegation was retaliation or he was going to make a claim to retaliate
I read this: He filed a retaliation allegation against her last week and TX A&M ruled the claim was unsubstantiated. There were no details given.
He raped a girl
Did he? Have you read the lawsuit. Your judgmental opinion taking the woman’s claim and ignoring his is exactly the issue. They had vaginal sex, then anal sex, then she gave him a BJ according to the filing. The third act would be rather voluntary on her part wouldn’t it?
I’m just saying, little kids probably watch this website.
Pretty serious for Austin too. I understand completely though your comment and concern.
Excuse us whilst we go vomit .
Not necessarily, Micah. People can be coerced into doing certain acts, especially if they are already terrified/believe that the abuser will hurt them again if they say no. Even IF the oral sex was considered consensual, that does not mean that ALL acts were consensual that night. I cannot speak for the victim in this particular case, but researchers have demonstrated time and again that after being assaulted people are usually “in a cloud” (for an easy reference) and may not be able to think straight/cohesively. This is why you will often hear people adding to their stories of assault days/weeks/months after the fact – it takes a while for the brain to process trauma. It could be that her… Read more »
Thank you.
No, consenting to one act does not grant permission for other acts.
Doubt it..
click on the link referencing the law suit then come back and let us know if you still feel that.
I did read it, and I do still believe Shaw’s assertion that this was rape. He engaged in anal sex without consent. It doesn’t matter that seven months before she reported it, or that they engaged in another act afterwords. If he did that without her consent then it was rape.
If she was so upset about act number 2, then staying and being proactive for act number 3 makes no sense.
No, this does make sense when you view it from the lens of trauma. This is consistent with other stories of rape survivors.
It doesn’t need to make sense to you. You are not the one allegedly anally raped against your wishes.
Look, not that you asked, but I am a guy and I’ve been around. None of this feels right to me. People don’t just report rape after seven months for fun. There’s nothing to gain from that. And if this comment section any indication, half the people won’t believe your story or won’t care. You can argue with me about “was it really rape if they kept going afterwords?” or “nobody verbally consents everything every time they’re in bed.” But my gut is telling me he did something wrong that night, and she had that weighing in her mind for a pretty long time after words.
I believe he’s right.