A federal judge has found Carleton College acted properly when it expelled a football player after he was accused of sexually assaulting an intoxicated fellow student in 2017 on the night of their initiation to a secret society.
Taariq Vanegas sued the school in 2019, claiming it violated his rights on the basis on his race — he is biracial — and his sex. A judge dismissed most of his claims last year and the final count on Monday, awarding summary judgment in the school’s favor.
Vanegas and his accuser drank heavily in April 2017 while participating in initiation activities for a secret society known as DTX, according to documents filed in the lawsuit.
Vanegas said the woman unexpectedly embraced and kissed him, and later groped him while they were still with the initiation group.
They split off together and kissed at a park, then went to his dorm room, where surveillance video shows Vanegas leading the woman inside while she was struggling to stand and keep her balance.
Vanegas said they had sex after the woman removed her own clothes and gave verbal consent.
Vanegas left for a morning football workout, leaving the woman in his room. She then wandered the hall wearing only a T-shirt and ended up in another dorm room, where the residents called security for help.
The woman was taken to a hospital where her blood-alcohol level was found to be 0.24, three times the legal limit to drive.
The woman filed a sexual misconduct complaint with the school, saying she didn’t remember going to Vanegas’ room or having sex with him.
A misconduct panel found him responsible for sexual misconduct and recommended he be suspended for three academic terms. On appeal, the dean of students opted to expel Vanegas instead, but by then, he had already transferred to another college.
The only remaining legal claim against the school this week was whether Carleton was negligent in finding the sexual misconduct violation and expelling Vanegas. Vanegas argued the school rushed the investigation and withheld evidence favorable to him.
However, U.S. District Judge Michael Davis found Monday that the school’s decisions were not “arbitrary and capricious,” and that the outcome would have been the same had the school done things differently.
Vanegas also faced a third-degree rape charge in Rice County, but prosecutors reportedly dropped the case after the accuser left the country.