Former Xavier player sues school for wrongful dismissal

[Da Coach]

Former Xavier guard Dez Wells has filed a federal lawsuit against the school and its president, demanding an apology and damages for being wrongly dismissed from the university. Wells, who transferred and received a waiver to play at Maryland last season, was kicked out of school in 2012 following an allegation of sexual assault. No charges were filed after Wells was cleared by a grand jury.

http://espn.go.com/mens-college-basketball/story/_/id/9587176/dez-wells-files-lawsuit-xavier-demands-apology

I doubt this lawsuit has much of a chance, since I believe all athletes sign and agree to an agreement that they will abide by any decisions by the school, and there is little chance that he can claim his rights were violated since there is no inherent right to play basketball at a private school. He may also have a hard time showing damages, since he transferred to Maryland and was allowed by the NCAA to be immediately eligible.

[tornado]

this guy was claimed to have raped a woman on campus - the woman simply did not want to be dragged into the public limelight and face having to testify - thus the grand jury decided they probably wouldn't win such a case and declined to charge the guy - but she still to this day claims she was raped...

he got dismissed - not from the team nor by the coach - but by the school, after DUE PROCESS by the "Xavier University Conduct Board (UCB), made up of faculty, students and administrators", who "found Xavier sophomore and basketball player Dezmine Wells responsible for a serious violation of the Code of Student Conduct."

Then, he goes immediately to Maryland - where the NCAA surprisingly grants him a waiver to play immediately - and Turgeon instantly puts him into the starting lineup and gives him 30 min in exhibition games

In fact - Xavier states that Title IX law requires the following....and that Wells did get fair & due process..
"Federal Law (Title IX) and Federal Regulations and Guidances prohibit Universities from ceding student conduct matters to the criminal justice system.
The Federal Law requires schools to act quickly and all schools, by law, must use the 'preponderance of evidence' standard,
whereas the criminal justice system uses the 'probable cause' standard to indict, and the 'beyond a reasonable doubt' standard to convict.

"The process used by the Xavier University Conduct Board is the standard used in American universities. The XU Conduct Board heard evidence that may or may not have been heard by the Grand Jury. After the Conduct Board reached its decision, the matter was considered and upheld by an appeal board of members of the student body, faculty and staff and is final."

so that guilty or not - he was given the exact and fair process required.
Just prior to Wells' incident -the Federal Office of Civil Rights investigated Xavier and forced them to
"amend policies related to sexual assault"

http://espn.go.com/blog/collegebasketballnation/post/_/id/63416/the-strange-case-of-dezmine-wells

http://www.thexunewswire.com/get-the-facts-1.2892976

[Texas Terp]

More balanced reporting can be found here

Here is a quote from a respected newspaper:

Wells??™ case was unusual in that not only were no charges filed by a grand jury, but the prosecutor took the unusual step of seeming to publicly advocate for the player.

Hamilton County (Ohio) Prosecuting Attorney Joseph T. Deters told the Baltimore Sun last year that ???I think Maryland??™s getting a good kid, I really do.???

Read more:

http://www.baltimoresun.com/sports/terps/bal-maryland-basketball-player-dez-wells-files-suit-against-xavier-20130820,0,1499141.story#ixzz2ccXvFdRF

[tornado]

nobody will ever know what went on in the Grand Jury - those proceedings are not public and even anyone who talks publicly about the proceedings would be liable to contempt charges..
But they did not pursue charges --
we all know there are cases where Grand Juries go hog wild going after people who are later found innocent (the Duke rape case)
..and there are cases where they do not charge people who are later found to be guilty..

regardless - this just sounds like another lawyering-up situation looking for a payout..