KU seeks dismissal of lawsuit by second former rower who says she was sexually assaulted on campus

The University of Kansas on Friday filed a motion in federal court to dismiss a lawsuit in which a former KU rower says that she was sexually assaulted in campus housing by a former football player.

Friday’s filing is the second motion to dismiss that KU has made in this case.

Sarah McClure, referred to in her April 2016 lawsuit against KU as “Jane Doe 7,” said she was sexually assaulted in August 2015 by a KU football player, referred to in court documents as John Doe G. The Star learned that Jordan Goldenberg Jr., a former KU long snapper, is John Doe G.

McClure claims in her lawsuit that KU created a hostile educational environment in violation of Title IX, the federal law that protects against gender discrimination, including sexual harassment and sexual assault.

Her suit also claims the university knew about other sexual assaults in Jayhawker Towers, where she says she was assaulted, and that KU took too long to investigate.

KU in its motion calls McClure’s claims “baseless,” and says “While the University regrets that a student feels like she was exposed to any form of sexual harassment, as a matter of law, under Title IX, KU is not responsible …”

The university also says in its motion that KU investigated McClure’s report that she was assaulted and that Goldenberg was expelled.

McClure made her report to university officials and to police. No charges were ever filed against Goldenberg.

The McClure lawsuit is one of three filed against the university involving Goldenberg. Daisy Tackett, another former rower, says in her lawsuit against KU that she was raped by Goldenberg in Jayhawker Towers. Tackett told university officials but did not make a report to law enforcement, and no criminal charges were filed.

A KU investigation concluded in March that Goldenberg had “non-consensual sex” with Tackett. A separate KU investigation found that Goldenberg had “violated the university’s sexual harassment policy” when he touched McClure in a sexual way without her consent.

Those conclusions were made by KU’s office of Institutional Opportunity and Access, which investigates reports of Title IX violations on the KU campus.

A third lawsuit is a class action against KU filed by Tackett’s parents, James and Amanda Tackett, and later joined by McClure and her father, Jim. That lawsuit accuses KU of falsely advertising that student housing on the Lawrence campus is safe.

KU has asked the courts to dismiss all three lawsuits.

Attorneys for Goldenberg say the former football player “strongly denies” that he sexually assaulted either Daisy Tackett or Sarah McClure.

Letters sent to McClure and Tackett say Goldenberg was “effectively permanently expelled from the university and banned from campus for 10 years” and was “not to have contact” with Tackett “by electronic means, or other methods of communication.”

Friday’s court document says Goldenberg withdrew from KU effective March 17, 2016. And his attorneys have maintained that Goldenberg was not expelled but instead, “withdrew for non-academic misconduct in lieu of expulsion.”

This story was originally published September 9, 2016 at 8:30 PM with the headline "KU seeks dismissal of lawsuit by second former rower who says she was sexually assaulted on campus."