Quantcast
Published On: Fri, Dec 20th, 2019

Saifullah Khan sues Yale for $110 million after being cleared of rape charges

A Yale student expelled from the university even after being found not guilty of sexual assault by a jury is suing the school for $110 million, according to a federal lawsuit filed Friday.

Saifullah Khan, 26, was expelled by Yale following an allegation that he had assaulted a female student on Halloween 2015.

During the Spring of last year, Khan was found not guilty by a Connecticut court on four counts of raping the student. Yale still banned Khan from campus in January 2019.

Khan’s lawsuit seeks compensatory damages “for his lost opportunities,” and punitive damages “necessary to deter the defendants from misconduct in the future.”

“The manner in which I was recruited and then cast aside was deeply confusing and painful,” said Khan, who was born in an Afghanistan refugee camp and offered a full ride to Yale, in an e-mail to The College Fix. “I trusted Yale to do the right thing but [they] did not.”

Yale spokeswoman Karen Peart declined to comment to The Fix and declined comment to the Hartford Courant last week.

law books library

photo/ witwiccan

Yale performed an investigation, using Skype to take testimony from Khan’s Yale accuser, but Khan’s attorney was not able to ask her any questions or cross-examine her in any way – a process that had led to Khan’s exoneration in the criminal trial.

When Khan was questioned by the Yale panel, he was not allowed any assistance by a lawyer, according to the lawsuit.

While he was allowed to have a counselor present, the counselor “could neither pose questions to witnesses,” “tender objections when panel members repeatedly asked compound questions,” or object when panel members “assumed facts not in evidence.”

Further, the proceedings were not recorded, as Khan requested.

According to the lawsuit, the denial of these procedural rights “transformed the hearing process into little more than the stillbom delivery of a predetermined outcome.”

“The right of counsel to present a defense, and to protect Mr. Khan from procedural and evidentiary unfairness, was a critical factor in his successful defense of the criminal charges arising from his accuser’s accusations,” writes Khan attorney Norm Pattis in the lawsuit.

The lawsuit alleges Khan has been caught up in a culture of “precious unctuousness” at Yale, where students making accusations of sexual assault are presumed to be telling the truth.

“The campus is also in the thrall of various claims of identity entitlement, rendering the campus less a place of unbridled intellectual stimulation and more a smug hothouse catering to social justice warriors intent on remaking the world in their own image,” reads the lawsuit.

“The university turns a blind eye to the consumption of alcohol by minors on campus, realizing full well that excessive drinking makes students more reckless in the consent they give to others to engage in sexual conduct,” the lawsuit alleges.

As a result of his expulsion, the lawsuit argues Khan might be deported to his native Afghanistan, where, due to the Taliban, Khan says he “faces grave physical danger.”

On the DISPATCH: Headlines  Local  Opinion

Subscribe to Weekly Newsletter

* indicates required
/ ( mm / dd ) [ALL INFO CONFIDENTIAL]

About the Author

- Roxanne "Butter" Bracco began with the Dispatch as Pittsburgh Correspondent, but will be providing reports and insights from Washington DC, Maryland and the surrounding region. Contact Roxie aka "Butter" at theglobaldispatch@gmail ATTN: Roxie or Butter Bracco

Leave a comment

XHTML: You can use these html tags: <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <s> <strike> <strong>

like_us_on_facebook

 

The Global Dispatch Facebook page- click here

Movie News Facebook page - click here

Television News Facebook page - click here

Weird News Facebook page - click here 

DISPATCH RADIO

dispatch_radio

THE BRANDON JONES SHOW

brandon_jones_show-logo

Archives