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Quote:Maryland guard Dez Wells suing Xavier for expulsion
14 minutes ago

University of Maryland guard Dez Wells filed a federal lawsuit Tuesday seeking damages against his former school, Xavier University, and its president, Father Michael Graham, over what he asserts was his wrongful expulsion last summer.

The suit alleges Xavier failed to follow its own policies when deciding to expel him following a 2012 allegation of sexual assault. The local prosecutor investigated the case and not only declined to charge Wells but declared in media accounts the allegation "didn't reach anything close to a standard of proof" and "should never have gotten to the point where someone's reputation is ruined." A grand jury also declined to indict the basketball star.

The lawsuit, filed in United States District Court in Cincinnati seeks monetary compensation, as well as an overturning of the expulsion to clear Wells' name of what he calls a false accusation.

Wells, according to his attorney, has no interest in returning to Xavier, but has suffered "severe emotional distress" for having been essentially deemed a rapist – and heckled as such while playing road games. This, Wells said, is his best chance to set the record straight with the public and hold Xavier accountable.

"From the moment this nightmare began, I've been trying to get everyone to understand that I am innocent," Wells said in a statement through attorney Peter Ginsberg. "The supposed leaders at Xavier destroyed my reputation. It needs to make this right. Xavier needs to set the record straight."

Xavier released a statement from Father Graham to Yahoo! Sports on Tuesday evening.

"We have read the complaint and the allegations of wrongdoing are unfounded and cannot be supported," Graham said. "The process used by the Xavier University Conduct Board applies to all of our students and is the standard used in American universities. After members of the Conduct Board reached their decision, the matter was considered and upheld in an appeal. The sanction for the offense was expulsion.

"The University has never revealed the specific charge against Dez Wells other than to say he was found responsible for a violation of the Student Code of Conduct. The university will vigorously defend the process and the decision."

After being expelled in the summer of 2012, Wells transferred to Maryland. The NCAA, in a rare move, ruled on appeal to grant him immediate eligibility rather than make him sit out a season like most transfers. He started 37 of 38 games and led the Terrapins in scoring with 13.1 points a game. He will be a focal point of the team again this season.

It is highly unusual, if not unprecedented, for an active, high-profile player to file a federal suit against another NCAA member institution. Adding to the uniqueness of the case, Wells' most powerful advocate is Hamilton, Ohio prosecutor Joseph Deters, who has forcefully and publicly, defended Wells and blasted Xavier's handling of the incident as "fundamentally unfair."

"If I thought [Wells] did this, he'd be in prison," Deters says in the lawsuit. "I wouldn't pull any punches."
Wells, a native of Raleigh, N.C., was named to the Atlantic 10 All-Rookie team following the 2011-12 season.

Last summer, on the night of June 7, 2012, he engaged in what he asserts was consensual sex with a Xavier student.
The two, among others, had been hanging out that night in their dorm playing a game of group "truth or dare," according to the lawsuit. "A number of the dares were sexual in nature," the suit alleges, including lap dances and stripping. The two kissed multiple times during the evening before going to the woman's room, where, according to the suit, she asked if Wells had a condom before they had sex.

The next day she reported to the campus police she had been sexually assaulted. She later met with Cincinnati police but declined to press charges. Undeterred, Deters, the local prospector assigned two staff members to look into the incident.

Deters, according to the suit, quickly "developed serious concerns about [the] truthfulness of the allegations." He left messages with Father Graham, the Xavier president, in an effort to convey those concerns but the messages were not returned, the suit alleges. He later discussed with another Xavier official and instructed his concerns be passed on Graham.
Before the prosecutor finished his work and a grand jury cleared Wells, however, the player was called before Xavier's University Conduct Board, where the lawsuit alleges a group of administrators, faculty and students "impermissibly placed the burden on Wells to prove his innocence."

The suit runs through a litany of what it alleges are breaches of the UCB rules and procedures. It also hammers the group for either dismissing or ignoring the concerns of the prosecutor's office, failing to wait for "vital laboratory tests" and allowing for just a brief, two-day appeal process. It also alleged UCB members "had received woefully inadequate training" to make a ruling on these kinds of cases.

The UCB expelled Wells on Aug. 3, 2012. On Aug. 28, a grand jury declined to indict him and Deters took to the local media to stand up for the player and urge Xavier to reconsider.

Ginsberg alleges Xavier acted unfairly to Wells because it was under pressure from an investigation by the U.S. Education Department's Office of Civil Rights for mishandling previous allegations brought against male students and treating them too leniently.

"It was much more anxious to appease the Department of Education then satisfy its own obligations to fairness for its own students," Ginsberg told Yahoo! Sports Tuesday night. "Unfortunately, Dez was the sacrificial lamb."

Ginsberg cites Father Graham ignoring the prosecutor's urge for caution and reconsideration as proof.
"It should have been clear to university officials on their own that the accusations were fictitious," Ginsberg said. "Add to that a trained professional with no skin in the game was imploring Father Graham to hold off and act responsibility and Father Graham simply ignored Mr. Deters admonitions."

The suit seeks a jury trial in Ohio and seeks unspecified damages. Outside the specific wording of the lawsuit, Wells stated he is also seeking an apology from Father Graham.

http://sports.yahoo.com/news/ncaab--mary...02176.html

Hope Wells gets a gillion dollars from that shithouse.

(08-20-2013 10:17 PM)ctipton Wrote:  Hope Wells gets a gillion dollars from that shithouse.

I think we can all agree with that one

Typical Xavier leadership

(08-20-2013 10:17 PM)ctipton Wrote:  Hope Wells gets a gillion dollars from that shithouse.

Couldn't have said it better.

Disclaimer -- I AM NOT AN ATTORNEY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Dez's attorney should cause Dawn Rogers to appear in court and question her about the reason she left the employment of XU. Then, the plaintiff's counsel can demonstrate that double standards exist and that they are part and parcel of the way that XU operates. Learned counsel should then be able to extract mucho dinero out of those who love to cover up criminal activity.

How does God Father Graham keep his job????????????????????

The ugly X girl that Dez was porking, did she get kicked out of school?

They'll settle before it ever goes to court.

Investigation, Dez Wells case double whammy for Xavier
Started with game of 'truth or dare'
Aug. 21, 2013


Former Xavier standout Dez Wells (left) now plays basketball for the University of Maryland. / John David Mercer-USA TODAY Sports

Written by
Cliff Peale

Right about the time Xavier University was expelling basketball star Dez Wells in August 2012, it had just wrapped up negotiations for a settlement with federal civil rights agencies.

Both issues concerned sexual assault. Wells had been found responsible for raping a fellow student. And a separate federal probe from the Education Department’s Office of Civil Rights (OCR) came after three other women accused XU of discriminating against them in 2008 and 2009 after they filed sexual assault claims.

But in a federal lawsuit filed Tuesday against Xavier and President Rev. Michael Graham, Wells charges that because of the federal investigation, the university ignored evidence from Hamilton County Prosecutor Joe Deters that the charges were unfounded.

“For fear that it would once again alienate OCR, and because of Father Graham’s own political concerns, Xavier ignored Deters’ request and advice,” Wells charges in the complaint.

According to the lawsuit, Wells and other students were playing “truth or dare” in Wells’ XU dorm early in the morning of July 7, 2012. The “dares” in the game involved lap dances and other sexual behavior.

Wells said he went back to the woman’s dorm room and they had consensual sex. According to the complaint, she claimed later that day she had been sexually assaulted.

The lawsuit claims that a police investigation “revealed that (the student) had not suffered any trauma from the intercourse with Wells.”

On July 12, Wells was informed by campus police that he had been accused of rape, leading to a student disciplinary hearing and his expulsion.

Wells, who is now a student at and playing basketball for the University of Maryland, is seeking unspecified compensatory and punitive damages.

“From the moment this nightmare began, I’ve told the truth,” Wells said in a statement released by his lawyer. “I am innocent. The folks at Xavier wouldn’t listen. Xavier destroyed my reputation. It’s time to make this right. Xavier needs to set the record straight.”

XU would not comment further except to say that it had treated Wells as it would treat any other student.

In September 2012, Graham told The Enquirer that Wells’ case was connected to the OCR investigation. The agency required Xavier to immediately remove any source of sexual harassment against any student.

“Effectively what the prosecutor wanted me to do was intervene in the process in precisely the way the (Office of Civil Rights) investigation prohibited me from doing,” Graham said at the time. “I can't do that. I would have been in violation of federal law.”

http://news.cincinnati.com/article/20130...for-Xavier

Does his lawsuit mention that the young lady was so drunk that she was incapable of making a decision? Many states still label that as rape.

Oh UC fans please never change :)

08...Even you must feel like Dez Wells got railroaded and falsely accused.

When a entity (XU) damages you, your seek an apology or damages.

I hope Dez Wells gets both.

(08-23-2013 11:53 AM)Milhouse08 Wrote:  Oh UC fans please never change :)

Deters was on 700 WLW, The Big One, the Nation Station and said the the Hamilton County Prosecutor personally told Godfather Graham that Wells' expulsion would come back to haunt X and that there was insufficient evidence to do anything.

You may want to ask Dez if he intends to fire Graham after he owns X.

Lastly, please enjoy playing your future games in the Dez Wells Center after he kicks Cintas to the curb as well.

It seems to me that Wells is an A hole, innocent or not. Hard for me to side with him on anything.
For ugzavier, they could have handled it better but had they done nothing it would have been "ugzavier sweeps everything under the rug". Well, they did something, apparently without doing their homework (like the ugzavier hoops team) and now they will get burned.

The only delight I take from this whole thing is that Wells is gone from our city.

(08-24-2013 08:44 AM)beck Wrote:  It seems to me that Wells is an A hole, innocent or not. Hard for me to side with him on anything.
For ugzavier, they could have handled it better but had they done nothing it would have been "ugzavier sweeps everything under the rug". Well, they did something, apparently without doing their homework (like the ugzavier hoops team) and now they will get burned.

The only delight I take from this whole thing is that Wells is gone from our city.

The only reason they did something is because the FBI was investigating.

Maybe so, but they did do it. Interesting stuff ahead.

Dez is going to get paid huge. Wish I was co-counsel. Their 35% is going to be a fat number on this case.

Hope he wins, but at the end of the day he was just your typical Xavier thug that they were looking for any way to get out when they cleaned house last off season.

He wasn't a thug, just cut from a different cloth.

(08-24-2013 09:53 AM)BcatMatt13 Wrote:  

(08-24-2013 08:44 AM)beck Wrote:  It seems to me that Wells is an A hole, innocent or not. Hard for me to side with him on anything.
For ugzavier, they could have handled it better but had they done nothing it would have been "ugzavier sweeps everything under the rug". Well, they did something, apparently without doing their homework (like the ugzavier hoops team) and now they will get burned.

The only delight I take from this whole thing is that Wells is gone from our city.

The only reason they did something is because the FBI was investigating.

That is precisely right.

Were it not for the federal investigation, Xavier would have continued in their routine "in house" handling which apparently consisted of convincing "victims" their incident was all a misunderstanding and pressuring them not to take it further.

Xavier has quite a dark places and several rugs with big dirt lumps under them. The feds put a light on this one and forced them to handle things like a real university. I honestly think Dez was expelled because they were so accustomed to operating in secrecy that they had no idea what to do when forced to utilize a "real", transparent, above board process.