A federal jury in Maryland ruled last week that the University of Maryland let harassment of a cleared student continue. An outside hearing officer had cleared him of sexual assault in 2021 and found his accuser’s credibility badly undercut. According to his lawsuit, students then told his club lacrosse team he was a rapist, and he lost his spot. The jury called the school’s response “clearly unreasonable” and awarded him $1. That may be the cheapest lesson in the history of higher education.
Sexual misconduct on campus is back in the headlines, and the lesson is old. Blackstone argued that ten guilty men should go free before one innocent suffers. Wait for the facts, all of them, before you share, post, or pile on. Innocent until proven guilty governs courtrooms. It doesn’t govern group chats, and the damage done there is rarely refundable.
