My client was dating a girl with significant emotional issues which likely included Borderline Personality Disorder. One day she flipped out when he moved her dog off the bed and their relationship ended. There was never any violence nor threats. He was confused by her actions and she sent mixed messages over the next 2 months. Eventually, she complained to the school that he would not leave her alone. The mixed messages were to blame.

What did he do wrong? He would text her and say positive things, like I hope you have a good day or good luck on your exam. She would sometimes respond. The messages were not constant nor at strange hours nor rude/mean/threatening. He was being friendly. She was not clear with what she wanted. Until after about 2 months, one message that said to stop contacting her. After that, he send 2-3 more texts over about a week. He was confused.

CU found him responsible for stalking under the sexual misconduct section of the Title IX code. There was no claim of unwanted sexual contact, it is called sexual misconduct based on a broad definition. The sanction was a 2 year suspension when he was 3 months from graduation.

My investigation found that she had made similar claims against at least 2 other people while at CU. One was an RA and one was a former roommate. Both told us stories about he lies and manipulations. We were able to prove some lies. We also found that she was violent and threatening to people in sorority, so much so that she was removed from her sorority suite and removed from her executive position in the sorority.

Despite the evidence of her lies and misdeeds, we lost. A big reason was that he gave an interview to CU prior to talking to a lawyer and without understanding the severity of the situation he was in. Cautionary tale indeed.

Worse, he was not allowed to be on campus nor finish school. He was one semester from graduating. He was supposed to start graduation school at CU the following Fall. In addition, since he was suspended, his student visa was revoked.

Fortunately, he had a separate visa allowing him to stay in the US. He was able to transfer to another school to graduate. This school also accepted him into their graduate program. We tried to win this one, but did not. We considered a Federal lawsuit, but my client was simply happy to move on at his new school.

You cannot win them all. Lessons were learned here. We found lots of evidence that supported a different finding and would have supported a lawsuit. I am happy that my client’s life was not derailed. I wish we could have had more success. I fear for the next person this girl harms. CU is not protecting its students by ignoring her serious problems.