On August 11, 2022, John Doe amended a lawsuit against the University of Maryland because the Title IX office ignored his complaints about sexual harassment after he was defamed as a rapist. The University of Maryland failed to protect his rights, violating several Title IX requirements even though the university exonerated him of any wrongdoing. His attorneys wrote:
“John Doe was fully exonerated of horrendous and malicious false allegations, the University of Maryland repeatedly refused to protect his rights as a student. The University allowed Doe to be publicly defamed as a rapist by students who worked closely with the University’s Title IX office. When Doe submitted his complaints to the University alleging violations of University policy, including retaliation and sexual harassment, the University ignored his complaints. Left with no other option, Doe files this complaint against Defendants for gender-based discrimination resulting in numerous violations of Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 (20 U.S.C. § 1681 et seq.), violations of his right to equal protection, defamation, and intentional infliction of emotional distress.”
On October 1, 2026, a jury answered yes to each of the four questions below, in documents reviewed by InHisWords.
Did Plaintiff prove by a preponderance of the evidence that he was subjected to harassment on the basis of his sex?
Jury verdict: YES.Did Plaintiff prove by a preponderance of the evidence that the harassment was so severe, pervasive, and objectively offensive that it deprived him of equal access to an educational opportunity or benefit at the University of Maryland, College Park?
Jury verdict: YES.Did Plaintiff prove by a preponderance of the evidence that the University of Maryland, College Park, was deliberately indifferent to the harassment — that is, that the University’s response was clearly unreasonable in light of the known circumstances?
Jury verdict: YES.If you answered “YES” to each of the previous questions 1 through 3, do you find that the plaintiff is entitled to nominal damages of $1?
Jury verdict: YES.
“This is the first case where a jury has found that false accusations of rape can constitute sexual harassment, and the first time a university has been found liable for deliberate indifference to that harassment,” Greaves told The Daily Wire. “This case is a landmark for falsely accused men in universities.”
John Doe’s $1 damages award in the University of Maryland case was a symbolic victory, making the claim more about accountability than money. It does, however, allow the lawyers to potentially claim legal fees from the university.
The Cornell Affair could lead to a similar complaint if those who were accused are found to have been not responsible. “Not Responsible” is the Title IX term for a finding that the accused student did not violate policy. The Title IX Office is not responsible, however, for associating a false claim with the accuser.
The Maryland case opens the door to future lawsuits and the responsibilities of universities to protect all parties, something the university seems to be struggling to do in the Cornell Affair. Although none of the students have been criminally charged in the Cornell Affair, the university is feeling the weight of social pressures coming from its student body, policymakers, and the press.
It is fair to argue that male students who are accused face an uphill battle in many of these cases and that it may be time to revisit the role of Title IX in ensuring all parties are protected until all the evidence is known and parties have had ample time to respond. It’s also time to challenge the college rape myth, which tends to inflate incidents for political purposes—something addressed in my piece earlier this week and summarized below.
But let’s take the congresswoman’s concern seriously and look at some of the numbers. The New York Post reported that there were 8,227 rapes at colleges and universities across the U.S. in 2024. (That original reporting is incorrect and has since been changed by the Post to 5,799 rapes.) Against the 20,066,904 students enrolled at Title IV schools that fall and my own analysis, according to the National Center for Education Statistics and Clery on campus rape counts, that is 0.027 percent, or 27 rapes per 100,000 students—not 27 perpetrators per 100,000.
The original New York Post figure was updated on October 6, 2026 sometime after I emailed the Post on October 5, 2026. Based on their new numbers (5,799) and my own research on Clery (5,379 on campus rapes), the total number of rapes reported is 30-35% lower than the original reporting. (bold my emphasis).
These are occurrence reports and not actual verified rapes. The data, however, is unclear on the actual number of complainants and accused perpetrators, which makes it seem as though there are more perpetrators than there actually are.
Accusations include one person making multiple claims against the same person. That is the reason the Utah figures reported in the New York Post article are misleading. (The New York Post was contacted for comment only a few hours before publication and did not respond in time.)
According to the New York Post, the University of Utah had the most claims at 146 in the year 2024. What the New York Post did not report is that 110 of the 146 were made by one person who claimed to have been raped 110 times by the same long-term partner. In 2023, the University of Utah had 175 claims, of which 150 were made by one person.
In 2025, one person accounted for 70 of the 87 on-campus rape counts at the University of Florida in Gainesville.
The Cornell Affair is different than the Maryland case, because there are so many parts to a case that still remains open. But looking at the case in Ithaca as it currently stands, Rep Ocasio-Cortez, Governor Kathy Hochul, and New York Attorney General Letitia James—who was also assigned as special prosecutor by Governor Hochul—have all made presumptive claims that could prejudice a jury pool.
Maryland shows a school can be liable for ignoring a campaign against a student it cleared.
Damn! Any way to determine the actual number of rapists? If this happens multiple times it could really bring that number down. Leave it to the universities to create stats that are misleading.
I saw this description of this case by doing a Brave.com search:
John Doe was awarded $1 (nominal damages) in his lawsuit against the University of Maryland because his legal team intentionally sought only that amount to emphasize that the case was about accountability and clearing his name, rather than financial gain. His attorney, Jared Greaves, stated the goal was to secure a legal precedent that Title IX protects all students and to hold the university liable for its deliberate indifference to the harassment Doe suffered after he was cleared of sexual misconduct allegations. While the initial lawsuit sought approximately $10 million, the jury’s $1 verdict legally recognizes that Doe’s civil rights were violated, even if measurable monetary harm was not the primary focus, and it also ensures his legal fees are covered by the university.