Posted on 04/12/2017 8:38:55 AM PDT by TigerClaws
"You should consider killing yourself."
That's what Thomas Klocke, a straight male student at the University of Texas at Arlington, allegedly told a gay male classmate after finding out about his sexuality during class on May 19, 2016. The classmate filed a Title IX complaint with the university.
The problem? Klocke denied ever having made such a comment. In his version of the story, the classmate came on to him during class, calling him beautiful. Klocke felt uncomfortable, told the classmate he was straight, and moved to a different seat after the classmate wouldn't stop looking at him.
The classmate might have been worried Klocke would accuse him of sexual harassment, Klocke later guessed, because he immediately filed his own sexual harassment complaint against Klocke. The accuser told university officials that Klocke had called him a "faggot" and threatened to kill him.
Klocke maintained that he did no such thing, but the university sided with the accuser.
Days after discovering that a finding of responsibility could prevent him from getting in to grad school, Klocke committed suicide.
That's according to Watchdog.org's Ashe Schow, who writes that "if every other egregious example of a male student denied due process after being accused of sexual misconduct gets ignored—this one should not be." I suggest reading the full story here.
We will never know who was telling the truth and who was lying, though it's worth noting that in Klocke's version, he's the victim of something approaching harassment—at least according to the Education Department's broad definition of harassment under its revised Title IX guidance. And, as Title IX activists frequently remind the public, we must always believe the victims.
The investigation was biased against Klocke from the start, owing to the unfortunate fact that his accuser was on friendly terms with Associate Vice President of Student Affairs Heather Snow, who assisted the accuser in filing his complaint. Snow did not follow proper procedure, according to a lawsuit filed against the college by Klocke's family: she failed to contact the university's Title IX coordinator, and took charge of the investigation herself. Note the blatant unfairness:
Snow took control of the disciplinary procedure that involved a complaint she wrote herself. She enlisted the help of UTA's associate director of academic integrity, Daniel Moore, and had him tell Klocke he was immediately prohibited from attending the class where the incident was alleged to have occurred. Klocke was completing the course as part of a short, pre-summer semester in order to graduate that summer.
When Klocke was informed that an accusation had been lodged against him, he was not told the name of his accuser. Klocke was also informed that he could not contact anyone in the class, directly or indirectly, effectively denying him any ability to find witnesses to corroborate his story.
His accuser was able to remain in the class and find witnesses. He found only one, who didn't corroborate his account but did say he overheard someone say "you should leave." This could have been said by either Klocke or his accuser in either of their stories.
Klocke received no hearing, even though the university's Title IX policy explicitly mandates hearings for students in danger of being expelled. He was simply charged with making physical threats against a student and engaging in harassment, in violation of Title IX.
Snow conferred with Associate Director of Academic Integrity Daniel Moore, who conceded that there wasn't enough evidence against Klocke, according to the lawsuit. The administrators found him responsible for harassment anyway and placed him on disciplinary probation.
On June 2, 2016, Klocke killed himself. His family is now suing the university for, among other things, violating his Title IX rights.
How much longer must this madness continue? Students accused of sexual misconduct deserve competent legal representation, fair hearings, and the opportunity to confront their accusers. If it cannot be reasonably shown that the accused is likely guilty, he should not be punished.
The original purpose of Title IX was to ensure equality between the sexes in education. In its present day iteration, Title IX is little more than a tool for irate students to exact vengeance on people who offended them. The investigations have now begun to resemble the Salem witch trials in their contempt for principles of basic justice, capacity to destroy innocent lives, and deference to hysteria.
It's long past time for President Trump to appoint a new assistant secretary to head OCR and reverse the previous administration's Title IX guidance. For more on that subject, read Stuart Taylor Jr. in The Wall Street Journal.
Unless the victim is a straight white male...............
Wow. He killed himself over this? Maybe he really was gay after all...
If the facts are as stated in this article, Heather Snow should be fired and the university sued for millions.
Like Islamic terrorists, fags are pure Satanic evil who putrify everything they touch. God has a plan for them, too.
This is where we are headed.
Coming in the future: parents can be prosecuted for refusing to hire an “alternative lifestyle” babysitter; online dating services may be forced to treat “trans” the same as biological M or F; and more.
For ALL have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;
For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that WHOEVER believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
Fascism in the universities.
Obviously the normal guy was innocent, but that doesn’t matter once you’re accused. You lose all rights. You are always wrong. You are punished. They don’t care what you have to say. If they listen to you, it’s to trap you in your words.
You must not understand the war against boys and men in America’s schools. I’m trying to civil but someone’s beloved child is no more.
Title IX should be repealed. Completely.
Thomas Locke’s father is a lawyer according to the Dallas paper. This could get really ugly for UTA.
“Like Islamic terrorists, fags are pure Satanic evil who putrify everything they touch. God has a plan for them, too.”
Even islamic terrorists know faggotry is wrong.
In the mid-1980’s, I had been accused by a homosexual co-worker of having been overheard, by this person, engaging in a conversation where I supposedly was talking about him getting it on with animals. Needless to say, I was seriously concerned about the accusation, flabbergasted, in fact, because it just never happened. This guy was paranoid, totally unhinged. It blew over, and he left the company not long after. He and his partner moved from southeast VA to San Francisco. A seriously, mentally unstable individual, IMHO. Had this happened in a more recent time, I’d have most likely been fired, as no doubt his word would automatically have been taken as truth, no matter the circumstance.
College isn’t THAT important.
“Obviously the normal guy was innocent, but that doesn’t matter once you’re accused. You lose all rights.”
The guy should have said he identified as a woman and thought the fag was a straight man sexually harassing him. Wait for liberal implosion.
Poor kid was clearly a bit fragile to start with, to commit suicide over this. But, that said, I hope his family absolutely cleans out the University with the lawsuit, and I hope that gay student lays awake every night thinking of the “beautiful” young man he murdered. And that administrator. I hope she is haunted but good.
Bullying and its contributions to suicide is either a) bad for everyone and should be monitored and curbed, or b) something that people need to deal with on their own as part of life.
There should not be two sets of rules. If you think this guy should have been more protected and have had a safer space, then you must give the same respect to people that aren’t straight. If you think gays need to suck it up when they talk about of suicides due to bullying, then this guy should have sucked it up as well. Hypocrisy is stupidity on display.
In today's society, do you think this man had a moments peace? I wonder how many SJWs harassed him?
No, he thought his whole life was ruined and he thought he didn’t stand a chance of finding justice. Kids that age see today as being forever.
They faggot lied, a straight male died..............
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.