Yale Administrator Encouraged Accuser To Come Forward, Then Judged Accused In Kangaroo Court

A Yale basketball captain who was expelled several years ago for allegedly sexually assaulting a woman he had an ongoing sexual relationship with has produced an updated opposition filing that includes a bombshell conflict of interest.

Jack Montague and his attorneys recently discovered that David Post, who chaired the hearing panel against the basketball player, had been directly involved in getting his accuser to file a claim against him.

Yale procedures ban anyone from the hearing panel “who has participated in the resolution of an informal complaint arising out of the same events,” or “if their relationship to the complainant or the respondent or other circumstances lead them to believe that they cannot judge the matter fairly,” according to the filing.

But Post was called in to assist Yale’s Deputy Title IX Coordinator Angela Gleason in convincing Montague’s accuser — referred to only as Jane Roe in court documents — to file a formal complaint against him, after she had opted for an informal resolution that wouldn’t punish the former basketball captain.

Gleason didn’t contact Montague about the informal complaint, but was instead called into a meeting of Title IX administrators to discuss going after Montague because Roe’s roommate claimed there was another “rape” victim. Gleason contacted this alleged victim, “who refused to confirm any incident with Montague.” Because of this, Gleason needed Roe to authorize a formal complaint, otherwise the school couldn’t move forward due to their policy. In order to persuade Roe to file such a complaint, Gleason claimed there was a “new development” in the case and asked her to meet. She threatened that “she would not be able to keep [Roe’s] name confidential” because a previous informal complaint had been filed against Montague.

This “new development” was not new; Montague had previously been reprimanded for stuffing a rolled up paper plate down a woman’s shirt during an argument. The woman didn’t allege anything sexual about the incident, and it bore no resemblance to the rape claims from Roe.

Of course, Gleason left the details out.

Gleason called in Post, who tried to “comfort” Roe by suggesting she could either be a complainant or allow the university to file the complaint on her behalf. Roe decided to file the formal complaint, thinking she needed to “protect other women.”

“Post could hardly claim to be without any predisposition to accept Roe’s testimony when he had directly participated in the effort to persuade her to come forward,” Montague’s filing says. “But his pre-hearing ex parte role was not disclosed to Montague and thus Montague was deprived of the opportunity to request Post’s recusal.”

Other information in the court filings, highlighted by author and professor K.C. Johnson, suggested Yale had a “practice” of destroying panelists’ notes on campus tribunals, but admitted that it was not a written policy.

Montague had been accused of raping a woman after previously having consensual sex (by both accounts) with her three times. After the fourth encounter, which Montague said played out just as the previous encounters had, the woman left but returned to spend the night with the Yale basketball captain. A year later, she would claim that he raped her that night.

Montague was expelled, even though Yale’s own investigation found he could have reasonably believed he had consent through her actions.

He sued, and unless he and the school reach a settlement, they are heading toward a trial in October.