Former Yale University men's basketball captain Jack Montague confirmed Monday he plans to sue the school over his Feb. 10 expulsion. In a scalding statement, his lawyer, Max Stern, called Yale's decision "arbitrary, and excessive by any rational measure."
The statement also claimed Montague was being used as a "whipping boy" for the nation's campus sexual assault issue. Yale students previously held demonstrations on campus to condemn the basketball team's support of Montague, calling the former captain a "rapist."
"We strongly believe that the decision to expel Jack Montague was wrong, unfairly determined, arbitrary, and excessive by any rational measure," read Stern's statement. "Yale has been oblivious to the catastrophic and irreparable damage resulting from these allegations and determinations. The expulsion not only deprives Jack of the degree which he was only three months short of earning, but has simultaneously destroyed both his educational and basketball careers."
Montague has not been charged with a crime and the New Haven Police are not investigating him. The case seems to be limited to Yale's campus. The alleged victim reported her sexual relationship with Montague to a Title IX coordinator about a year after the fact. The Title IX coordinator then filed a complaint against Montague with the school's University-Wide Committee.
Montague and the female had sexual contact on four separate occasions in the fall of 2014. Stern's statement indicated the fourth and final instance took place in October and was the one the alleged victim said occurred without her consent. Stern claimed Montague and the woman had sexual contact twice that day and the first time was the one she said was non-consensual.
"The panel chose to believe the woman, by a 'preponderance of the evidence,'" read the statement. "We believe that it defies logic and common sense that a woman would seek to re-connect and get back into bed with a man who she says forced her to have unwanted sex just hours earlier. And yet the Dean accepted this conclusion and ordered Jack to be expelled. His decision was then upheld by the Provost."
Montague's case has sent Yale's campus into a strange place, as the team is making its first NCAA Tournament appearance in 54 years. Students who have been critical of the team's public displays of support for Montague find it hard to enjoy the Bulldogs' run.
"We should be really proud... but how can you be really proud when they are standing up for someone who did something wrong?" said Olivia Briffault, a junior at Yale. "It felt out of place. It felt like the wrong thing to do."
