Football Player Sues Michigan State for Suspension amid Sexual Assault Investigation

A Michigan State football player, known only as John Doe, has filed a lawsuit against the school claiming he has been unfairly suspended amid a sexual assault investigation, per Ken Palmer of the Lansing State Journal.

A female student said the sophomore was one of two Spartans football players to sexually assault her in January 2021. The plaintiff denies the claim, saying the encounter was consensual.

Michigan State head coach Mel Tucker suspended the player indefinitely from all team activities after learning of the accusation in February. The investigation remains active, preventing the player from returning to the team.

"Depriving plaintiff of access to the football team's activities deprives plaintiff of a substantial educational opportunity," the lawsuit states.

The woman asked Michigan State to conduct a formal investigation on March 30, although there has been no resolution to this point.

"MSU has not completed the grievance process, has not submitted the case to the final decision-makers, has not held a hearing, and has not provided Plaintiff with either updates regarding timing or an end date," the lawsuit stated, per ESPN's Paula Lavigne.

Michigan State didn't comment on the matter, calling it a "pending litigation," according to Matt Wenzel of MLive.com.

The school hired a new Title IX coordinator earlier this month with Nicole Schmidtke replacing Tanya Jachimiak in a role that oversees sexual assault allegations. Michigan State was fined $4.5 million by the U.S. Education Department in 2019 because of its lack of compliance with Title IX, mostly stemming from sexual assault allegations against former university doctor Larry Nassar.

Lavigne and Nicole Noren of ESPN also reported in 2018 an extensive list of sexual assault and domestic violence accusations against Spartans football players under then-head coach Mark Dantonio. Tucker was hired in February 2020 after Dantonio resigned.