EMU agreed to $6.85M Title IX lawsuit settlement amid sex assault cases

Eastern Michigan University agreed to pay $6.85 million to settle two federal Title IX lawsuits brought by 23 women and one man.

The settlement — reached in September 2023, leading to the cases’ closures in late October — brings an end to the university’s civil entanglements in a series of sexual assault cases still winding their way through the criminal justice system.

The criminal cases center on accusations that multiple men, including fraternity members and a man who had become a Washtenaw County Sheriff’s deputy by the time the case arose, raped, gang-raped and otherwise sexually assaulted women while the men were students. The civil cases brought in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan named those men and alleged even more assailants, including women.

The university was accused in the federal lawsuits of a cover-up, turning a blind eye between 2014 and 2020 to sexual assaults and leaving the 24 individuals vulnerable to assaults they endured; the school continued to deny fault and liability in a copy of the master settlement agreement obtained this week through a Freedom of Information Act request.

Here’s what the settlement details:

• It’s not just money to address injuries. EMU agreed to have two of the civil accusers sit on an ad hoc Title IX advisory board for a two-year term. Additionally, EMU agreed to set a meeting with one civil accuser, the school’s Title IX coordinator and its police chief to discuss her experience and the impact.

• There were ultimately 43 people identified as potentially having a claim against the school. It’s unclear how many, if any, of the additional people claimed other sexual assaults had occurred. The language of the agreement includes, for example, relatives or trustees with losses.

• A retired judge was selected to review each claim and then allocate each person’s portion of the settlement.

• Details of the settlement were not to be shared except through avenues like a Freedom of Information Act, or FOIA, response. The parties also agreed to only communicate “(i) to indicate that the matter has been resolved amicably, and (ii) to discuss ongoing forward-looking Title IX efforts at the University.”

Part of the concern in not releasing information ahead of a FOIA was for the criminal process still playing out, said Walter Kraft, vice president for communications at EMU, reading from a prepared statement Friday.

“This resolution covers all of the ongoing Title IX lawsuits,” he said. “We look forward to continuing our commitment to provide exemplary and caring Title IX services to all who seek them on our campus.”

A lawyer for the women and the man in the case could not immediately be reached for comment.

The lawsuits came amid a Free Press investigation. Its findings ultimately included:

• The school received a Title IX report that one man had assaulted multiple women. The school did not act, and later said it could not act because the report was anonymous. The man named in that report, Dustyn Durbin, 27, of Frenchtown Township, was charged in 2020 with assaults on nine women. Three assaults testified to in court by two women would have occurred after that Title IX filing.

• The Title IX report filed about Durbin detailed the month of the reported assault, the year, a location — using an acronym for the fraternity house — and Durbin’s name.  The Free Press reported the university’s online reporting form did not indicate anonymous reports could be treated differently than non-anonymous reports. As of February 2024, the school’s reporting system included an alert that the Title IX office may be limited in its response without a survivor’s name or contact information.

• The woman in the gang rape case involving the deputy claimed she was discouraged by the school’s Title IX office from reporting her assault, which the school denied.

• A man, Paul Whitfield, was criminally charged after trying to report that assault, repeatedly calling the two men rapists online and contacting them. The men accused of the assault were not charged until years later. Whitfield’s conviction was vacated amid Free Press reporting, the lawsuits, and criminal cases against the men he named — Thomas Hernandez, 26, of Lincoln Park, and Washtenaw County Sheriff's Deputy D'Angelo McWilliams, 28, of Canton. McWilliams is on unpaid administrative leave pending the outcome of the case.

The school, which faced backlash and protests, along with the Greek organizations, after the sexual assault cases emerged at the Ypsilanti campus, has since announced multiple efforts to address concerns.

It reiterated and added to those Friday, noting:

• It moved its Title IX office to the student center “to provide services in a location that students find welcoming and supportive,” changed its structure to now fall under the school’s chief diversity officer and added another position to the department.

• It is updating its Title IX case management software. And Kraft told the Free Press a system now exists to allow anonymous reporters to message back and forth with Title IX staff without revealing their names.

• It requires mandatory annual Title IX training for students, has invested in additional training for staff in the Title IX process, got a grant that helped it publish new resource materials and survivor handbooks, and got an institution-wide membership to the Association of Title IX Administrators, which has training and certification courses.

• It implemented recommendations and revamped policies and procedures to keep up to date on regulations and rulings “to better serve both students who come forward to report potential Title IX violations, and respondents whose due process rights must be upheld.”

An audit launched by the university amid Free Press questioning and the criminal cases back in 2020 found deficiencies in the school’s Title IX files in the cases, with key communications and notes missing. It also found that the school received the reports on the three men charged at the time in 2020 either anonymously or through individuals who didn’t wish to move forward with Title IX. None of the women involved in those three men’s cases agreed to speak with the audit firm.

“We are laser-focused on creating an excellent, supportive Title IX environment for all on Eastern Michigan University’s campus,” Kraft said, speaking on the school’s efforts.

The lawsuit was brought against the school’s Board of Regents, police department, now-former police chief Robert Heighes, former Title IX Coordinator Melody Werner, former police deputy chief Daniel Karrick, and former Greek Life and leadership development coordinator Kyle Martin.

One sorority, Sigma Kappa, and three fraternities, Delta Tau Delta, Theta Chi and Alpha Sigma Phi, were also originally sued in the cases. The Greek entities resolved their parts in the cases at earlier dates.

Eastern Michigan University is the latest Michigan college to pay a settlement tied to sex assault cases.

Michigan State University agreed to pay $500 million to cover 332 claimants and future ones tied to Larry Nassar, the MSU doctor who treated athletes at the school, USA Gymnastics and private gyms, sexually assaulting them under the guise of medical care.

The University of Michigan agreed to pay $490 million after being sued by 1,050 former athletes and other U-M students regarding sexual abuse by the late Dr. Robert Anderson, a former football team doctor.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Eastern Michigan agrees to $6.85M Title IX lawsuits payout