The University of Texas at Dallas banned a transfer student from attending his commencement ceremony next week, kicked him out of its graduate school, and said he’s unwelcome on the campus. Administrators were responding to the outrage sparked by a plea deal made by the student, a former fraternity president at Baylor University, in a 2016 rape case.
Meanwhile, a Texas lawmaker announced on Thursday that he had introduced a bill that would require colleges to note on students’ transcripts whether they had been suspended or expelled. UT-Dallas’s president indicated that the university had been unaware when it accepted the transfer student, Jacob Anderson, that he had been expelled from Baylor for allegedly raping a student outside a party hosted by his fraternity, Phi Delta Theta.
We're sorry. Something went wrong.
We are unable to fully display the content of this page.
The most likely cause of this is a content blocker on your computer or network.
Please allow access to our site, and then refresh this page.
You may then be asked to log in, create an account if you don't already have one,
or subscribe.
If you continue to experience issues, please contact us at 202-466-1032 or help@chronicle.com
The University of Texas at Dallas banned a transfer student from attending his commencement ceremony next week, kicked him out of its graduate school, and said he’s unwelcome on the campus. Administrators were responding to the outrage sparked by a plea deal made by the student, a former fraternity president at Baylor University, in a 2016 rape case.
Meanwhile, a Texas lawmaker announced on Thursday that he had introduced a bill that would require colleges to note on students’ transcripts whether they had been suspended or expelled. UT-Dallas’s president indicated that the university had been unaware when it accepted the transfer student, Jacob Anderson, that he had been expelled from Baylor for allegedly raping a student outside a party hosted by his fraternity, Phi Delta Theta.
Those developments came on the heels of a MoveOn.org petition, filed by a UT-Dallas student, calling on the university to protect students from “potential predators” and to make sure its decision to admit Anderson, 23, had been “fully informed.” By Thursday afternoon the petition had drawn more than 29,000 signatures.
The accuser in the 2016 case told the police that Anderson had handed her a drink and then assaulted her after she became disoriented. She told a judge that Anderson had taken her to a secluded area behind a tent and choked and raped her, leaving her unconscious. Both Baylor and the national fraternity suspended the Phi Delta Theta chapter there.
The case broke while the Baylor campus was already reeling from a string of sexual assaults, many of them involving athletes. The scandal led to the demotion and eventual departure of Baylor’s president, Kenneth W. Starr, and the firing of its football coach.
ADVERTISEMENT
Anderson’s case returned to the headlines on Monday, when a Texas judge accepted a plea deal in which the former Baylor student received no jail time and won’t be registered as a sex offender. Anderson, who was initially charged with four counts of sexual assault, was sentenced to probation, a fine, and counseling on a reduced charge of unlawful restraint.
On Wednesday, UT-Dallas’s president, Richard C. Benson, announced the decisions regarding Anderson in a statement posted on the university’s social-media accounts. According to published reports, Anderson is slated to graduate next week with a degree in finance and had started taking graduate courses there while working for a Dallas real-estate company. His lawyers did not return telephone calls or emails.
“Two years ago we admitted a student without knowing their legal history,” Benson wrote. “Based on recent court action and other information over the last several days, that student will not participate in UTD commencement activities, will not attend UT-Dallas graduate school, and will not be present on campus as a student or guest. I am grateful to the UT-Dallas students, faculty, and other community members who have shared their concerns, disappointment, and outrage over this student’s presence on our campus.”
In a second statement released on Thursday, the president said that if the student had met all the requirements for a degree, he would receive it. He added that the university, with faculty and student input, would review its application and enrollment processes to ensure a safe learning environment.
Disciplinary Records
The controversy is “Exhibit A” of why a bill in the Texas Legislature to require suspension and expulsion notations on transcripts would help colleges and students, said the bill’s sponsor, Rep. Chris Turner, a Democrat from Arlington.
ADVERTISEMENT
Some institutions in the state, including the University of Texas system, already make such disciplinary notations on transcripts.
A Baylor spokeswoman said there is no legal requirement for one university to alert other institutions about a student’s disciplinary record. As part of its own application process for transfer students, Baylor asks the sending college whether a student has been disciplined. If the answer is yes, it asks for additional information.
Kelsey Casto, the UT-Dallas student who started the petition, said on Thursday that she was “over the moon” about her university’s action and the proposed legislation.
“We didn’t expect such quick action,” she said. “In the past, concerns about sexual assault have been swept under the rug. The response speaks volumes about how tired people are that sex crimes are not only occurring, but occurring with impunity.”
Casto said she had decided to start the petition after reading about Anderson’s plea deal and his transfer to her campus.
ADVERTISEMENT
On Monday, Anderson’s accuser criticized the judge and the plea agreement in an emotional victim-impact statement.
“Everyone knows Jacob Anderson violently raped me repeatedly and almost killed me. The evidence is overwhelming,” she wrote. “He is now free to roam society, stalk women, and no one will know he is a sex offender.”
Anderson’s lawyers told the Waco Tribune Herald that the accuser’s statement was “riddled with distortions and misrepresentations.” They said that there was no evidence that she had been drugged, and that witnesses had seen her kissing Anderson passionately during the party. “She made statements to two separate male students that this may have been consensual,” Mark Daniel, one of the lawyers, told the newspaper. “Those boys said she seemed fine, seemed calm and collected immediately afterward, as if nothing had happened.”
On Thursday a petition was circulating that called for the judge who had sentenced Anderson to be removed from office.
ADVERTISEMENT
Some have compared the case to that of Brock Turner, a Stanford University swimmer who received a six-month prison sentence for sexually assaulting an unconscious woman outside a fraternity party.
Katherine Mangan writes about community colleges, completion efforts, and job training, as well as other topics in daily news. Follow her on Twitter @KatherineMangan, or email her at katherine.mangan@chronicle.com.
Katherine Mangan writes about community colleges, completion efforts, student success, and job training, as well as free speech and other topics in daily news. Follow her @KatherineMangan, or email her at katherine.mangan@chronicle.com.