COLUMBIA, Mo. _ Two women allege the University of Missouri's Title IX office mishandled its case involving former Tigers basketball player Terrence Phillips, according to a lawsuit filed Monday in U.S. District Court.
The two plaintiffs, named as Jane Doe 1 and Jane Doe 2 in the suit, which was filed against the curators of the University of Missouri, claim MU did not fully follow its rules in the investigation of Phillips, which concluded in 2018.
The lawsuit, submitted by St. Louis-area attorneys Gerard T. Carmody, Ryann C. Carmody and Candace E. Johnson, calls for compensatory and punitive damages, along with requiring the university to change its Title IX policies. A representative for Carmody MacDonald, the attorneys' firm, said it would not comment about the suit because it was pending.
University of Missouri spokesperson Christian Basi told The Star that the school was still reviewing the lawsuit.
The Title IX case started when multiple female students alleged physical and sexual misconduct by Phillips. Federal law requires Title IX offices investigate reports of sexual discrimination or violence on school campuses. The investigations are separate from any law enforcement entity.
The Title IX office cleared Phillips of rape and stalking allegations, according to the suit, but found him responsible for violating two Title IX policies. The first was for intimate partner violence, when he pushed an ex-girlfriend in 2016. The other was for violating Section 3 of MU Title IX office's policy on Sex Discrimination, Sexual Harassment and Sexual Misconduct in Education/Employment Policy. That includes "exposing one's genitals to another under circumstances in which one should reasonably know that the conduct is likely to cause affront or alarm."
Phillips was indefinitely suspended from the basketball team in late January 2018 and dismissed from the team the following month.
