The above image is taken from a Change.org petition signed by 2,500+ people urging USC Interim President Wanda Austin to reinstate Premjee.

On July 26th, 2017, in a pretrial hearing for a criminal case against USC student Armaan Premjee, Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Michael Pastor told prosecutors they had not met the “minimal” burden of “reasonable suspicion,” and accordingly tossed out the case. Security footage from a nightclub showing the rape accuser leading Premjee by the hand into a car and to her hotel room played a substantial role.

Judge Pastor went on to say:

I look to the totality of the evidence in this case, not any individual aspect of evidence. And as I evaluate the totality of evidence from the initial encounter between Arshia [the accuser] and the defendant, Mr. Premjee, I believe that there was consent and there remained consent throughout the unfortunate incidents in this case. There is no indication of any withdrawal of consent. There is a very strong indication that the alleged victim in this case was the initiator of any conduct between the defendant and the alleged victim. …

Eight months later, USC’s Office of Equity & Diversity (OED) found Premjee guilty anyway and expelled him. He had six credits left before graduation. In addition to disregarding the video evidence, USC did not allow his attorney and advisor Harland Braun to speak during administrative hearings. When Braun attempted to anyway USC showed him the door and, per a USC statement, told him to instead “send another lawyer from his firm or another individual of his client’s choosing” if Premjee wished to continue having an advisor.

This is the same USC where Title IX Coordinator Gretchen Means remarked to a colleague, “Does that college motherfucker know who I am?” when another student she expelled initiated an appeal. Means’ bias was also a substantial factor in yet another case in which USC was ordered to pay $112,000 in attorney’s fees.

Now, following a hearing on December 18th, USC has reinstated Premjee. Remarkably, this reinstatement was in fact initiated by USC. The Daily Trojan explains:

…due to recent California court rulings requiring new investigative procedures, Judge Elizabeth White granted USC’s request to halt legal proceedings on Premjee’s appeal at the hearing. The University decided to reinstate Premjee and reopen the investigation of the case to ensure fair and lawful adjudication under new regulations.

Those “recent California court rulings” referred to are almost certainly the Court of Appeals ruling against USC in another case a mere seven days prior in which the Court reversed the Superior Court’s decision, granted John Doe’s writ of administrative mandate and – as in the other Doe v. USC case – awarded attorney’s costs.

Can USC be taught to play fair? Or will they, à la their neighbor California State University, soon post litigation reports in their online Board of Trustees meeting records highlighting the excessive spike in the costs of defending litigation by students wrongly disciplined for sexual misconduct?

This case is in our Title IX Lawsuits Database.