ALBANY – The expulsion of a male student from a State University of New York campus after he had a sexual encounter with a female student that may have been consensual was too harsh, a divided state appeals court ruled Thursday.
The 3-2 majority of the Appellate Division, Third Department, panel said in Haug v. State University of New York at Potsdam, 522632, that many aspects of the disciplinary process at SUNY-Potsdam as it was applied to Benjamin Haug “give us pause,” beginning with the fact that the female student’s account of the encounter as presented at campus disciplinary proceedings was hearsay.
