Former Yale team captain Jack Montague is allowed to continue suit against university

After being found guilty of violating Yale University’s sexual misconduct policy in the winter of 2016 and expelled a few months prior to his graduation, former basketball captain Jack Montague sued the school in June of 2016.  The suit, which requested a return to the school and monetary damages, claimed the University’s treatment of Montague was “wrong, unfairly determined, arbitrary and excessive by any rational measure,” while accusing the school of breach of contract, Title IX violations, breach of confidentiality and defamation.

U.S. District Judge Alfred Covello ruled Monday that Montague’s suit can go forward.

Covello granted Yale’s motion of summary judgment in part and denied it in part Friday.

Among other rulings, with respect to the University-Wide Committee (UWC) II hearing that resulted in Montague’s expulsion, the judge denied the school’s motion for summary judgment on Montague’s claim of breach of contract, also denying the school’s motions for summary judgment regarding whether the defendants intentionally manipulated the UWC procedures in order to motivate Montague’s accuser to file a formal complaint, whether Yale violated their own procedures by allowing the accuser full participation in the hearing, and the impartiality of the hearing.

The judge granted the school’s motions for summary judgment regarding gender-based discrimination, ruling that Montague had failed to show that “gender [was] a motivating factor in the decision to discipline.”

“Jack Montague has always maintained that his expulsion from Yale in February 2016 – at the very moment he and the Yale basketball team were about to head to the NCAA tournament, and just three months before he was to be awarded the degree which he had all but earned – was the result of an unfair and biased disciplinary process which had been programmed from the start to result in his dismissal,” Montague’s attorney, Max Stern, told the Associated Press. “Now a federal judge, having made a thorough review, has rejected Yale’s claims that Montague lacks evidence to support his case.”

In a statement to the AP, the university noted that it is pleased “that the court ruled Yale did not discriminate against Jack Montague and that he cannot pursue several other claims from his lawsuit.”

While attempting to reverse the expulsion and complete his final semester at Yale, Montague enrolled at Belmont University.  The Brentwood, Tenn. native was accepted into the Nashville school’s adult study program, a course of study designed for adults hoping to complete undergraduate degrees on a time-flexible schedule.  He was able to transfer after Yale waived a $3,000 tuition debt and released his transcript.

According to Karen Schwartzman, Montague’s spokeswoman, several of his credits did not transfer and the former hoopster would have to complete two semesters at Belmont to graduate.  Montague attended Belmont for the 2017-18 academic year and is presently pursuing a Masters of Accountancy at the school, according to his LinkedIn page.

There is no trial date at this time.