Keith Mumphery is banned from stepping foot on Michigan State’s campus until 2019. (Photo by Andre Weber / USA TODAY Sports)
A former Michigan State athlete has filed a federal lawsuit against the school after he was expelled over “false allegations of sexual misconduct and sexual exploitation by a female Michigan State student.”
Ex-Spartan’s wide receiver Keith Mumphery was dismissed from the university’s graduate program and temporarily banned from campus in 2016, after an investigation found he’d engaged in sexual misconduct, according to CBS Sports. Mumphery was never charged with a crime, however.
In his complaint, the former footballer says the allegations hurt his professional career with the NFL and have left him unable to go back and complete his graduate degree. He’s been barred from stepping foot on Michigan State’s campus until 2019.
“Despite a previously unblemished disciplinary record and Michigan State’s initial finding of ‘no responsibility,’ [the] Plaintiff now finds himself permanently dismissed from Michigan State based on false allegations of sexual misconduct and sexual exploitation by a female Michigan State student,” the lawsuit states. “Michigan State’s findings were not based on any concrete evidence.”
“As a result of these due process violations, Plaintiff continues to suffer ongoing harm, including damages to his reputation, permanent loss of employment opportunities, and other economic and non-economic damages,” it continues.
The accusations against Mumphery were first detailed in a 2017 article by the Detroit Free Press after am unnamed female student reported being sexually assaulted by the player in her dorm room on March 17, 2015. The two reportedly met via an online dating site a few months prior to the incident and agreed to meet up at her dorm weeks later. The incident report contained conflicting accounts of whether the sex was consensual and if Mumphery was the aggressor.
The footballer was drafted by the Houston Texas that same year but was released in 2017 shortly after the Free Press article was published, CBS Sports reported.
Mumphery’s accuser, who isn’t named in the suit, has also sued the university, alleging that Michigan state allowed the former athlete to attend two university-sponsored events after it barred him from campus. Her lawsuit also contends that the university only took proper action after the federal Office of Civil Rights pressured them to reevaluate cases and after Mumphery’s eligibility to play had expired, the Detroit Free Press reported.
It’s unclear what Mumphery seeks from the suit.
The athlete’s lawsuit is the latest hiccup for Michigan State, which is still grappling with the fallout over the sexual misconduct controversy surrounding former USA gymnastics doctor Larry Nassar.
