Title IX investigation found ex-Auburn football player Landon Rice 'responsible'

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Auburn University's Title IX investigation of former football player Landon Rice found he was responsible for sexual assault stemming from an incident in April 2016, resulting in him being barred from stepping foot on the campus until the fall of 2024, according to documents provided to AL.com.

"Although (Rice) claims that he assumed he had affirmative consent, the investigators found that the (female accuser) explicitly told (Rice) she did not want to engage in vaginal intercourse," according to the university's Notice of Outcome letter, provided to AL.com by a source who requested anonymity.

Rice, whose appeal of the decision was denied in a Notice of Final Outcome on Dec. 2, 2016, was found in violation of Auburn University's Policy on Sexual and Gender-based Misconduct based on the preponderance of evidence in the investigation. He left the school in September and was suspended immediately "with eligibility to return under disciplinary probation in Fall semester 2024" and prohibited from being on campus, attending any university events or taking any courses on campus or through "distance education," the Notice of Outcome states.

"Unlike others, we have respected the confidentiality of the Title IX inquiry, even though we vehemently disagreed with the way it was conducted," Rice's lawyers, Augusta S. Dowd and Kelly Brennan, said in a statement to AL.com on Tuesday. "The Title IX inquiry completely lacked due process, which is unfortunate for Landon or anyone else accused at Auburn University. The untrained individuals who investigated this charge did not provide Landon a hearing, did not permit cross-examination of the accuser or witnesses, and totally disregarded serious contradictions in the most relevant testimony."

Title IX is a federal law prohibiting the exclusion, denial of benefits or discrimination of an individual on the basis of sex at an educational institution receiving federal funding.

Auburn's Title IX investigators determined the sexual assault to be "one severe act" in which there was "no violence reported, aside from (Rice) blocking the (accuser's) arms," and they "know of no prior misconduct" by Rice, who did not accept responsibility for the assault, according to the Notice of Outcome.

Rice, who was 18 at the time of the incident and turns 20 this week, "provided a statement from a former sexual partner that he does not have a pattern or practice of engaging in sexual assault" as well as the results of a polygraph test "regarding specific questions related to sexual intercourse with" his accuser, according to the Notice of Outcome.

The notice, however, notes investigators considered "the controversy surrounding the validity of polygraph testing in general and the omission of certain questions in this particular polygraph examination," specifically whether the accuser told Rice she did not want to have sex.

Rice's lawyers say he "passed a polygraph test that specifically asked whether he had ever forced his accuser to have sex in any manner, whether all their encounters had been consensual, and whether he'd ever forced her to have sex after she refused.

"Those conducting the Title IX inquiry refused to consider the polygraph results. They entirely disregarded or disallowed crucial evidence that a reasonable person would have considered. In contrast, a criminal grand jury found no probable cause (a lower standard than that used by the Title IX office at Auburn) for any criminal charge against Landon after hearing testimony from both Landon and his accuser. Landon has never been charged or arrested for any crime.

"The Title IX proceeding lacked the fundamental elements required to reach fair and accurate findings. Releasing the results of this flawed process only compounds the errors and the harm inflicted on Landon."

On Thursday, Rice's lawyers cited the polygraph results as evidence of his innocence without providing details as to the questions he answered when they claimed a grand jury in Lee County declined to indict him on "any charge" last month.

Last week, Lee County district attorney Brandon Hughes declined to comment on the grand jury proceedings.

The accuser's lawyer, Jeffrey Herman, declined comment on the findings of Auburn's Title IX investigation. Auburn University declined comment on its Title IX investigation's findings as stated in the Notice of Outcome and Notice of Final Outcome letters.

"Auburn University has a long-standing policy not to comment on Title IX matters," a statement from the university read.

On Dec. 9, 2016, AL.com filed a Freedom of Information Act request to Auburn University requesting "copies of all materials related to the University's Title IX investigation into Landon Rice, his appeal and the 'Final Outcome Letter.'" The university declined that request on Dec. 15, 2016 citing the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA).

The text messages in which Rice repeatedly apologized to the accuser and "tried to convince the (accuser) to not report the sexual assault" were considered by investigators, according to the Notice of Outcome.

Rice left Auburn in September for what coach Gus Malzahn called "personal reasons," and has not spoken publicly about the rape allegation. He is currently playing football at Mississippi Gulf Coast C.C. and is "considering opportunities to play football with Division I schools," according to the statement from his lawyers on Thursday.

The notice will follow Rice around to any other schools that request his academic transcripts, stating that he was "suspended for violations of the University's Policy on Sexual and Gender-Based Misconduct and Other Forms of Interpersonal Violence,'" Auburn University Title IX coordinator Kelley Taylor stated in the letter.

The SEC, Big XII, Pac-12 and Indiana University have all implemented policies prohibiting athletes with past incidents of "serious misconduct," including domestic violence, sexual assault and other interpersonal violence, from transferring to their institutions - the Big XII and Indiana policies also encompass incoming freshmen, which the SEC has discussed expanding its policy to include as well. Based on the findings of Auburn's Title IX investigation, a program from one of those conferences wishing to sign Rice would need to seek and be granted a waiver for his acceptance.

On April 24, an account appearing to belong to Rice tweeted he received an offer from Louisville, who later denied it is recruiting Rice. The tweet and the Twitter account have both since been deleted.

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