Supporters of Association for Student Conduct Administration president-elect Jill Creighton, who has raised allegations of sexual assault by IU administrator Jason Casares, released a statement Friday afternoon.
Casares, who has been placed on paid administrative leave according to IU spokesperson Mark Land, serves as associate dean of students and deputy Title IX director for IU.
According to the release, Creighton texted Casares following the alleged assault at an ASCA conference in December in Fort Worth, Texas, asking he resign from the ASCA and from his involvement in Title IX leadership.
“Jason did not take this option, but it would have spared him the publicity, reputational and employment implications he now faces,” supporters said in the statement.
[Read our initial coverage of the allegation of sexual assault against Jason Casares]
Creighton explained in text messages to Casares that she would “take the steps necessary to make herself safe,” according to the release.
“When the assault happened, Jill realized she was not safe, because she would have to work with Jason on the Board of the ASCA for two more years,” supporters said in the release.
The ASCA Board of Directors hired an independent investigator from the Austin, Texas, law firm Hutcheson Bowers LLLC to “conduct an investigation and present findings to the Board,” according to an ASCA statement released Thursday.
The investigation found that Creighton’s claims were unsubstantiated, according to the release.
Creighton is disputing what the ASCA has called a “fair and unbiased investigation for both parties.” According to the Friday release, Creighton provided police officers with texts to a third party saying Casares “was hitting on her and that she would ‘never’ sleep with him,” also confirming an account with police and a series of witnesses.
Also according the Friday release, text messages sent by Casares to defend himself could not be found on his phone or on the phone of the person he claimed to have texted.
“This was omitted from the investigation report, which was victim-blaming in the extreme, and failed to account for the effects of trauma in its judgment of Jill’s responses,” supporters of Creighton said in the release.
As we speak on moral courage, I share mine. You voted me President-Elect, please read my open letter to you: https://t.co/17bwRuu38b #asca16
— Jill Creighton (@jillcreighton) February 4, 2016
Supporters claimed in the release investigators also failed to note that Casares’ initially denied Creighton having been in his room and then tried to blame a third party after changing his statement claiming that Creighton had, in fact, been in his room.
Creighton was shocked to learn the ASCA found her claims unsubstantiated, according to the release.
“Despite the ASCA’s claims, the investigator was not properly trained and prepared for this type of case,” supporters said in the statement. “Her work clearly showed that.”
Fort Worth Police Department officer Daniel Segura confirmed this morning that a sexual assault investigation case is open in his department, and that contact was made with Creighton at around 9:30 p.m. Dec. 9, 2015.
These supporters claim statements made by Casares’ lawyer, Tony Paganelli, are “misleading and false.”
Creighton has declined to follow Casares as ASCA president, according to the release.
“This is important, as it speaks to motivation,” supporters said in the release. “We live in a society that questions the motives of victims who go public.”
Creighton's supporters said she has “everything to lose in sharing her story and being judged publically,” including possible impeachment and loss of friends and respect from colleagues.
“She has risked her job, her career and her professional reputation to speak the truth,” the supporters said in the release. “She has no reason to make these allegations other than because they are true."
Casares did not respond to an email request for comment Friday.
Carley Lanich
