IU will conduct a review of fewer than 20 sexual assault hearings dating back to the beginning of the school year following accusations that Jason Casares, IU associate dean of students, sexually assaulted a colleague at an Association for Student Conduct Administration conference in December, according to IU spokesperson Mark Land.
Casares, who also serves as the University’s Title IX director, sat on a three-member panel that reviews IU students’ reports of sexual misconduct in the hearing stage.
Casares was hired in 2011 as the associate dean of students and director of student ethics, according to a 2011 IU press release.
Before coming to IU, Casares worked as an assistant dean of students at the University of Arizona.
He has since been placed on paid administrative leave while the University investigates the allegations, which came last week via an open letter posted on Twitter by Jill Creighton, an assistant director for global community standards at New York University.
“The University found out about this Wednesday evening when the accuser’s letter to her fellow members of the Association for Student Conduct Administration became public,” Land said in an email. “He has been placed on paid administrative leave by the University while we investigate the claims made against him.”
Creighton tweeted the letter after learning Casares would be allowed to attend an ASCA conference last week in St. Petersburg, Florida.
In her letter, Creighton said Casares, the former ASCA president-elect, took advantage of her after she had too much to drink at the December convention in Fort Worth, Texas.
Creighton, claiming she felt unsafe in the ASCA, said she then filed a criminal complaint with police in Texas.
Fort Worth Police Department officer Daniel Segura confirmed a sexual assault investigation case is open in the department, and contact was made with Creighton at around 9:30 p.m. Dec. 9, 2015.
“I also could not stand the hypocrisy of Jason parading his expertise on Title IX, knowing how he had behaved with me,” Creighton said in the letter. “When I knew it could blow up in my face and that I had nothing to gain but my own sense of safety, I asked ASCA to impeach Jason.”
In the letter, Creighton said although she was asked to maintain confidentiality about impeachment hearings related to Creighton’s formal complaint, Casares had resigned from his position as ASCA president-elect after being given the option of resignation during impeachment hearings.
“For those of you who will doubt me or be swayed by Jason’s implausible stories to explain myself, I did not consent to sexual contact with Jason,” Creighton said in the letter
In a statement from Casares’ lawyer, Tony Paganelli, Casares denied “false accusations of sexual misconduct,” made by Creighton.
“Ms. Creighton has made inappropriate and false public statements reasserting her claims against Mr. Casares over social media and in person to the attendees at an ASCA conference this week in Florida,” Paganelli said in the statement.
On Thursday, the ASCA Board of Directors responded in a letter to its members confirming that the ASCA received a formal complaint from Creighton on Dec. 10, 2015.
According to the letter, the ASCA Board of Directors hired an independent investigator from Hutcheson Bowers LLLP, an Austin, Texas, law firm, to “conduct an investigation and present findings to the board.”
In the letter, the ASCA board said the law firm found “Ms. Creighton’s claims could not be substantiated,” and the complaint was resolved in an executive session.
According to the ASCA board letter, Casares resigned as ASCA president-elect Jan. 29, but remains an ASCA member with “the same rights as other members to attend and present at ASCA events.”
“ASCA is working to accommodate the needs of both Ms. Creighton and Mr. Casares during this difficult time, taking into account safety and privacy precautions,” the board said in the letter.
According to the letter, the complaint resolution has come to a close and the association is “focused on the future and moving forward.”
A Twitter account named Jason Casares Fans with 20 followers tweeted a statement Friday defending Casares.
“We afford students, both victims and accused the right to a fair process and the expectation of impartial investigation and presumption of innocence,” supporters of Casares said in a statement. “What is also fact is the majority of people associated with the accused has not given that right to Mr. Casares.”
Supporters of Creighton also released a statement Friday that detailed facts believed to be true of the case and defending Creighton’s choice to speak out.
“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.”
