SUNY Albany Student Accused of Rape, but Witnesses Claim Nothing Was Afoul: Lawsuit

“A finding of ‘responsibility’ for sexual misconduct has become the new Scarlet Letter of our society” — Ed Bartlett of SAVE SERVICES says.

A young man is suing the State University of New York in Albany (SUNY Albany) after one of his peers accused him of sexual assault and rape, derailing his academics, his mental health, and ultimately his ability to stay at SUNY Albany.

His name is Samuel Bibler. He was once an 18-year-old freshman living in SUNY dorms, going to class, and juggling priorities like every normal college student. But one night, while living in the school’s LGBTQ dorm — he met a new friend. A self-identified lesbian.

Let’s call her Ellen.

A month after befriending each other, Bibler and Ellen consensually kissed each other one night, according to a lawsuit filed this week.

The young man, bewildered by the romantic attention from someone he thought was lesbian, recounts in the lawsuit that he asked her why she initiated kissing him. She said that they were kissing “for fun”.

Perhaps Ellen was having too much fun.

A month later,  not only were the two students still kissing, but they began to get even more intimate. Very intimate. But the feelings weren’t mutual. Or the sex wasn’t mutual. Huh? Are you getting confused? According to the lawsuit, something happened.

Ellen filed a report against Bibler, claiming that he had “made continued unwanted sexual advances” such as kissing and claimed she was “pressured” into preforming sexual acts on Bibler.

Three days later, she told the school she was attacked again.

Ellen recounted to university officials that Bibler had climbed on top of her while she was in bed, fondled her, and ultimately sexually assaulted her. She claimed she was “terrified and froze” and that the assault “lasted for about 30 minutes”.

But what do the witnesses have to say? Surely they might know something we don’t. Luckily, this case has two witnesses, both of which were Ellen’s friends and dorm-mates. So they would back her up, right?

Not according to the lawsuit.

The first witness vouched to the school that she only witnessed consensual sex and kissing. Never assault. Neither witness attempted to stop Bibler, nor did they think the heavy-petting was non-consensual. 

"To me it just felt like two friends... really weirdly deciding to start making out” said one of Ellen’s friends

“At no point…. on the night of August 31, 2022 did Ellen tell Bibler to ‘stop’.”

Her ersatz claim the following day that she did tell Bibler to stop contradicts her written statement to the University Police Department, in which Ellen alleged that while Bibler was kissing her, she "froze" and did not have "the courage to speak up and defend" herself.

His attorney Kevin A. Luibrand argues that SUNY not only violated the Bibler’s due process rights (such as failing to give Bibler the ability to cross-examine his accuser), but that the punishment of a suspension was also unduly harsh.

IMPORTANCE OF DUE PROCESS RIGHTS

Ed Bartlett Ph.D, President of SAVE SERVICES — deals with this issue often. For more than a decade, he has consulted with students who claim they’ve been falsely or wrongfully charged with physical, intimate or sexual assault. His nonprofit is only one of a handful in the USA dedicated to helping victims of wrongful accusations.

Most parents don’t expect their children to fall into trouble on campus, much less face sexual misconduct charges. “Students need due process so that when falsely accused of violating campus sexual misconduct policies, they do not have their rights violated,” said Mr. Bartlett.

“These include the right to counsel, the right to know what they are being charged with, the right to present their side of the story, and the ability to confront their accuser, among others."

SAMUEL BILBER’S CONUNDRUM

With prohibitions placed on his dorm and campus access, SUNYA makes it such that it would be near impossible for Bibler to live a normal academic life even if he returns to campus, according to the suit.

Most wrongfully accused students never return to academia. If they do, the black mark on their transcript can cause numerous issues, according to Bartlett.

“A finding of ‘responsibility’ for sexual misconduct has become the new Scarlet Letter of our society” Bartlett explains.

“The impact on a young man’s life are difficult to fathom for a person who is not familiar with such cases first-hand: blocked educational opportunities, lifelong stigmatization, and even suicide risk.”