When evidence is allowed, Stanford changes its verdict on an alleged campus sexual assault

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In 2013, Elise Clougherty accused her ex-boyfriend of a year, Joe Lonsdale, of abuse and sexual assault. She reported her allegations to Stanford University, where she was a student and he was her mentor. Stanford found Lonsdale responsible for sexual assault and banned him from the campus for 10 years.

In early November 2015, Stanford reversed the ban, citing "new evidence" in the case.

That "new evidence" was apparently emails sent from Clougherty to Lonsdale during their relationship that raised doubts about her accusations. The emails were not included in the original investigation against Lonsdale, and were only brought to the attention of Stanford administrators due to a New York Times article about the case.

The author of that article, Emily Bazelon, wrote that as she was conducting her own investigation of the case for her article, she realized the truth was much more muddled than the story Clougherty told Stanford. She scolded Stanford for not obtaining the emails — which predated the school's investigation — during the process.

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