Dive Brief:

• A lawsuit against Swarthmore College has been dropped after the school vacated the findings of a judicial board that expelled the plaintiff — a male student accused of sexual assault.
• The suit accused Swarthmore of gender-based discrimination against males for the way it handles sexual assault allegations filed against them.
• The plaintiff claimed that the college’s judicial board had originally found he had done no wrong, but reopened the case after the school was accused of mishandling sexual assault cases and the U.S. Department of Education investigated.

Dive Insight:

The college's change of course in the case is “a dramatic shift for Swarthmore” because it had previously defended its conduct in the investigation of the plaintiff, Inside Higher Ed reported. Swarthmore and the male student who sued filed a joint motion asking the federal judge hearing the lawsuit to dismiss it. The joint motion says that after the expulsion and the denial of the student’s appeal, additional information came to light that raised questions about the judicial board’s impartiality.