Only in Lubbock could a violent sexual assault at a major university end with what sounds like a middle school homework assignment. According to a federal lawsuit, a Texas Tech student accused of attacking a woman in his dorm room wasn’t suspended, expelled, or otherwise meaningfully punished. Instead, he got to stay in class — after donating $500 to a nonprofit and writing a 500-word essay on “the importance of consent.”
The woman says she was pressured by Tech’s Title IX office into signing an “informal resolution,” which basically means the university quietly handled it behind closed doors — no hearings, no accountability, no public record. Staff allegedly told her that going through the official process would just “re-traumatize” her and take too long. Apparently, re-traumatizing her by forcing her to share a campus with her attacker was fine.
According to Tech’s own reports, the university received hundreds of sexual misconduct complaints in recent years — 296 in one year alone — and managed to investigate just a handful, resulting in almost no discipline. But sure, nothing says “we take safety seriously” like turning Title IX into a PR department with a clipboard.
So, to recap: assault in a dorm, coerced settlement, token fine, and an essay. Somewhere out there, a Tech administrator probably high-fived someone for “resolving” another case quickly and quietly.
At this point, is “Guns Up” just the school’s way of saying, “Fire away — there’ll be no consequences”?
