A state court judge ruled on May 30 to continue the University’s alleged First and 14th Amendment violations against disaster science and management senior Patrick Esfeller.
Judge John Parker of the Middle District of Louisiana denied the University’s petition to dismiss former Chancellor Sean O’Keefe’s alleged violations.
Parker granted a dismissal of all claims made against the LSU Board of Supervisors and a dismissal for claims made for monetary damages against O’Keefe.
Parker also granted a dismissal of claims that O’Keefe violated the Fifth Amendment, Sixth Amendment and the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act.
Esfeller said Parker “basically kept the core of the case intact with the First and 14th Amendment violations.”
Esfeller said the policies the Office of Judicial Affairs, now known as the Office of Student Advocacy and Accountability, prosecuted Esfeller with were “overbroad” and “vague.”
“I feel very confident,” Esfeller said. “I don’t see what they could possibly come up with to deny what they’ve done to me. It’s going to be very interesting to see what comes from all of this.”
Esfeller said the lawsuit is his way of trying clear his name and get some justice.
“In the beginning, it was a matter of them prosecuting me for something I felt as something you shouldn’t prosecute a student for,” Esfeller said.
The conflicts between Esfeller and the University first started in November 2006 when he broke up with his then-girlfriend. The ex-girlfriend accused Esfeller of harassment.
“I was getting drug through basically a relationship court,” Esfeller said. “The example they’ve set is when someone breaks up with someone else on this campus, they can now go to Judicial Affairs.”
Judicial Affairs charged Esfeller with four violations of non-academic misconduct in the University’s Code of Student Conduct – harassment, violation of city, parish, state or federal law, violation of regulation of the University and the “commission of any of the foregoing listed offenses.”
Esfeller was placed on disciplinary probation, then on warning probation until his graduation.
He said he’s fighting adamantly against the University because he doesn’t want this incident to happen to any other students.
Esfeller filed a separate lawsuit against the Board and O’Keefe on July 2, seeking monetary damages in regards to the damages done the past two years and also his future.
“It’s gotten to the point where I can’t get into grad school – my GPA has dropped a full point-plus,” Esfeller said.
He said officials from Psychological Services and Mental Health Services, both on-campus, say he is struggling from stress and anxiety because of the conflicts.
Esfeller said he cannot to bring his GPA up in time for graduation in summer 2009.
“My chances of going to grad school are basically slim to none unless something is done through the courts to make them wipe out my grades,” Esfeller said.
Ray Lamonica, the University’s general counsel, declined to comment about either lawsuit Wednesday afternoon.
“I don’t comment on lawsuits while they’re pending,” Lamonica said. “They’re to be handled in court in a professional manner.”
—-Contact J.J. Alcantara at [email protected]