SDSU lifts suspension against student

San Diego State University has lifted the suspension against a male student after finding allegations of sexual misconduct against him were unsubstantiated.

The student, Francisco Sousa, was suspended last December after he was arrested and charged with sexual assault against a female SDSU student. Sousa remained suspended after the charges were dropped, and he sued the school get access to specific accusations that led to his suspension.

Sousa, 21, said he plans to next sue the school for monetary damages and to get an apology for officials sending a campuswide email that told students he had been arrested.

“One of the things I want from San Diego State is for them to send a public email to students to announce the decision, the same way they sent an email to make me look like a criminal,” he said. “They should have sent that email a long time ago.”

Since being suspended from the school last December, Sousa, an international transfer student from Portugal, has continued his studies at another school and said he does not plan to re-enroll at SDSU.

University spokesman Greg Block said Tuesday that he could not confirm the status of Sousa’s suspension or the investigation against him.

Sousa’s attorney, Domenic Lombardo, provided documents and emails that confirmed SDSU had closed the case.

In a June 5 letter to Sousa, SDSU Title IX coordinator Jessica Rentto wrote that there was not a preponderance of evidence that demonstrated his behavior violated the university’s sexual violence or harassment policies.

Lombardo said that although the school lifted the suspension and ended the investigation in June, he wanted to wait until the appeal period ended this week to announce it. The student who had made the accusation against Sousa could have appealed to the California State University, he explained.

Sousa said he was happy at the outcome, but wants the school to at least reimburse him for the legal fees and other costs paid by his parents, which he estimates to be about $100,000.

“They spent a lot on attorneys and to bail me out,” he said.

Sousa said he also is concerned that the accusation and the news coverage about his arrest could follow him and affect his future career.

He also said he has been laying low because he was jumped near the campus by three men who recognized him from news coverage about his arrests. Although those men were caught, he said he believes other people may not know he was cleared of the accusations, so he does not want to say which school he is attending.

At the time of Sousa’s arrest for false imprisonment and forcible oral copulation against a student last year, about a dozen sexual assaults had been reported on or around SDSU that semester. On the day of his arrest, about two dozen students marched on campus and briefly took over the lobby of university President Elliot Hirshman’s office to demand a greater response to safety concerns.

With schools under pressure to protect students from sexual assault, Lombardo said he believes more students may face punishment on campuses following unsubstantiated claims.

“Francisco was, I think, the first and most prominent person that they caught when they threw out their net,” Lombardo said.

In a similar case this year, a UC San Diego student hired an attorney to fight his suspension from school after he was accused of sexual misconduct.

Sousa said he was on campus Tuesday to request school officials take action against the student who filed the complaint against him.

“One of my goals with this overall is to try to make her accountable for what she has done and make her publicly say ‘I’m sorry’ to me, and to actual rape victims,’” he said.

“Sousa said he thinks false accusations could result in fewer actual victims coming forward.