BREAKING TOP STORY

Virginia Tech breached confidentiality with cadet lawsuit statement, lawyers say

Henri Gendreau 20 hrs ago

Lawyers who sued Virginia Tech on behalf of former cadets blasted the university on Sunday, alleging that its statement about the cases violated the confidentiality provisions of the settlements.

Tech said Friday that it was “pleased with the outcome” of the lawsuits, adding that the settlements affirmed that the policies and procedures of the Corps of Cadets and Student Conduct office were sound. ... “And again, given the outcome, we do not anticipate any further litigation because, again, our policies and procedures and how we manage these programs has been affirmed,” Mark Owczarski, a university spokesman, had said.

From January to July 2020, the university faced seven different lawsuits from members of the Corps of Cadets who were suspended for violating the university’s hazing policy. The university disciplined more than a dozen cadets after a 2019 sophomore initiation that involved blood-pinning, the stabbing of military pins into the chest.

“As a condition of settlement, Virginia Tech insisted on a confidentiality provision that prohibited any statement to the press, other than that ‘the case has been resolved to the parties’ mutual satisfaction.’ They wanted to keep the settlement private,” Roanoke attorney Rob Dean said in an emailed statement Sunday after a story that included Tech’s statement was published in The Roanoke Times. “For Virginia Tech to now breach its own confidentiality provision and suggest publicly that the case outcome affirmed the proper application of its policies and procedures, is incorrect.”

{snip}

Henri Gendreau
Henri Gendreau covers Virginia Tech for The Roanoke Times.