192552P.pdf   06/01/2021  John Does 1-2  v.  Regents of the Univ. of MN
   U.S. Court of Appeals Case No:  19-2552
   U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota   
   [PUBLISHED] [Loken, Author, with Chief Judge Smith and Gruender, Circuit 
   Judges] 
   Civil Case - Title IX. Ten former University of Minnesota football players 
   (Does) appeal the dismissal of their complaint against the university and 
   university officials, asserting sex and race discrimination claims and 
   other constitutional violations arising from the university's 
   investigation of a complaint of sexual assault and harassment by another 
   student. To assert a claim under Title IX, the Does must allege adequately 
   that the university disciplined them on the basis of sex. Because the 
   complaint alleges circumstances which, taken together, are sufficient to 
   support a plausible claim that the university discriminated against the 
   Does on the basis of sex, the dismissal of the Title IX claim is reversed. 
   Allegations of pressures from the university officials, the Department of 
   Education's "Dear Colleague" letter, and public attention, raise a 
   plausible claim of sex discrimination and the complaint raised a 
   reasonable inference of bias against male students. The complaint does not 
   plausibly allege their request for a hearing was tantamount to sex 
   discrimination and did not state a claim for retaliation. The race 
   discrimination claims failed for failure to allege a comparator was 
   similarly situated and treated differently. The procedural due process 
   claims failed for failure to exhaust state remedies relating to 
   predeprivation process or a failure by some to allege a deprivation of 
   protected property or liberty interest. The court correctly dismissed the 
   due process claims. The district court properly dismissed the breach of 
   contract and negligence claims on Eleventh Amendment grounds.