A former Syracuse University student expelled for allegedly sexually assaulting another student in a fraternity house in 2017 filed a lawsuit against his accuser last week, claiming she made false statements against him and that she is attempting to “destroy” his personal relationships and employment opportunities.

Alex Goldman, a former civil engineering major and president of the Delta Kappa Epsilon fraternity, is seeking $6 million in damages, according to the lawsuit. Goldman claims that Catherine Reddington, another SU student, made multiple social media posts falsely accusing him of sexually assaulting her in the DKE fraternity house after a party in spring 2017, according to court documents.

Neither Goldman nor Reddington could recall what happened the night of the spring 2017 party, according to the lawsuit. The Syracuse Police Department and Onondaga County District Attorney’s attorney’s office both investigated the incident and found no evidence that a sexual assault occurred, per the lawsuit.

Onondaga County District Attorney Bill Fitzpatrick told the New York Post that Reddington’s accusations against Goldman were “not accurate.”

SU expelled Goldman after its own Title IX investigation, according to the lawsuit.

Sarah Scalese, senior associate vice president for university communications, said in statement on Sunday that the university takes every allegation of sexual violence “extremely seriously.”

“The University’s process to adjudicate sexual assault allegations is fully guided by federal and state law,” she said in the statement. “In this case, all processes were followed. Per federal privacy law and University policy we do not comment on the specifics of any individual cases.”

Goldman claims in the lawsuit that he was fired from his summer internship after Reddington contacted his employer through social media. He also claims Reddington is “waging a campaign” to have him expelled from his new college, the New Jersey Institute of Technology, according to court documents.

Seth Zuckerman is one the lawyers representing Goldman in the case. “Mr. Goldman filed this complaint because he could not sit idly by,” Zuckerman said in a statement on Sunday. He added that the district attorney’s investigation concluded “there was no evidence of either consensual or non-consensual sex.”

Reddington did not respond to a request for comment on this story Saturday night.

-Asst. News Editor Casey Darnell contributed reporting to this story. 

Published on June 30, 2018 at 11:11 pm

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