Federal judge allows Princeton Title IX investigation to continue

A student's attempt to delay a Title IX investigation into his alleged sexual misconduct was rejected Wednesday by a federal judge.The student had asked for a preliminary injunction at the end of November 2018, arguing that Princeton should pause the investigation until the Department of Education finalized rule changes to Title IX that would make it harder to find students responsible for sexual misconduct, the University Press Club reported earlier Wednesday.The Daily Princetonian was the first to publish reporting on the judge's decision.Federal judge Michael A. Shipp decided that the student's claims had not met the bar required to stop the investigation in an opinion dated January 9.Barring further legal developments, the Title IX investigation should be able to continue."Plaintiff failed to establish that he will suffer an immediate irreparable injury in the absence of the requested relief," Shipp wrote. "Plaintiff failed to set forth any precedent supporting the proposition that a preliminary injunction should issue based on proposed regulations that do not constitute final agency action."Part of the lawsuit was also dismissed. Shipp denied a motion by Princeton to dismiss all of the lawsuit, and three counts are still eligible to proceed.