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Student expelled after text message complaint sues Harper College in federal court

A former Harper College student expelled after a formal complaint from a fellow student about his text messaging has filed a federal lawsuit against the Palatine school and top administrators.

Robert Foulks is seeking to be reinstated as a student at the community college, two years after he was kicked out. The lawsuit alleges his rights were violated and that Harper's disciplinary hearings on the complaint against him and his appeal were a "sham."

Harper officials have not yet reviewed the suit, filed in U.S. District Court Wednesday, so spokesman Phil Burdick wouldn't comment Thursday.

The suit describes the text messaging between Foulks and the fellow student as typical banter "common among college students." But it doesn't disclose what Foulks wrote or how many times he sent texts.

The fellow student apparently disagreed, accusing Foulks of violating Harper's student code of conduct in the complaint made in July 2012.

While Foulks denied he broke the rules, a student conduct officer who took up the case developed a "personal animosity" toward him and tried to unfairly influence the outcome of a hearing before Harper's resolution board, the suit states. Faculty and students sit on the panel, according to Harper's website.

The suit claims Foulks didn't get a copy of documents and other evidence that would be used during his hearing until three days after a deadline to submit his own rebuttal, preventing him from mounting a "complete and accurate" defense.

In addition, a hearing packet, the lawsuit states, included "irrelevant inflammatory references to 'acquaintance rape,' 'date rape,' and other matters of a physical nature meant to prejudice."

The lawsuit maintains the student's complaint didn't involve "any objectionable physical behavior by Foulks."

The resolution board met twice to conduct the hearing in March 2013. About a month after the panel deliberated, Foulks was told in a letter that it decided to expel him and that he would be banned from campus, effective immediately.

Foulks appealed the decision with Ashley Knight, then the dean of student affairs, and later, Harper Provost Judith Marwick. Both times, his appeal was rejected.

Named as defendants in the suit are Knight, Marwick, Laura Bennett, the student code officer, and Harper's board of trustees. The suit also asks for compensatory and punitive damages.

Foulks, who now lives in Buffalo Grove and was portrayed in the suit as an honors student who volunteered and got involved with extracurricular activities at Harper, couldn't be reached Thursday. His attorney, Larry Lipka, didn't immediately return phone and email messages seeking comment.

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