A woman is suing the Texas Tech System Board of Regents, on behalf of Texas Tech University, accusing the school of showing “deliberate indifference” toward her reported sexual assault.
The federal lawsuit, filed Nov. 5, claims Tech has maintained a policy of deliberate indifference that created a heightened risk of sexual misconduct that was known or obvious.
Wednesday night, a Tech System spokesperson told The Daily Toreador that “The TTU System and its component universities maintain a comprehensive Title IX process as detailed in System Regulation 07.06. This regulation is grounded in federal law, and we take every case seriously. Any informal resolution is conducive in full compliance with policy and federal law, and only when all parties voluntarily agree to both the process and any final resolution.”
Tanner Cearley, a second defendant in the case and Tech student, was indicted on a felony charge of aggravated assault in connection to the woman’s reported assault and was arrested on Sept. 25, 2024. Cearley’s pretrial conference hearing is scheduled for Dec. 12.
According to court documents, obtained through PACER, the assault occurred on Nov. 5, 2023, when Cearley invited the victim to watch a movie in his dorm and, when she arrived, she was immediately attacked. Cearley held the victim down so she could not leave after she had told him no on multiple instances.
Court documents state that the victim started bleeding from lacerations and was bruised in areas including the neck, collarbone and hips.
The court documents highlight that Tech has a consistently high level of sexual misconduct cases, but little to none have an investigation or sanctions attached. From Sept. 1, 2024, to Aug. 31, 2025,Tech received 234 reports under Texas Education Code, Section 51.252. Of these cases, 223 were determined, by the university, to not have a disciplinary process.
Texas Education Code 51.252 requires employees of Texas institutions who witness or receive information about a sexual harassment, sexual assault, dating violence or stalking incidents to report it to the institution’s Title IX coordinator, according to Texas Public Law.
The victim made a formal report to the Tech Police Department within a few days of the alleged assault, the exact date was not disclosed in court documents.
On Nov. 6, 2023, the victim reported the incident to a Tech Community Adviser, and on Nov. 8, 2023, the victim submitted a Sexual Misconduct Formal Complaint to the Tech Title IX office for Student Civil Rights and Sexual Misconduct after meeting with a SCRSM case manager.
Following the victim’s first meeting with SCRSM, the university began attempting to convince her to waive her right to an investigation and adjudication to formal complaints under Title IX, therefore agreeing to an “informal resolution,” according to the court documents, the victim signed the informal resolution on Dec. 2, 2023.
The court documents define an informal resolution as a way for a university to close sexual misconduct cases quietly and out of public view with no negative impact on its reputation. University employees told the victim that a formal resolution would be harder because she would have to “retell the details of her assault multiple times.”
Following the signing of the informal resolution, Cearley was not expelled or suspended. Rather, he received training in sexual misconduct/harassment, was required to donate $500 to Voice of Hope and submit an essay of 500 or more words about the importance of consent, according to the court documents.