Virginia politician says Duke treated him unfairly after sexual assault accusations
Former Virginia Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax is accusing Duke University of tarnishing his reputation and hindering his political career by pushing him off a prestigious campus board in 2019.
In a letter sent to top university administrators, Fairfax demands the school take steps to clear his name and acknowledge he was mistreated after two women accused him of sexual assault that year.
Fairfax was asked to step down from Duke’s Sanford School of Public Policy board after attorneys released statements on behalf of the women accusing him of assault. He has always denied the allegations, which he notes remain unconfirmed by any publicly known investigation.
Duke must acknowledge that “immediate adverse action” against him added credibility to the accusations, said Fairfax, whose term as lieutenant governor ended in January. “It is well past time for Duke to clear my name,” Fairfax wrote.
The Aug. 11 letter comes two weeks after the Associated Press quoted Nancy Erika Smith, an attorney for Meredith Watson, describing Fairfax’s accusers as “victims,” one of many recent news reports about Fairfax’s efforts to clear his name.
The letter, obtained by The News & Observer, was sent to Duke president Vincent Price, Sanford School of Public Policy Dean Judith Kelley and Pamela J. Bernard, Duke’s general counsel. A Duke spokesperson declined to comment on Fairfax’s requests.
Removal from Duke board
Fairfax had a high profile at Duke for years. He served on Duke’s Board of Trustees while an undergraduate. In 2000, he was the student speaker at the Sanford School’s graduation. He and his wife, Cerina, endowed the Opportunity Scholarship Fund there. He was named to the public policy school’s board of visitors in 2008 and again in 2015.
Kelley asked Fairfax to resign from the board after lawyers for Vanessa Tyson and Watson in 2019 said Fairfax assaulted the women years earlier. The N&O typically does not identify people who allege they were sexually assaulted, but is in this case because the women publicly identified themselves
Tyson said Fairfax assaulted her in 2004 in Boston at the Democratic National Convention. Watson claimed Fairfax raped her when they were Duke undergraduates in 2000. The press release sent out by Watson’s attorney requested Fairfax resign from public office.
The accusations came when Fairfax was in line to succeed Virginia’s then-Gov. Ralph Northam if he resigned, which looked possible. Many people that month urged Northam to step down after he admitted being one of two students in racist costumes in a 1984 yearbook photo, The Washington Post reported. One wore Blackface, the other a Ku Klux Klan robe.
The same conservative online publication, Big League Politics, published the photos of Northam and Tyson’s allegations against Fairfax, The Washington Post reported.
Fairfax at the time said Watson’s allegations were “demonstrably false” and part of a “smear campaign.” He refused to step down from his elected office, as did Northam, and asked for an investigation.
Separately, Watson also accused former Duke basketball player Corey Maggette of sexually assaulting her in 1999. Like Fairfax, Maggette maintains his innocence.
Fairfax has said he had sexual contact with the women but it was consensual. No criminal charges have been filed against either Fairfax or Maggette.
Tyson’s statement accusing Fairfax was released on Feb. 4, 2019. Watson’s legal team issued her accusation around 4 p.m. on Feb. 8. “Ms. Watson shared her account of the rape with friends in a series of emails and Facebook messages that are now in our possession,” the statement said..
At 5:43 pm the same day, Kelley sent an email to the Sanford Board of Visitors, noting she had been conferring with members about Fairfax for days. She would ask Fairfax to step down “pending the resolution of the serious and deeply distressing allegations that have been made against him,” she said.
She also sent an email to Duke students and faculty informing them of her action, which local and national media outlets reported.
“Sexual assault is abhorrent and unfortunately can occur right around us. I urge everyone to take survivors of sexual assault seriously, and to help build an environment that is safe and supportive for everyone,” the email read.
Fairfax said he learned of Kelley’s decision from her email to the Board of Visitors. Three days after her public statements, she sent him a letter.
”Many members of the Sanford board and faculty have shared their concern for you with me. From this I can assure you that many people here have only good memories of their interactions with you and they remain concerned about your wellbeing, as do I. However, I must ask that you step down from your active duties as a member of the Board of Visitors until the allegations have been resolved,” it read.
Kelley could not be reached for comment.
A campaign to clear his name
The N&O attempted to but did not reach Tyson and Watson through their lawyers for responses to Fairfax’s claims in his letter to Duke.
Fairfax, who is 43, and his attorneys have asked prosecutors in Durham and Boston to investigate the women’s claims, Fairfax said. Neither of the district attorneys in those jurisdictions noted any such investigations when contacted by The N&O.
They also filed a defamation lawsuit, since dismissed, against CBS, saying it didn’t put enough effort into reporting information challenging Watson and Tyson’s accounts during interviews with journalist Gayle King, the Washington Post reported. This month, they sued New York Public Radio and WNYC with similar allegations.
Multiple news organizations have reported that the FBI is looking into the source of the allegations, which Fairfax has accused political rivals of advancing, The Washington Post reported in July. The Intercept has reported that the FBI is investigating any potential political motivations.
Fairfax said the FBI contacted him as part of its investigation, and he met with special agents at the FBI’s Richmond division headquarters on June 8, 2022, he said. But Debra Katz, an attorney representing Vanessa Tyson, said the FBI had not contacted her client or her, the Associated Press reported on July 28.
Lacrosse legacy link?
Fairfax said he sees parallels between his treatment and how Duke leaders responded to the infamous 2006 Duke lacrosse scandal, when three Duke lacrosse players were wrongfully charged with rape. He also suggests racial bias may play a role in treatment of him, a Black man.
He said he wants Duke to make amends similar to those made after it was proven that the lacrosse players were falsely accused, which included a public apology and more, he said.
Fairfax has reached out to Duke law professor Jim Coleman, who chaired a Duke committee that reviewed the lacrosse scandal. While Coleman is not advocating for Fairfax, he said he agrees that Duke’s action against Fairfax mirrors many people’s rush to judgment in the lacrosse case, he said in an interview.
“You can’t remove people from committees and boards just because somebody is making an allegation that has not been investigated,” said Coleman, the John S. Bradway Professor of the Practice of Law and director of the Center for Criminal Justice and Professional Responsibility.
Removing Fairfax from the board, he said, implicitly gave weight to the allegations.
Kelley’s statements about Fairfax in 2019 implied the university was awaiting a conclusion of official findings, Fairfax said, but that has yet to come.
Fairfax initially reached out to Duke officials seeking acknowledgment that he was treated unfairly in August 2021. His lawyers have been in touch with Duke’s legal team since then, but they have not come to an agreement.
This story was originally published August 16, 2022 at 6:00 AM.
