Expelled MIT Student Revives Effort to Sue School Anonymously

A federal trial court must reconsider a former Massachusetts Institute of Technology student’s request to proceed anonymously in his lawsuit challenging the school’s decision to expel him over sexual assault allegations, after the First Circuit found the court set the bar too high.

The US District Court for the District of Massachusetts erred when it ruled that a party can’t proceed by pseudonym unless they show a reasonable fear they will suffer severe harm by using their real name, the US Court of Appeals for the First Circuit said, in an opinion written by Judge Bruce M. Selya.

The trial ...