Northwestern’s Office of Civil Rights and Title IX Compliance found that there was “insufficient evidence” in a non-retaliation case from Spring Quarter, bringing the months-long inquiry to a close on Monday.
In an email obtained by The Daily, OCR said it did not find sufficient evidence to suggest that Coby Potischman (Medill ’25) subjected Weinberg junior Hunter Gracey to retaliation in violation of University policy.
Gracey, a NU College Republicans senator, initially brought the case against Potischman in connection with an Associated Student Government impeachment case against Gracey.
“I am pleased to see that, as expected, the University does not consider pursuing a student government impeachment to be a violation of student policy,” Potischman said. “I think that we’re all glad to move past this, and I wish Hunter the best.”
Gracey declined to comment on the case.
The debacle began when Potischman, a ResilientNU senator at the time, filed articles of impeachment against Gracey on May 13.
The original articles of impeachment alleged that Gracey made “inflammatory” comments at a dinner with three other ASG members. They were dismissed after ASG determined that discriminatory conduct falls under OCR and Title IX Compliance, not ASG.
According to emails obtained by The Daily, OCR reviewed the conduct and determined there was “insufficient information” to implicate OCR policy. OCR then closed the case.
Potischman filed a second set of impeachment articles on May 16. The second articles of impeachment were ultimately considered in the case.
The articles alleged that Gracey had engaged in an “aggressive pressure campaign to quash duly-filed articles of impeachment” and were based on Gracey’s behavior after the first articles had been filed.
Gracey then brought an OCR non-retaliation case against Potischman, claiming that the second articles of impeachment were retaliation against him for bringing the initial impeachment case to OCR.
In late July, ASG placed Gracey on probation before reversing that decision in mid-September. Gracey was then reinstated to his position as NUCR ASG senator.
The end of the second OCR proceeding wraps up the situation’s loose ends. Either party has the opportunity to appeal the decision by Nov. 22.
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