A student is suing the University of St. Thomas over its handling of a sexual assault allegation.

The student wasn’t criminally charged in the incident. But St. Thomas suspended him for three semesters after it launched its own investigation, according to court documents.

Vice President for University and Government Relations Doug Hennes said the university’s standards aren’t higher than the state’s, just different.

“People are saying, ‘Well, he wasn’t criminally charged, so why are you suspending him?’ So there are different standards of evidence that need to be considered for criminal … prosecution than for an investigation that a university would conduct,” he said.

The case illustrates the difficulty for colleges and universities that find themselves criticized in such situations for either going too easy on alleged perpetrators or trampling their rights.

A federal lawsuit filed Friday alleges that St. Thomas imposed an unfair and illegal disciplinary process against the student. The university denies the allegations and claims that its investigations are thorough and impartial.

St. Thomas filed an emergency motion Monday to delete and seal some of the student’s allegations.

TommieMedia contributed to this report.