A university student is set to receive a two-year suspension following several alleged Title IX violations such as stalking, recording without consent and touching without consent.
During Welcome Weekend, a student, who wished to remain anonymous, was introduced to Kai Kaba, a male first-year student. The student decided to stay anonymous in fear for her own safety. Kaba gave the Chimes permission to use his name in this article.
According to the student, Kaba asked her to show him around campus. The student allegedly told Kaba she had a boyfriend, which she said was her way of letting him know “I’m not interested.”
“I thought that was going to be that,” the student said.
The student said she saw Kaba multiple times after the initial encounter, and each encounter she had would make her more and more uncomfortable.
“[The encounters] progressively got a little bit weirder,” she said.
One day, Kaba allegedly followed the student and her friends back to a room in Schaaf Hall. When they entered the room and closed the door, the student said they heard knocking on the door. She and her friends recognized the voice when he started to make noises.
“We knew [it was him] because we can recognize his voice,” the student said. “He was laughing.”
One of the student’s friends, who also wished to remain anonymous due to safety reasons, allegedly saw Kaba knocking on the girl’s room while she exited the bathroom from a shower.
“I was holding the door shut,” the friend said. “I didn’t hear anything, so I opened the door…out of the corner of my eye, I saw him at the end of the hallway.”
However, the student said when she notified the university of these grievances, the university was getting similar complaints from other women on campus about Kaba.
The student said she met with Dr. Deanna Wagner, associate provost and Title IX coordinator at the university. The student said Wagner told her she was not the only person experiencing this. As an alternative to the student having to press charges against Kaba, the student suggested to Wagner the university file a Title IX report on behalf of the students that filed Title IX complaints.
When asked about these situations, Kaba denied his involvement.
“Everyone sort of targeted me. They didn’t agree with me and how I was going about myself,” Kaba said. “They targeted me, they wanted me out.”
Kaba was willing to discuss the allegations made against him and his experience dealing with the Title IX violations.
After Kaba was removed from his assigned residence hall, he said he was still able to attend classes, but had to stay in Bexley with nowhere to sleep. Once he was suspended, Kaba struggled to find a permanent place to live.
“At first, I wasn’t living anywhere. I was basically like around [Bexley] and I was going to [The Ohio State University] hospital to just check in and chill somewhere. And eventually they kicked me out. I was sleeping on a bench,” Kaba said. “Public Safety took me [to the hospital]. They said [the hospital] will give you beds and stuff for you to stay there.”
When Public Safety was contacted to confirm this, they said they “…cannot disclose personal medical information on an individual except that we do on occasions transport students and non-students to the hospital for various reasons.”
Kaba said that he tried to check into hotels, but they required him to be 21 years old to book a room.
“I feel like it’d be smarter to sleep on a bench because if I go to a hotel, I have to Uber back and forth. And then you have to pay to stay in the hotel,” Kaba said. “It’s just not smart.”
When asked if he was trying to find a job, Kaba said that the suspension threw his plans off course.
“I was going to try to get one, until this happened. It completely blew me off.”
Kaba’s parents don’t currently live in the U.S.
“They live in Germany right now,” he said. “They’re doing cross-country work now, so my aunt came for me.”
On Oct. 12, 2023, Kaba was notified of a two-year suspension from the university, as confirmed by a Title IX document and a letter from Wagner Kaba provided.
“I was supposed to talk to Deanna Wagner, but she called off sick. So Jon [Geyer] gave me a call. He basically gave me the papers saying ‘you’re suspended until Fall 2025, effective immediately,’” Kaba said.
The letter from Wagner states:
“You are immediately put on a two-year suspension from Capital University, through the end of fall semester 2025.”
In the letter from Wagner, she also states, “the University has provided assistance to [Kaba] in a number of ways…and assistance from the offices of Public Safety, and Residential Life, and Title IX. Despite these services, [his] behavior continues to disrupt the community.”
In the Title IX document Kaba provided, it states:
“The Title IX Office has received several reports concerning behavior that may violate University policy. Specifically it is alleged that you have engaged in Stalking behaviors of two different female students, recorded female students in vulnerable positions without their consent, and creating a Hostile Environment by staring at female students and touching them without their consent.”
Wagner declined a request to comment on the suspension, citing the federal Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA), which prevents public access to educational documents.
Kaba is set to serve his suspension until Fall semester 2025, pending an ongoing investigation.
