The Chadron State College student newspaper The Eagle reports requests for 2 protection orders have been filed against the student appointed in January to be the school’s next student member of the Nebraska State College Board of Trustees.
Dawes County Judge Russ Harford has already held hearings on the two orders against 20-year old Caleb Tegtmeier and has said he will issue his decisions on May 23.
Two female students allege Tegtmeier made non-consensual contact with them.
The paper says the requests were filed Feb 10 and Feb 15. Tegtmeier, former finance chair of the Campus Activities Board, was appointed student trustee by Gov Pete Ricketts in January.
A spokesman for the governor says the application deadline to be considered as a trustee was in October and that neither Ricketts nor his staff were aware of any accusations against Tegtmeier until well after the appointment had been made.
The Eagle reports that during an April 8 hearing on the second protection order, the woman seeking it said she told Tegtmeier she didn’t want to be touched below the waist and that she’d contacted the CSC Title IX office about the incident in Nov 2020.
She said the former and current Title IX coordinators had “a conversation about consent” with Tegtmeier and that she was offered “supportive measures,” such as counseling. The two students are in a class together this semester and the school filed a no-contact order against him in Feb.
The woman told the judge that despite the help, Tegtmeier’s presence makes her “very uncomfortable.” She said it’s hard to go through her day-to-day life knowing what happened to her and potentially other women, adding she thought she could “push through it,” but was “sorely wrong.”
Tegtmeier testified at the hearing that he began attending remotely the shared class and any activities they both might be at and that he also resigned his CAB position at that time..