The University of Iowa on Monday was supposed to defend itself at trial against allegations it violated a student’s rights in its response to her sexual assault reports and then retaliated against her, but a judge preemptively ruled in its favor — nixing the need for a jury to weigh in.Samantha Lange, 31 — in a 2017 lawsuit Des Moines attorneys Tom Newkirk and Beatriz Mate-Kodjo filed in Polk County — reported a fellow student in the UI Department of Political Science sexually assaulted her in 2012 and 2013.