Board of Advisors
Since 1984, Suzanne Freed has been the CEO of Upstate Bed & Biscuit, a large pet boarding, grooming a daycare facility which has a staff of 14 people and has been recognized as being the best business for the Pet Care in Spartanburg, South Carolina. Through her business, Suzanne has sponsored several events to support nonprofit organizations, including Service Dogs for Veterans, South Carolina Chapter of the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention & the Spartanburg Humane Society. She has also served on various Board of Directors including the Spartanburg Humane Society & Brigantine Quarters Home Owners Association.
Suzanne is a native of South Carolina and has her Bachelor’s degree in Early Childhood Education from the University of South Carolina. A mother of four grown children, with one still attending a S.C. university, Suzanne has been actively involved with the non-profit organization SAVE-Stop Abusive & Violent Environments & the Campus Justice Coalition. Through SAVE, Suzanne has lobbied at the state and federal levels to change the inequitable TIX bias investigation, adjudication & disciplinary processes of accused students.
Beth Lorenz, Attorney. Beth earned her undergraduate degree in Public Policy from Duke University and a JD from the University of Pennsylvania, where she was both a member of the law review and a legal writing instructor. She worked as an attorney in private practice, where she helped school districts comply with desegregation orders, and for the Department of Education, where she worked with DOE program staff to draft and revise regulations regarding a broad range of educational programs and standards. After leaving the DOE to raise three children, Beth volunteered in the schools her children attended, served on her town zoning board, and volunteered as a court-appointed advocate for foster children.
Beth has been volunteering for FACE since 2015 because she is concerned about the current climate on college campuses created by overly broad definitions of sexual misconduct, unfair investigation and disciplinary processes that do not protect the rights of accused students, and the absence of penalties for false accusations. As a former Department of Education staff attorney, Beth is particularly concerned about the overreach of the April 2011 Dear Colleague letter issued by the DOE Office for Civil Rights, which mandated changes in campus policies and procedures for handling sexual misconduct allegations, including the use of the very low preponderance of the evidence standard of proof, without going through notice and comment rulemaking.
Ben is a senior associate and Title IX advisor at Binnall Law Group. His practice areas include constitutional law, civil litigation, and civil rights, with a specialization in Title IX. He also assists clients through internal and administrative investigations at schools, including Title IX. Ben is a graduate of Case Western Reserve University School of Law and a graduate of John Cabot University in Rome, Italy. In law school, he developed a first-of-its-kind database of all successful accused-student Title IX cases, broken down by causes of action and fact pattern. Prior to joining Binnall Law Group, Ben worked on both civil and criminal matters for the Cuyahoga County Prosecutor’s Office and the Lake County Public Defender’s Office. Whether Ben is defending clients in the courtroom or on campus, he relishes the opportunity to use his knowledge, experience, and passion to achieve justice.
