It’s true that since issuance of the Dear Colleague letter, colleges and universities have frequently presumed guilt. But they generally go through the motions of providing fairness. So it’s jarring to see a federal judge suggest that students accused of sexual assault don’t have a right to be presumed innocent.
Judge Beckwith & the presumption of innocence By KC Johnson
According to the U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics, 1 in 52.6 college women will be victims of sexual assault. According to the FBI’s annual crime reports, actual rape numbers have been on steady decline in the United States. College women are actually less likely to be sexually assaulted than women who are not enrolled in college.
Accusation Is A Weapon Of Power: Mattress Emma falsely accused Paul Nungesser of rape. If a girl wants to leap forward in the Victimhood Olympics and gain social points, she can falsely accuse a man of rape. Nobody is higher status on a college campus than a rape survivor. Multiple incentives exist for girls to use the tool of a false rape accusation
In seeking to prevent “sexual violence,” schools have taken to regulating students’ behavior and even attitudes about sex to absurd levels. Institutions of higher learning are nearly requiring that anything less than a woman’s enthusiasm for sex constitute a violation of her consent. In only the most recent symptom of this disease, a court recently ruled that George Mason University wrongfully expelled a student in 2014 — for engaging in consensual sex with his girlfriend.
pjmedia.com By tyler O’Neil
Jane said her sexual activity with Doe was consensual. The university then made the paternalistic and indefensible decision to override her opinion on the matter and described their sex as rape anyway.
reason.com By Robby Soave
“I think the most important voice to send to OCR is that of the students who are most burned by these rules and regulations,” More than 150 students have signed a letter that will be sent to senators next week requesting the Education Department not get additional funds to continue its sexual harassment and sexual assault overreach…The students, led by Tufts University freshman Jake Goldberg, take issue with the damage being done to free speech and due process rights on college campuses.
washingtonexaminer.com By Ashe Schow
The Foundation for Individual Rights in Education said it “aims to challenge” the Department of Education’s use of unenforceable guidance to threaten colleges into changing their Title IX procedures around alleged sexual misconduct – and it needs a student or institutional plaintiff: Students or institutions interested in becoming plaintiffs can contact FIRE at APA@thefire.org.
James Madison University initially cleared a male student of wrongdoing in a sexual assault dispute. But after his accuser appealed the decision JMU went to great lengths to accommodate Roe—even granting her several extensions on submitting new evidence—while making it all but impossible for Doe to defend himself. As a result, he was found responsible for sexual misconduct and suspended from the university for five and a half years. The accused student, “John Doe,” is now suing JMU, and a judge has ruled that his lawsuit—which alleges abridgment of due process—can proceed.
reason.com By Robby Soave
Like Harvard, Brandeis appears to have substantially impaired, if not eliminated, an accused student’s right to a fair and impartial process. If a college student is to be marked for life as a sexual predator, it is reasonable to require that he be provided a fair opportunity to defend himself. Judge Saylor concludes that the procedure employed by Brandeis to railroad its student was deficient in almost every respect…Scream “believe the victim” all you want, but the law requires that colleges, whether public because of the Constitution, or private because of the requirement of good faith, provide all their students with the protections of due process, particularly given the seriousness of an accusation of sexual misconduct.
blog.simplejustice.us Scott H. Greenfield
Jackson [a former student] filed a lawsuit against Macalester College and the U.S. Department of Education. Jackson also sued for alleged violations of the Americans with Disabilities Act and the Rehabilitation Act…five days after the lawsuit was first filed, Jackson filed a motion for a restraining order against Macalester. The lawsuit went on to argue that Title IX actions by private colleges, are effectively actions conducted by the federal government because the Department has heavily influenced those policies. Therefore, private colleges are required to provide due process protections to their students.
themacweekly.com By Joe Klein