ANOTHER SETTLEMENT. Due Process Win for John Doe. Illinois StateU Settled.
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Monthly Archives: September 2018
COMPARING Seven Key Changes in DeVos’ Title IX Proposal
KC Johnson writes that the long-awaited new regulations on campus sexual misconduct, are expected to be fairer toward the accused than the Obama-era Title IX guidance policies. In the article below, KC compares what we know of the guidelines—from published reports and from his discussions with a source who has seen the proposed regulations—with the Obama-era guidance dating from 2011. If you want a play by play look at seven key Title IX changes click below.
mindingthecampus.org By KC Johnson
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BETSY DeVOS is Getting Savaged for Closing Campus Kangaroo Courts
The Education Department is preparing new rules that would roll back the monstrously unfair Obama-era requirements for how colleges handle sexual-assault and harassment allegations. In one of its least defensible actions, the Obama administration used its Office for Civil Rights to impose its preferred procedures for handling sexual-assault cases on all the universities in the country that receive federal funds. It did it via a 19-page “Dear Colleague” letter, in the name of Title IX, the provision in federal law prohibiting sexual discrimination in education. The process was terrible. It blew right by the Administrative Procedure Act, which requires public notice and comment before such rules go into effect. The Obama rules have been receiving a battering in the courts, where due process is still taken seriously. A US district court judge wrote in a 2016 ruling against Brandeis University: “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 and an impartial arbiter to make that decision. Put simply, a fair determination of the facts requires a fair process, not tilted to favor a particular outcome, and a fair and neutral fact-finder, not predisposed to reach a particular conclusion.”
nypost.com By Rich Lowry
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JUDGES CHANGING The Way Universities Handle Sexual Assault Investigations
A series of federal cases in the Midwest is likely to shift the way universities investigate sexual assault claims on their campuses. On the way out is a process that puts the onus for collecting information on a staff member, who interviews the person making the claim of a sexual assault, the person accused of the sexual assault and any witnesses. On the way in is more opportunity for the two sides to ask questions of each other, with some judges saying there needs to be a live hearing with all parties present, even if it’s through something like Skype. The reshaping is focused in the U.S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals and the courts that make up its district. There’s been a ruling by the appeals court and one by a federal court in Michigan shaping the movement. Another case is pending before the appeals court, while another case in a federal court based in Michigan is also pushing for the change. All the cases are federal cases, with arguments that the universities are violating the U.S. Constitution’s due process protections.
bakersfield.com By David Jesse
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JUDGE Sides w Accused Black Male. Says Brown was Unfair/Discriminatory & Favored White Girl’s Accusation
A Brown University student suspended for alleged sexual misconduct has won an important victory. His lawsuit against the university, which makes some of the most eye-popping claims of unfair treatment has survived a motion to dismiss. Rhode Island District Judge John McConnell, an Obama appointee, ruled that the student, a black male athlete, aka: John Doe, had presented evidence that Brown officials engaged in an “ongoing, racially discriminatory pattern” of behaviors that violated John’s rights, wrecked his freshman and sophomore years, caused his grades to plummet, and may have even contributed to his suicide attempt. This case is especially noteworthy because of John’s contention that he was essentially presumed guilty because of his race. John is black and his accuser, “Jane Doe,” is a white woman. Moreover, Jane was the initiator, at least according to the allegations contained in the judge’s decision. John even complained about Jane’s behavior—to no avail, he says, because Brown was only interested in Jane’s complaint.
reason.com By Robby Soave
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EDITORIAL: Due Process Returns to Campus
Education Secretary Betsy DeVos is following through on her commitment to stand up for the due process rights of all students on U.S. college campuses. Last September, DeVos began this work, rescinding overzealous Obama-era guidelines that pushed university administrators to investigate and adjudicate serious accusations and even crimes. Using the threat of withheld funding if schools didn’t comply, the former administration instructed universities to lower the burden of proof and create a framework to give alleged victims the upper hand. Title IX, the law preventing sex discrimination in schools that take federal funds, has been expanded greatly in recent years to apply to cases of sexual misconduct. All this led to accused students with little recourse to defend themselves, with serious repercussions as a result, including expulsion. It amounted to a lack of due process — a right guaranteed in the Constitution. Once the new rules go through the full vetting, they will hold the force of law, so universities will need to pay attention. Many will undoubtedly resist doing so, but if they doubt what’s coming from the Trump administration, they should also look to the courts. A decision last fall, out of the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, found that the University of Cincinnati had erred in expelling a student for alleged assault and had denied the student his due process rights. In that case, the court concluded: “While the public has a competing interest in the enforcement of Title IX, that interest can never override individual constitutional rights.” This is at the heart of what DeVos and her team are trying to achieve.
detroitnews.com Editorial
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LAWSUIT Alleges Bias Against Straight Male. Montana StateU TitleIX Director Steps Down
A former male student filed a federal lawsuit last year against Montana State University, Jyl Shaffer, and other MSU employees. Jyl Shaffer was MSU’s Title IX administrator and according to the lawsuit is accused of bias in favor of transgender students and against straight men. The former student, Erik Powell, sued MSU in March 2017. His lawsuit charges that the university violated his constitutional rights in 2016 by banning him from the Bozeman campus in the summer and fall semesters, after he privately voiced his objections to transgenderism to an instructor, comments he contended were misconstrued as threatening violence. The lawsuit charges MSU violated his rights to free speech, due process and equal protection, and that it discriminated against him because he is male, violating the federal Title IX law that bars discrimination in education based on sex. The lawsuit alleges after the transgender student filed a complaint with the Title IX Office, neither the MSU dean of students office nor campus police thought the male student’s comments were serious threats that warranted his suspension, but Title IX administrator Shaffer called the case “cut and dried” and had him kicked off campus. The lawsuit alleges Shaffer showed bias when she wrote an email to the transgender student calling herself “an aspiring ally” and saying, “I’m grateful you trusted us.” Shaffer offered to assist the transgender student to find work or academic help, and to meet with the ASMSU students’ attorney – but didn’t offer the same assistance to the male student. “Shaffer also has firmly held anti-male beliefs that she shared on her Twitter account,” the lawsuit alleges. It cites her 2018 comment calling “accurate AF (as expletive deleted)” an article that talked about “entitled toxic masculinity.” Shaffer recently left her Title IX administrator position, along with investigator James Sletten, a former MSU police officer working under Shaffer. The case is still ongoing in U.S. District Court, with Judge Sam Haddon presiding.
bozemandailychronicle.com By Gail Schontzler
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LAWSUIT: Former Student Acquitted in Boulder Sex Assault Case Sues CU Boulder
A former University of Colorado student acquitted by a jury of sexual assault is suing the university for gender discrimination, saying CU failed to conduct a fair investigation before suspending him. William Norris filed the lawsuit in U.S. District Court against CU Boulder for violation of Title IX and breach of contract and against Chancellor Phil DiStefano for denial of due process. The complaint points out that Norris’ suspension left him six credits short of his degree and caused him “economic injuries, the loss of educational and career opportunities and emotional distress.” Mr. Norris’ case is an exemplar of the injustice that occurs as a result of colleges and universities applying a low burden of proof, the preponderance of the evidence standard, in sexual misconduct cases,” the complaint read. “Under this scenario, an individual may be found not guilty and acquitted of all charges in a criminal case but may still have his academic and career goals sidetracked or even destroyed.” “This case is a quintessential example of the injustice that occurs on college campuses – a flawed and inherently biased process that the U. S. Department of Education is now rightfully seeking to correct,” said Norris’ attorney, Andrew Miltenberg. “Under this star chamber scenario, my client was found not guilty and acquitted of all charges in a court of law, yet his career and academic prospects have been destroyed by the university’s wrongful proceedings.” In addition to damages, the lawsuit is asking that Norris’ record be cleared of the suspension, the complaint from the woman destroyed, and that Norris either be allowed to return to CU to finish his degree or transfer credits to obtain the degree.
dailycamera.com By Mitchell Byars
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IS YALE More Dangerous Than Detroit? Or is Yale’s Sex Assault Report a Fabrication? You Decide.
To read Yale University’s latest report on its sexual assault investigations, one might think the school is a hotbed of sexual violence against female undergraduates. The report from Yale’s Deputy Provost for Health Affairs & Academic Integrity, Stephanie Spangler, shows that 50 undergraduate females reported being sexually assaulted in the first six months of 2018. With a female undergraduate population of around 2,700, that means that roughly 1.85% have been sexually assaulted. That’s a violent crime rate around twice as high as that of Detroit, which the FBI rates as the nation’s most dangerous city. Spangler seems almost excited about the numbers, but as always with the Spangler Report, the details don’t match the apocalyptic topline. Spangler notes that the university “uses a more expansive definition of sexual assault” than does either Connecticut state law or the federal government (through Clery Act requirements). The university has never offered an explanation as to why it does so. Minding the Campus has broken down each of the previous Spangler documents.
mindingthecampus.org By Johnson dailywire.com By Schow Yale Ordered To Release Sex Assault Training Material
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