LAWSUITS Against Dartmouth College: Males Claim Discrimination, Unfair Treatment
A quiet battle is unfolding at Dartmouth College. Over the past two years, at least three male students – expelled or suspended for offenses ranging from alleged domestic violence to plagiarism – have sued the Ivy League school claiming that its disciplinary committee unfairly punished them and, in two cases, discriminated against them based on their gender. The cases strike at the heart of complicated cultural and legal questions for institutions of higher education: How should they balance the rights of accusers against those of the accused, and what should be the standard of proof? “Schools really want to crack down and clearly, in some cases, they have overreacted. Sometimes the Office of Civil Rights has pushed them to overreact, and sometimes they’ve done it on their own,” said Boston College professor R. Shep Melnick, author of “The Transformation of Title IX: Regulating Gender Equality in Education.”
unionleader By Todd Feathers
