LAWYERS Largely Support Betsy DeVos’s Title IX Proposal at Senate Hearing
Courts across the country have ordered colleges and universities, public and private, to give students accused of sexual misconduct due process and fair hearings that comport with the Constitution, state laws and their own policies. The Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee met Tuesday to consider a related question: the content of federal regulations that set rules for schools on adjudicating sexual misconduct allegations. Committee Republicans were more concerned with giving schools clear rules that are legally binding, in contrast to the nonbinding guidance issued by the Obama administration, which has since been rescinded by Education Secretary Betsy DeVos.
Philadelphia lawyer Patricia Hamill, who represents accused students in Title IX proceedings, defended the proposed Title IX regulation on the grounds that her task as an attorney is to “advocate for fair, objective and reliable” proceedings. Hamill said many current campus procedures are an attempt to “correct for decades of sexual assault claims not being taken seriously” or ignored, but “we must be careful not to allow current disciplinary processes to be marred by the sins of the past.” Universities should not “presume that accused people are guilty, deprive them of the ability to defend themselves, and punish them without a full consideration of the facts from both parties’ perspectives.” Hamill went on to state that “our nation’s fundamental values,” not just a regulatory rulemaking, require thorough and impartial investigations and “a fair hearing before impartial decision makers.”
thecollegefix -Ethan Berman
