THE GROSS Unfairness of Title IX Goes National
Two national publications—the New York Times and the Atlantic—have recently reported on procedural abuses in the Title IX system. Both pieces are must-reads, and reminders of how the one-sided nature of campus Title IX tribunals, analyzed for years mostly by smaller media outlets like this one, has at last decisively permeated mainstream media. Michael Powell’s New York Times article on Keith Mumphery and Michigan State is extraordinary, one of the best single items written on the issue since its emergence with the 2011 “Dear Colleague” letter to colleges from the Office of Civil Rights in President Obama’s Department of Education. Caitlin Flanagan’s Atlantic column, meanwhile, examines a bizarre case at the University of Cincinnati, one of the few documented cases with a male accuser and a female accused student. The point isn’t that Michigan State and Cincinnati are factually typical cases—they’re not. Procedurally, however, these cases are all too typical. Mumphery’s case is a classic example of procedural unfairness, in this instance, how the double-jeopardy provision can lead to unfair results. And Cincinnati has been one of the most sued institutions in the country—facing allegations from a denial of any form of cross-examination to a case investigator having a romantic relationship with the accuser whose case he was handling.
mindingthecampus.org By KC Johnson
