TITLE IX Bureaucrats Meet Due Process Once Again
In recent years, more and more college students have found themselves wrongly accused of sexual misconduct and denied basic due process rights by their schools, with little ability to clear their names. Title IX, which began as a necessary and reasonable part of the Higher Education Act (HEA) designed to protect students from sexual discrimination, has morphed into an administrative behemoth with little regard for the rights of the accused, especially when the accusation is sexual misconduct as discrimination. The presumption of innocence becomes the presumption of guilt as students are punished before their alleged misconduct is proven.
One such case occurred back in 2018 at the University of Michigan, where student John Doe’s transcript and degree were indefinitely withheld after he was accused of sexual misconduct by a female peer. Doe was never given a hearing or the chance for cross examination, prompting him to file a lawsuit against the school. He was but the latest in a long line of students who have sued their colleges for violations of basic due process rights.
Late last month, Senior U.S. District Judge Arthur Tarnow handed down his decision regarding UMich’s behavior in Doe’s case. He ruled that the disciplinary action taken, and importantly, that the school’s Title IX policy in general was unconstitutional due to administrators’ blatant disregard for Doe’s rights. Furthermore, these same bureaucrats have been stripped of their “qualified immunity,” meaning they can now be held personally liable for John Doe’s damages. In this week’s featured article, Connor Ellington of The College Fix breaks down the history and full substance of Judge Tarnow’s ruling, placing it in context with similar decisions.
Higher education bureaucrats must know that there are consequences for corruption: they can no longer hide behind a shield of immunity. With the shield removed, these bureaucrats will be far more likely to respect the rights of their accused students. www.nas.org/blogs-John David
