It’s a sad day in America when due process rights granted in the Constitution need protection, but here we are.
On college campuses across the country, students — particularly male students — are learning the hard way that they have little if any due process rights should they ever be accused of sexual assault. Indeed, an accusation is all that’s needed to destroy or severely alter their future.
The reason for this comes from the Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights, which has reinterpreted Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 to view sexual assault as a form of gender discrimination instead of a crime. It therefore must be treated as a disciplinary matter, more closely aligned with plagiarism than the felony crime it actually is.
And since Title IX and OCR’s subsequent, infamous “Dear Colleague” letter recommend inadequate due process rights for those accused, following those guidelines has been shown in at least one instance to be an acceptable excuse for subverting the Constitution. For instance, although Title IX theoretically requires a fair hearing for the accused, it also requires a Title IX officer to oversee the investigation of sexual assault complaints and be a victim’s advocate, thereby placing the power of the office behind the accuser and against the accused.
Title IX also requires schools to use a “preponderance of evidence” standard for determining guilt, meaning an accuser just has to be 50.01 percent believable. Title IX also states that what is afforded to one party — right to any kind of counsel, right to appeal — must also be afforded to the other. This allows schools to decide whether students can have lawyers at their hearings (in most instances, even if a lawyer is provided, they are not permitted to speak, leaving untrained college students to fend for themselves). It also allows even accusers to appeal, which is not allowed in criminal trials due to double jeopardy.
All of this, especially given the current culture surrounding campus sexual assault, amounts to a witch hunt to find someone to hold accountable in order for a school to escape the wrath of the federal government.
Because schools receiving federal funds only need to provide the due process rights outlined in Title IX (which private schools have no obligation to provide), the basic tenets of our judicial system need an advocate.
It is politically dangerous these days to even suggest that schools provide due process to those accused of sexual assault. Especially since these days all that is needed to brand someone a rapist is an uncorroborated accusation. But there must be someone in Congress brave enough to take up the issue and offer a bill that either amends existing law or requires colleges to provide due process to students who are accused.
