When it comes to the issue of sexual assault on Capitol Hill or college campuses across America, folks on opposite sides of the aisle are setting their own standards for what’s deemed worthy of an investigation, as opposed to losing your job/status and being prosecuted in a court of law.
In the span of almost three months, we’ve seen individuals and organizations demonize Education Secretary Betsy DeVos for rescinding two sets of Obama-era Title IX guidelines regarding campus sexual assault and rape cases, to others decrying the resignation of Sen. Al Franken, D-Minn., over evidence and the number of women who have accused him of sexual harassment and assault.
Back in September, when DeVos announced that the Trump administration would roll back these guidelines to ensure that accused individuals in sexual assault cases on college campuses were treated fairly, organizations like End Rape on Campus said in a statement that “Betsy DeVos and the Trump Administration chose to tip the scales in favor of rapists and perpetrators. Rolling back this guidance is an affront to the students, survivors, and allies who have fought to bring the sexual assault epidemic out of the shadows.”
Fast forward to this week and you’ll see Fordham law professor and Bernie Sanders surrogate Zephyr Teachout going to bat for Franken. She writes in the New York Times Opinion page that she’s not entirely convinced that the Minnesota senator should resign. In her op-ed she wrote that, in Franken’s case, both due process (i.e. “a fair, full investigation, with a chance for the accused to respond”) and proportionality (i.e. “that while all forms of inappropriate sexual behavior should be addressed, the response should be based on the nature of the transgressions”) were notably absent and he was forced to resign instead.
What is the main obstacle impeding us from taking a careful approach to addressing claims of sexual assault? Tribalism.
In this case, tribalism can best fit in the context of “when your party does it, it’s the worst thing imaginable and you’re all horrible human beings. However, when my party does it, we need to make sure we don’t rush to conclusions.” We saw it time and time again with President Trump, Roy Moore, Bill Clinton, John Conyers, and now Al Franken.
While I’m certainly guilty of jumping to conclusions (because I’m human), how about we always be careful and not rush to conclusions from now on? Investigations that treat both the accuser and the accused fairly are the hallmark of justice. Surely, we can do better.
