Bipartisan drive to restore due process on college and univerity campuses

Drive to Restore Due Process on Campus Gains Traction

SAVE

March 7, 2016

The Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights issued a Dear Colleague Letter (DCL) on campus sexual assault in 2011. Even though the directive imposed a substantial number of new mandates on colleges, the OCR neglected to submit the policy for public review and comment – in direct violation of the Administrative Procedure Act.

In response, a growing number of lawmakers are speaking out on the need to refer campus sex cases to criminal justice authorities and restore due process on campus:[i]

•Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA): “I think a crime of rape off campus or a crime of rape on campus ought to be treated the same way. And the sooner it’s treated the same way, the sooner the message is going to get out that you can’t get away with something on campus that you couldn’t get away with someplace else.”

•Sen. Bernie Sanders (D-VT): “If a student rapes another student it has got to be understood as a very serious crime, it has to get outside of the school and have a police investigation.”

•Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI): “As a former United States Attorney and Attorney General for my state, I am concerned that law enforcement is being marginalized when it comes to the crime of campus sexual assault.”

•Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL): “Sexual assault can destroy lives, but so can false allegations of sexual assault. One need only review recent news reports to know that false allegations do, in fact, happen. Certainly, we should make additional efforts to protect due process on campus.”

•Sen. Mark Warner (D-VA): “I do believe you do need, for the accused, you need to maintain due process rights.… I think this part of the legislation [Campus Accountability and Safety Act] will probably require some additional review.”

Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs

In January, Sen. James Lankford, chairman of the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, wrote a letter to the Department of Education asking the agency to justify the legal authority behind its DCLs of 2010 on bullying and of 2011 on sexual assault.

The Department of Education responded on February 17, saying its new mandates represented a “construction” of its interpretation of Title IX.

In his March 4 reply, Sen. Lankford stated the Dept. of Education letter “failed to assuage my concerns that OCR has issued guidance documents” that “advance policies not found within the pages of [Title IX’s] statutory and regulatory texts.” Sen. Lankford called on Acting Secretary King to “immediately rein in the regulatory abuses within the Department of Education.”[ii]

It’s deplorable that the Office of Civil Rights would repeatedly violate the Administrative Procedure Act, and then make shallow excuses for its pattern of abusive behavior to a Congressional oversight committee.

Source

Numerous senators have expressed concerns how current OCR policies are marginalizing the criminal justice system, about the lack of due process, and regarding federal agencys’ Title IX policy-making or enforcement methods:

A. Minimizing the Role of the Criminal Justice System:

Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA): “I think a crime of rape off campus or a crime of rape on campus ought to be treated the same way. And the sooner it’s treated the same way, the sooner the message is going to get out that you can’t get away with something on campus that you couldn’t get away with someplace else.”[1]

Sen. Bernie Sanders (D-VT): “Rape and assault is rape or assault whether it takes place on a campus or a dark street…If a student rapes another student it has got to be understood as a very serious crime, it has to get outside of the school and have a police investigation and that has to take place.”[2]

Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI): “As a former United States Attorney and Attorney General for my state, I am concerned that law enforcement is being marginalized when it comes to the crime of campus sexual assault. I am concerned that the specter of flawed law enforcement overshadows the harm of marginalized law enforcement.”[3]

B. Lack of Due Process:

Marco Rubio (R-FL): “Sexual assault can destroy lives, but so can false allegations of sexual assault. One need only review recent news reports to know that false allegations do, in fact, happen. Certainly, we should make additional efforts to protect due process on campus.”[4]

Sen. Mark Warner (D-VA): “I do believe you do need, for the accused, you need to maintain due process rights.… I think this part of the legislation [Campus Accountability and Safety Act] will probably require some additional review.”[5]

C. Unlawful Policy-Making Procedures:

Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-TN): “What you’re doing is writing out detailed guidance for 22 million students on 7,200 campuses, and it’s just — it could be your whim, your idea. We make the law. You don’t make the law. Where does such a guidance authority come from?”[6]

Sen. James Lankford (R-OK): The “Department of Education’s Office for Civil Right (OCR) Dear Colleague letters on harassment and bullying (issued October 23, 2010) and sexual violence (issued April 4, 2011)… purport to interpret statements of existing law; however, while both broadly cite to Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 (Title IX), the letters fail to point to precise governing statutory or regulatory language that support their sweeping policy changes.”[7]

Sen. John McCain (R-AZ): “Given that the interpretation of Title IX has such a widespread impact on the well-being of young students, it is troublesome that significant changes to nationwide sexual harassment policy were unilaterally dictated by DOJ – through a settlement – rather than through congressional or regulatory action.”[8] (in reference to the University of Montana Settlement Agreement that was referred to as a “blueprint” for other universities)

D. Heavy-Handed Enforcement Practices:

Sen. Mark Warner (D-VA) and Timothy Kaine (D-VA) sent a letter to Department of Education Secretary Arne Duncan on August 25, 2015 in support of the concerns of Gov. Terry McAuliffe regarding a Title IX investigation of the University of Virginia, and called for a “fair and thorough process for all involved.”[9]

Source

Citations at source.

This is a first. This is a bipartisan look at men's rights. This is a first and it is long overdue. Thank you to both sides of the aisle for coming together to make sure justice is served and that your male constituents are not railroaded by a misandric system. Click on the links to thank these Senators for their brave stance and since they are helping us we can help them in return and the best way to do that is to vote for them when they are running for re-election or if that is not possible encourage other registered voters registered in their districts to vote for them. They fought for us the least we can do is help them keep their jobs.