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.

Let's stop VAWA in the Senate

From SAVE Services:

No Time to Spare, Show your Senators You Care!

Dear (Contact First Name),

The Senate is expected to vote on VAWA today. Let's use these last moments to express our views to our lawmakers:click here

You can also find your senators here.

If you don't call, they'll never know what you want.

teri

Teri Stoddard, Program Director
Stop Abusive and Violent Environments
www.saveservices.org

If we can get VAWA aka S.47 killed in the Senate then we won't have to concern ourselves over it anymore. If it passes and goes to the House then we have to go after it in the House as well. It would be a lot easier to just end it now so send in those emails. The following Senators are also not VAWA friendly: Rand Paul,Mike Lee,Chuck Grassley and Orrin Hatch. Also Senator Mitch McConnell is the ranking Republican member there so it may be a good idea to let him know as well.

Let's take a bite out of misandry at the collegiate level

For all 20 videos click here

Who's going to stand up for boys and men? We are. Let's write to our elected officials and protest this misandry. You can contact your Representative and Senators here. You can also email Speaker of the House John Boehner,House Majority Leader Eric CantorCongressman Darrell Issa,Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell,Senator Chuck Grassley and Senator Rand Paul. Also email Arne Duncan: arne.duncan@ed.gov and let him know about this and to vacate the "dear colleague" directive.If you can think of contacting anyone else feel free to add it to the list.

Also feel free to include this and this from SAVE in your emails. We can cause things to change for the better but we have to stick together. Who's with me?

Free David Bedoya VAWA victim

Imagine this: you think you've met the woman of your dreams but in reality you've met and married the banshee from hell. A woman you thought was truthful to you and loyal to you is a lying bigamist. Worse yet she throws you to the wolves aka the U.S. injustice system on a VAWA charge to get you incarcerated. Imagine that. Meet David Bedoya,he doesn't imagine it he LIVES it everyday he's been incarcerated. There are thousands of David Bedoyas out there, incarcerated men,incarcerated men who are only guilty of picking the wrong woman. Instead of giving them counseling as free men the government incarcerates them. Apparently to our government and society a foreign woman who has connived the system,which is a criminal act is more valuable than an honest man who contributed to the system. Since this is VAWA related the best plan is to get in contact with our elected officials,both houses,here and let them know about how men are victimized by VAWA. Also get in contact with the John Boehner,Speaker Of the House,Eric Cantor,House Majority Leader and Mitch McConnell,Senate Republican Leader and let them know as well. I've heard that Senator Chuck Grassley,Senator Jerry Moran,Senator Rand Paul and Senator Mike Johanns may be sympathetic to the men's rights movement so it would probably be a good idea to let them know as well. We let these people know that there are human male victims of VAWA and their situation has to be remedied and the female criminals who put them there need to be brought to justice.

Someone suggested emailing Mitt Romney as well so here is his email address: mitt@mittforpresident.com Let's do this.