A judicial process that doesn’t allow the accused to cross-examine his accuser or reliably see the evidence against him is a civil libertarian’s nightmare. It traduces every principle of fairness and is blatantly un-American.
Yet Education Secretary Betsy DeVos is about to get savaged for replacing just such a process with something more in keeping with our longstanding legal norms.
The Education Department is preparing new rules that would roll back the monstrously unfair Obama-era requirements for how colleges handle sexual-assault and harassment allegations. It will be a significant advance for due process, which is almost as out of style on campus as free speech.
In one of its least defensible actions, the Obama administration used its Office for Civil Rights to impose its preferred procedures for handling sexual-assault cases on all the universities in the country that receive federal funds. It did it via a 19-page “Dear Colleague” letter, in the name of Title IX, the provision in federal law prohibiting sexual discrimination in education.
The process was terrible. It blew right by the Administrative Procedure Act, which requires public notice and comment before such rules go into effect. And the substance was worse. If the letter reads as if it was written by inflamed activists who had no interest in balanced proceedings, that’s because it was.
It required colleges to adopt a “preponderance of evidence” standard rather than a “clear and convincing” standard.
It more or less forbade colleges from allowing the cross-examination of accusers.
It adopted a remarkably broad definition of sexual harassment to include “unwelcome sexual advances, requests for sexual favors, and other verbal, nonverbal, or physical conduct of a sexual nature.”
The administration also encouraged the use of a “single investigator-adjudicator system,” i.e., one person as investigator, judge and jury.
The Obama rules are medieval in the sense that they ignore central developments in Anglo-American justice that arose hundreds of years ago.
In their important book “The Campus Rape Frenzy,” KC Johnson and Stuart Taylor Jr. describe how the rules often played out: “Start with an alcohol-soaked set of facts that no state’s criminal law would consider sexual assault. Add an incomplete ‘investigation,’ unfair procedures, and a disciplinary panel uninterested in evidence of innocence. Stir in a de facto presumption of guilt based on misguided Obama administration dictates, ideological zeal, and fear of bad publicity.”
The result has, inevitably, been jaw-dropping miscarriages of justice. Everyone should want perpetrators of sexual assault to be punished — and in the criminal-justice system, not just by colleges — but elementary protections for the accused can’t be discarded in the process.
One reason the Obama rules were so lopsided is that they were crafted in an atmosphere of moral panic. It was assumed that there was a spiraling epidemic of sexual assault on campus. Taylor and Johnson note, to the contrary, that sexual assaults of female college students dropped by more than half between 1997 and 2013, and that young women in college are less likely to be assaulted than those who are not in college.
The Obama rules have been receiving a battering in the courts, where due process is still taken seriously.
A US district court judge wrote in a 2016 ruling against Brandeis University: “If a college student is to be marked for life as a sexual predator, it is reasonable to require that he be provided a fair opportunity to defend himself and an impartial arbiter to make that decision. Put simply, a fair determination of the facts requires a fair process, not tilted to favor a particular outcome, and a fair and neutral fact-finder, not predisposed to reach a particular conclusion.”
This is the animating spirit behind the DeVos changes. They are still being formulated, but a New York Times report suggests that they will correct the worst excesses of the Obama rules and interject fairness into proceedings that were, shamefully, designed to lack it.
Source
Let's thank Betsy Devos: Betsy.Devos@ed.gov and let her know that what she is doing is fantastic and that we fully support it and her. The more of us they hear from the better so let's do it.
Showing posts with label department of Education. Show all posts
Showing posts with label department of Education. Show all posts
Thursday, September 6, 2018
Friday, September 8, 2017
Betsy Devos rescinds the Dear Colleague suggestion
Education Secretary Betsy DeVos today criticized the previous administration's approach to campus sexual assault, accusing it of imposing a "broken system" that mistreats both accused students and rape survivors.
The Obama-era Office for Civil Rights compelled universities to design sexual assault adjudication policies that have deprived students of due process rights and weakened protections for freedom of expression. In a speech this afternoon, DeVos said her department would revise its existing guidance for complying with Title IX, the federal statute at the center of the effort.
DeVos cited several examples of colleges putting students through Kafkaesque quasi-judicial procedures. I promise you they are real. We've written about them at Reason.
Here's a list of some of DeVos's examples, with links to our articles about them.
1. Stony Brook University
"The current failed system left one student to fend for herself at a university disciplinary hearing," said Devos. "She told her university that another student sexually assaulted her in her dorm room. In turn, her university told her she would have to prosecute the case herself. Without any legal training whatsoever, she had to prepare an opening statement, fix exhibits and find witnesses."
I covered that case here: "College Rape Trials Are Unfair to Men and Women. Here's Why."
2. The University of Southern California
"You may have recently read about a disturbing case in California," said DeVos. "It's the story of an athlete, his girlfriend, and the failed system. The couple was described as 'playfully roughhousing,' but a witness thought otherwise and the incident was reported to the university's Title IX coordinator. The young woman repeatedly assured campus officials she had not been abused nor had any misconduct occurred. But because of the failed system, university administrators told her they knew better. They dismissed the young man, her boyfriend, from the football team and expelled him from school. 'When I told the truth,' the young woman said, 'I was stereotyped and was told I must be a 'battered' woman, and that made me feel demeaned and absurdly profiled.'"
Elizabeth Nolan Brown wrote about that one here: "Star-Crossed Student Athletes Torn Apart By Title IX Witchhunt at USC."
3. George Mason University
"Another student at a different school saw her rapist go free," said Devos. "He was found responsible by the school, but in doing so, the failed system denied him due process. He sued the school, and after several appeals in civil court, he walked free."
There are a few different cases that arguably meet this description; I wrote about one of them here: "Students Had BDSM Sex. Male Says He Obeyed Safe Word. GMU Agreed, Expelled Him Anyway."
4. The University of Tennessee
"A student on another campus is under a Title IX investigation for a wrong answer on a quiz," said DeVos. "The question asked the name of the class Lab instructor. The student didn't know the instructor's name, so he made one up—Sarah Jackson—which unbeknownst to him turned out to be the name of a model. He was given a zero and told that his answer was 'inappropriate' because it allegedly objectified the female instructor. He was informed that his answer 'meets the Title IX definition of sexual harassment.' His university opened an investigation without any complainants."
That can't be true. It's just too crazy, right? Wrong. It happened, and I wrote about it here: "Tennessee Student Accused of Sexual Harassment Because He Wrote Instructor's Name Wrong." And I posted a follow-up here: "UT Student Now Being Investigated for Sexual Harassment After Writing His Instructor's Name Wrong."
5. various colleges
"Too many cases involve students and faculty who have faced investigation and punishment simply for speaking their minds or teaching their classes," said DeVos.
Consider the case of Northwestern University's Laura Kipnis, whose skepticism about rules forbidding sexual relationships between students and professors led to her being investigated under Title IX: "This Prof Dared to Challenge Her Students' Views on Sex. Here's How They Retaliated."
Or the case of Louisiana State University's Teresa Buchanan: "LSU Professor Fired for Telling Jokes Is Latest Victim of College Anti-Sex Hysteria."
Or a case at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst, where residence advisors claimed that making jokes about Harambe, the dead gorilla and internet meme, could constitute a violation of Title IX: "UMass-Amherst: Harambe Jokes Are Racist Microaggressions, Violate Title IX."
Then there are some Title IX cases DeVos neither mentioned nor implied, but could have easily served as examples of the sort of mania that has taken hold on campuses:
6. Amherst College
A male student was expelled for sexual assault, even though he had credible evidence that his accuser had assaulted him: "Amherst Student Was Expelled for Rape. But He Was Raped, Evidence Shows."
7. Brandeis University
A gay male student accused his ex-boyfriend of sexual assault. Even though the alleged infractions—a stolen glance in the shower, a wake-up kiss—were incredibly silly, the investigator found the accused responsible for sexual misconduct: "Judge Sides with Gay Brandeis Student Guilty of 'Serious Sexual Transgression' for Kissing Sleeping Boyfriend."
8. Colorado State University-Pueblo
An athlete of color, Grant Neal, was accused of sexually assaulting a female trainer—but not by her. When questioned, the trainer said, "I'm fine and I wasn't raped." University officials pointed out that according to Title IX, they got to be the judge of that, not her. Neal was deemed guilty and expelled: "Female Student Said, 'I'm Fine and I Wasn't Raped.' University Investigated, Expelled Boyfriend Anyway."
9. University of Texas-Arlington
A gay male student claimed a classmate, Thomas Klocke, told him to "consider killing himself." The classmate denied ever saying such a thing; according to his version of events, the accuser came on to him and didn't appreciate being rejected. The gay student filed a Title IX sexual harassment complaint against Klocke, who was found responsible. He then committed suicide: "Lawsuit: Male Student Accused of Sexual Harassment for Rejecting Gay Advances Commits Suicide After Title IX Verdict."
Critics of DeVos will say that her plan to reform Title IX is some kind of giveaway to rapists. But it's not. Today, DeVos recognized a basic and obvious truth that every objective chronicler of the college rape crisis already knows: The Obama-era modifications to Title IX utterly failed to bring justice to campuses.
Source
This is great. Let's contact her at Betsy.Devos@ed.gov and thank her for rescinding the Dear Colleague suggestion. The more of us she hears from the better so let her know today.
The Obama-era Office for Civil Rights compelled universities to design sexual assault adjudication policies that have deprived students of due process rights and weakened protections for freedom of expression. In a speech this afternoon, DeVos said her department would revise its existing guidance for complying with Title IX, the federal statute at the center of the effort.
DeVos cited several examples of colleges putting students through Kafkaesque quasi-judicial procedures. I promise you they are real. We've written about them at Reason.
Here's a list of some of DeVos's examples, with links to our articles about them.
1. Stony Brook University
"The current failed system left one student to fend for herself at a university disciplinary hearing," said Devos. "She told her university that another student sexually assaulted her in her dorm room. In turn, her university told her she would have to prosecute the case herself. Without any legal training whatsoever, she had to prepare an opening statement, fix exhibits and find witnesses."
I covered that case here: "College Rape Trials Are Unfair to Men and Women. Here's Why."
2. The University of Southern California
"You may have recently read about a disturbing case in California," said DeVos. "It's the story of an athlete, his girlfriend, and the failed system. The couple was described as 'playfully roughhousing,' but a witness thought otherwise and the incident was reported to the university's Title IX coordinator. The young woman repeatedly assured campus officials she had not been abused nor had any misconduct occurred. But because of the failed system, university administrators told her they knew better. They dismissed the young man, her boyfriend, from the football team and expelled him from school. 'When I told the truth,' the young woman said, 'I was stereotyped and was told I must be a 'battered' woman, and that made me feel demeaned and absurdly profiled.'"
Elizabeth Nolan Brown wrote about that one here: "Star-Crossed Student Athletes Torn Apart By Title IX Witchhunt at USC."
3. George Mason University
"Another student at a different school saw her rapist go free," said Devos. "He was found responsible by the school, but in doing so, the failed system denied him due process. He sued the school, and after several appeals in civil court, he walked free."
There are a few different cases that arguably meet this description; I wrote about one of them here: "Students Had BDSM Sex. Male Says He Obeyed Safe Word. GMU Agreed, Expelled Him Anyway."
4. The University of Tennessee
"A student on another campus is under a Title IX investigation for a wrong answer on a quiz," said DeVos. "The question asked the name of the class Lab instructor. The student didn't know the instructor's name, so he made one up—Sarah Jackson—which unbeknownst to him turned out to be the name of a model. He was given a zero and told that his answer was 'inappropriate' because it allegedly objectified the female instructor. He was informed that his answer 'meets the Title IX definition of sexual harassment.' His university opened an investigation without any complainants."
That can't be true. It's just too crazy, right? Wrong. It happened, and I wrote about it here: "Tennessee Student Accused of Sexual Harassment Because He Wrote Instructor's Name Wrong." And I posted a follow-up here: "UT Student Now Being Investigated for Sexual Harassment After Writing His Instructor's Name Wrong."
5. various colleges
"Too many cases involve students and faculty who have faced investigation and punishment simply for speaking their minds or teaching their classes," said DeVos.
Consider the case of Northwestern University's Laura Kipnis, whose skepticism about rules forbidding sexual relationships between students and professors led to her being investigated under Title IX: "This Prof Dared to Challenge Her Students' Views on Sex. Here's How They Retaliated."
Or the case of Louisiana State University's Teresa Buchanan: "LSU Professor Fired for Telling Jokes Is Latest Victim of College Anti-Sex Hysteria."
Or a case at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst, where residence advisors claimed that making jokes about Harambe, the dead gorilla and internet meme, could constitute a violation of Title IX: "UMass-Amherst: Harambe Jokes Are Racist Microaggressions, Violate Title IX."
Then there are some Title IX cases DeVos neither mentioned nor implied, but could have easily served as examples of the sort of mania that has taken hold on campuses:
6. Amherst College
A male student was expelled for sexual assault, even though he had credible evidence that his accuser had assaulted him: "Amherst Student Was Expelled for Rape. But He Was Raped, Evidence Shows."
7. Brandeis University
A gay male student accused his ex-boyfriend of sexual assault. Even though the alleged infractions—a stolen glance in the shower, a wake-up kiss—were incredibly silly, the investigator found the accused responsible for sexual misconduct: "Judge Sides with Gay Brandeis Student Guilty of 'Serious Sexual Transgression' for Kissing Sleeping Boyfriend."
8. Colorado State University-Pueblo
An athlete of color, Grant Neal, was accused of sexually assaulting a female trainer—but not by her. When questioned, the trainer said, "I'm fine and I wasn't raped." University officials pointed out that according to Title IX, they got to be the judge of that, not her. Neal was deemed guilty and expelled: "Female Student Said, 'I'm Fine and I Wasn't Raped.' University Investigated, Expelled Boyfriend Anyway."
9. University of Texas-Arlington
A gay male student claimed a classmate, Thomas Klocke, told him to "consider killing himself." The classmate denied ever saying such a thing; according to his version of events, the accuser came on to him and didn't appreciate being rejected. The gay student filed a Title IX sexual harassment complaint against Klocke, who was found responsible. He then committed suicide: "Lawsuit: Male Student Accused of Sexual Harassment for Rejecting Gay Advances Commits Suicide After Title IX Verdict."
Critics of DeVos will say that her plan to reform Title IX is some kind of giveaway to rapists. But it's not. Today, DeVos recognized a basic and obvious truth that every objective chronicler of the college rape crisis already knows: The Obama-era modifications to Title IX utterly failed to bring justice to campuses.
Source
This is great. Let's contact her at Betsy.Devos@ed.gov and thank her for rescinding the Dear Colleague suggestion. The more of us she hears from the better so let her know today.
Friday, July 14, 2017
Betsy DeVos' meetings with 'men's rights' groups over campus sex assault policies spark controversy
Following a series of meetings Thursday in Washington examining Title IX sexual assault procedures on college campuses, Education Secretary Betsy DeVos is reexamining guidance to schools.
In addition to survivors' groups and educational institutions, DeVos met with "men's rights" organizations, including the National Coalition for Men (NCFM), as well as groups that speak out on behalf of the accused, including Families Advocating for Campus Equality (FACE) and Stop Abusive and Violent Environments (SAVE).
Though the secretary refused to say whether the administration wants to amend directives to colleges and universities, survivors' advocates worry that DeVos' engagement with these controversial groups -- which opponents have dubbed insensitive to victims -- signals a possible willingness to shift the process to the advantage of alleged perpetrators by rolling back Obama-era guidance directing schools to use a "preponderance of the evidence" standard of proof, rather than the higher "clear and convincing" standard, during Title IX sexual assault violence investigations.
"She's meeting with groups and individuals today who believe that sexual assault is some sort of feminist plot to hurt men," said Mara Keisling, executive director of the National Center for Transgender Equality, who joined other like-minded individuals gathered outside the Department clamoring to keep the focus on survivors.
Natalie Green, online communications coordinator with women's right group UltraViolet, tells ABC News, "In all honesty, we think she should be listening to the survivors first and foremost, not rape apologists."
And Annie Clark, executive director and co-founder of End Rape on Campus, said, "The evidentiary standard in the criminal justice system is higher, and should be, than on campus because the penalties are different."
Asked about the aforementioned concerns, DeVos told reporters at the Department of Education, "today was a time to listen."
"No student should be the victim of sexual assault," DeVos said. "No student should feel unsafe ... and no students should feel like the scales are tipped against him or her."
According to NCFM, FACE and SAVE, who all fight what they claim are false accusations, accused rapists should be afforded stronger due process by schools investigating allegations of sexual violence. Though difficult to measure, researchers from Northeastern University and the University of Massachusetts reported that their findings -- published in the Journal of Violence Against Women -- in conjunction with other studies, "indicate that the prevalence of false allegations is between 2 percent and 10 percent."
The false accusation rate for rape is 60%. The reasons given for this false accusation rate: spite,revenge,even boredom. These are the cases where the accuser deliberately lied. This is from a U.S. Air Force study by Dr. Charles McDowwell. From the book The Myth Of Male Power by Warren Farrell.
"It was clear that their stories are not often told, and there are lives that have been ruined and lives that have been lost in the process," DeVos said of these groups representing people they believe were wrongfully accused.
Jonathon Andrews -- a 23-year-old SAVE and FACE volunteer who says he was falsely accused of rape by "homophobic fraternity brothers" after he himself was sexually assaulted -- says the groups just want to ensure all involved get a fair shake.
"Victims for a long time weren't taken seriously, and President Obama tried to correct that -- but some of us think that he over-corrected, to the point where those who haven't committed any crimes, like myself, are at a risk of losing their futures, losing their lives, and being destroyed, essentially," Andrews told ABC News, bristling at "insulting" critiques of his organization as rape-apologist.
"A system without due process protections ultimately serves no one in the end," DeVos said Thursday during a press conference at the Department of Education. "There are substantive legal questions to be addressed, including the evidentiary standard, due process, and lack of public input."
Her meetings come as the Education Department's civil rights chief, Candice Jackson, was forced to apologize for a controversial comment made to the New York Times in article published Wednesday.
The majority of sexual assault allegations -- "90 percent," according to Jackson -- "fall into the category of 'we were both drunk, we broke up, and six months later I found myself under a Title IX investigation because she just decided that our last sleeping together was not quite right," she told the Times.
She's right. A lot of times that is what these things are. I'm glad someone is seeing the truth and talking about it.
"As a survivor of rape myself, I would never seek to diminish anyone's experience," Jackson clarified in a statement provided to ABC News. "My words in the New York Times poorly characterized the conversations I've had with countless groups of advocates. What I said was flippant, and I am sorry. All sexual harassment and sexual assault must be taken seriously."
DeVos on Thursday declined to answer questions about whether she agreed with Jackson's 90 percent comment.
Source
In addition to survivors' groups and educational institutions, DeVos met with "men's rights" organizations, including the National Coalition for Men (NCFM), as well as groups that speak out on behalf of the accused, including Families Advocating for Campus Equality (FACE) and Stop Abusive and Violent Environments (SAVE).
Though the secretary refused to say whether the administration wants to amend directives to colleges and universities, survivors' advocates worry that DeVos' engagement with these controversial groups -- which opponents have dubbed insensitive to victims -- signals a possible willingness to shift the process to the advantage of alleged perpetrators by rolling back Obama-era guidance directing schools to use a "preponderance of the evidence" standard of proof, rather than the higher "clear and convincing" standard, during Title IX sexual assault violence investigations.
"She's meeting with groups and individuals today who believe that sexual assault is some sort of feminist plot to hurt men," said Mara Keisling, executive director of the National Center for Transgender Equality, who joined other like-minded individuals gathered outside the Department clamoring to keep the focus on survivors.
Natalie Green, online communications coordinator with women's right group UltraViolet, tells ABC News, "In all honesty, we think she should be listening to the survivors first and foremost, not rape apologists."
And Annie Clark, executive director and co-founder of End Rape on Campus, said, "The evidentiary standard in the criminal justice system is higher, and should be, than on campus because the penalties are different."
Asked about the aforementioned concerns, DeVos told reporters at the Department of Education, "today was a time to listen."
"No student should be the victim of sexual assault," DeVos said. "No student should feel unsafe ... and no students should feel like the scales are tipped against him or her."
According to NCFM, FACE and SAVE, who all fight what they claim are false accusations, accused rapists should be afforded stronger due process by schools investigating allegations of sexual violence. Though difficult to measure, researchers from Northeastern University and the University of Massachusetts reported that their findings -- published in the Journal of Violence Against Women -- in conjunction with other studies, "indicate that the prevalence of false allegations is between 2 percent and 10 percent."
The false accusation rate for rape is 60%. The reasons given for this false accusation rate: spite,revenge,even boredom. These are the cases where the accuser deliberately lied. This is from a U.S. Air Force study by Dr. Charles McDowwell. From the book The Myth Of Male Power by Warren Farrell.
"It was clear that their stories are not often told, and there are lives that have been ruined and lives that have been lost in the process," DeVos said of these groups representing people they believe were wrongfully accused.
Jonathon Andrews -- a 23-year-old SAVE and FACE volunteer who says he was falsely accused of rape by "homophobic fraternity brothers" after he himself was sexually assaulted -- says the groups just want to ensure all involved get a fair shake.
"Victims for a long time weren't taken seriously, and President Obama tried to correct that -- but some of us think that he over-corrected, to the point where those who haven't committed any crimes, like myself, are at a risk of losing their futures, losing their lives, and being destroyed, essentially," Andrews told ABC News, bristling at "insulting" critiques of his organization as rape-apologist.
"A system without due process protections ultimately serves no one in the end," DeVos said Thursday during a press conference at the Department of Education. "There are substantive legal questions to be addressed, including the evidentiary standard, due process, and lack of public input."
Her meetings come as the Education Department's civil rights chief, Candice Jackson, was forced to apologize for a controversial comment made to the New York Times in article published Wednesday.
The majority of sexual assault allegations -- "90 percent," according to Jackson -- "fall into the category of 'we were both drunk, we broke up, and six months later I found myself under a Title IX investigation because she just decided that our last sleeping together was not quite right," she told the Times.
She's right. A lot of times that is what these things are. I'm glad someone is seeing the truth and talking about it.
"As a survivor of rape myself, I would never seek to diminish anyone's experience," Jackson clarified in a statement provided to ABC News. "My words in the New York Times poorly characterized the conversations I've had with countless groups of advocates. What I said was flippant, and I am sorry. All sexual harassment and sexual assault must be taken seriously."
DeVos on Thursday declined to answer questions about whether she agreed with Jackson's 90 percent comment.
Source
Thursday, July 13, 2017
DOE helps out men
Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos is using her office to legitimize a misogynist organization that has dedicated itself to defending rapists, attacking female victims of sexual assault, and promoting the conspiracy theory that domestic violence is exaggerated.
Betsy DeVos, Donald Trump’s secretary of education, is scheduled to meet with a group that has made a name for itself by casting doubt on rape cases, questioning the existence of domestic violence, and promoting conspiracy theories about women.
DeVos is meeting with several groups that have been critical of the Title IX guidance on campus rape. Those policies were put in place by the Obama administration to protect woman on college campuses from sexual assault.
Among those meeting with DeVos is the National Coalition for Men. The group is part of the so-called “men’s rights” movement, which exists to promote misogynist ideas and to continually push back on the fight for women’s equality.
The website for the group’s North Carolina chapter offers legal guidance to accused rapists and publishes photographs of women the group claims have falsely accused men of rape. The technique serves as an intimidation tactic toward victims: If you speak up, you will be exposed and attacked.
Daily Tarheel columnist Alice Wilder noted that the group has “a clear animosity toward feminists and anyone who advocates for an end to gender-based violence.”
The National Coalition for Men has been behind tons of nuisance lawsuits alleging sex discrimination toward men, including one that said events attempting to bring more women into the technology industry were “anti-male.”
Attorney Al Rava, who filed the lawsuit and serves as the group’s press secretary, told a reporter working on the story he would not talk to her, saying, “I do not trust you will quote me correctly or in the proper context given your leftwing, pro-female, anti-male bias.”
Harry Crouch, president of National Coalition for Men, defended NFL player Ray Rice after surveillance video captured him dragging his then-fiancée after allegedly knocking her out in an elevator. Crouch said, “If she hadn’t aggravated him, she wouldn’t have been hit.”
In the same conversation, he complained about the NFL’s annual breast cancer awareness campaign.
“Football is always happy to put on pink suits to celebrate women,” he said. “Why can’t they have a week, or just one day, where they celebrate men?”
National Coalition for Men even sued Trump National Golf Course in 2011 for promoting breast cancer awareness, arguing that to do so was discriminatory towards men.
The group also whined that the movie “Sully” discriminated against men, because it did not depict women and children exiting the crashed airplane first, as part of a feminist plot.
Crouch told the L.A. Times that men are “disadvantaged in almost every way.”
DeVos is also meeting with SAVE — Stop Abusive and Violent Environments — which has also sided with domestic abusers. SAVE pushed for lawyers to have the power to ask domestic violence victims “detailed, often intrusive questions about the accuser’s prior sexual history.”
DeVos’ nomination was among the most contentious of Trump’s cabinet selections, largely thanks to her demonstrated ignorance of important education issues. Since squeezing by into office, those concerns have been validated by her open hostility toward LGBTQ students, her support for budget cuts helping disabled students, and now, this sad decision to grant misogynists the official blessing of the federal government.
Source
This is great. A government official meets with MRA's to fix the problem with the messed up Dear Colleague suggestion from the Obama administration and to reestablish men's rights on college and university campuses nationwide. Let's take a moment and thank the Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos for meeting with our fellow Men's Rights Activists in the National Coalition For Men and SAVE Services. You can contact her here: Betsy.Devos@ed.gov
The more of us she hears from the better so let her know that she has done a service that we thank her for.
Betsy DeVos, Donald Trump’s secretary of education, is scheduled to meet with a group that has made a name for itself by casting doubt on rape cases, questioning the existence of domestic violence, and promoting conspiracy theories about women.
DeVos is meeting with several groups that have been critical of the Title IX guidance on campus rape. Those policies were put in place by the Obama administration to protect woman on college campuses from sexual assault.
Among those meeting with DeVos is the National Coalition for Men. The group is part of the so-called “men’s rights” movement, which exists to promote misogynist ideas and to continually push back on the fight for women’s equality.
The website for the group’s North Carolina chapter offers legal guidance to accused rapists and publishes photographs of women the group claims have falsely accused men of rape. The technique serves as an intimidation tactic toward victims: If you speak up, you will be exposed and attacked.
Daily Tarheel columnist Alice Wilder noted that the group has “a clear animosity toward feminists and anyone who advocates for an end to gender-based violence.”
The National Coalition for Men has been behind tons of nuisance lawsuits alleging sex discrimination toward men, including one that said events attempting to bring more women into the technology industry were “anti-male.”
Attorney Al Rava, who filed the lawsuit and serves as the group’s press secretary, told a reporter working on the story he would not talk to her, saying, “I do not trust you will quote me correctly or in the proper context given your leftwing, pro-female, anti-male bias.”
Harry Crouch, president of National Coalition for Men, defended NFL player Ray Rice after surveillance video captured him dragging his then-fiancée after allegedly knocking her out in an elevator. Crouch said, “If she hadn’t aggravated him, she wouldn’t have been hit.”
In the same conversation, he complained about the NFL’s annual breast cancer awareness campaign.
“Football is always happy to put on pink suits to celebrate women,” he said. “Why can’t they have a week, or just one day, where they celebrate men?”
National Coalition for Men even sued Trump National Golf Course in 2011 for promoting breast cancer awareness, arguing that to do so was discriminatory towards men.
The group also whined that the movie “Sully” discriminated against men, because it did not depict women and children exiting the crashed airplane first, as part of a feminist plot.
Crouch told the L.A. Times that men are “disadvantaged in almost every way.”
DeVos is also meeting with SAVE — Stop Abusive and Violent Environments — which has also sided with domestic abusers. SAVE pushed for lawyers to have the power to ask domestic violence victims “detailed, often intrusive questions about the accuser’s prior sexual history.”
DeVos’ nomination was among the most contentious of Trump’s cabinet selections, largely thanks to her demonstrated ignorance of important education issues. Since squeezing by into office, those concerns have been validated by her open hostility toward LGBTQ students, her support for budget cuts helping disabled students, and now, this sad decision to grant misogynists the official blessing of the federal government.
Source
This is great. A government official meets with MRA's to fix the problem with the messed up Dear Colleague suggestion from the Obama administration and to reestablish men's rights on college and university campuses nationwide. Let's take a moment and thank the Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos for meeting with our fellow Men's Rights Activists in the National Coalition For Men and SAVE Services. You can contact her here: Betsy.Devos@ed.gov
The more of us she hears from the better so let her know that she has done a service that we thank her for.
Sunday, June 11, 2017
Feminist's son is accused of rape
I am a feminist. I have marched at the barricades, subscribed to Ms. magazine, and knocked on many a door in support of progressive candidates committed to women’s rights. Until a month ago, I would have expressed unqualified support for Title IX and for the Violence Against Women Act.
But that was before my son, a senior at a small liberal-arts college in New England, was charged—by an ex-girlfriend—with alleged acts of “nonconsensual sex” that supposedly occurred during the course of their relationship a few years earlier.
What followed was a nightmare—a fall through Alice’s looking-glass into a world that I could not possibly have believed existed, least of all behind the ivy-covered walls thought to protect an ostensible dedication to enlightenment and intellectual betterment.
It began with a text of desperation. “CALL ME. URGENT. NOW.”
That was how my son informed me that not only had charges been brought against him but that he was ordered to appear to answer these allegations in a matter of days. There was no preliminary inquiry on the part of anyone at the school into these accusations about behavior alleged to have taken place a few years earlier, no consideration of the possibility that jealousy or revenge might be motivating a spurned young ex-lover to lash out. Worst of all, my son would not be afforded a presumption of innocence.
In fact, Title IX, that so-called guarantor of equality between the sexes on college campuses, and as applied by a recent directive from the Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights, has obliterated the presumption of innocence that is so foundational to our traditions of justice. On today’s college campuses, neither “beyond a reasonable doubt,” nor even the lesser “by clear and convincing evidence” standard of proof is required to establish guilt of sexual misconduct.
These safeguards of due process have, by order of the federal government, been replaced by what is known as “a preponderance of the evidence.” What this means, in plain English, is that all my son’s accuser needed to establish before a campus tribunal is that the allegations were “more likely than not” to have occurred by a margin of proof that can be as slim as 50.1% to 49.9%.
How does this campus tribunal proceed to evaluate the accusations? Upon what evidence is it able to make a judgment?
The frightening answer is that like the proverbial 800-pound gorilla, the tribunal does pretty much whatever it wants, showing scant regard for fundamental fairness, due process of law, and the well-established rules and procedures that have evolved under the Constitution for citizens’ protection. Who knew that American college students are required to surrender the Bill of Rights at the campus gates?
My son was given written notice of the charges against him, in the form of a letter from the campus Title IX officer. But instead of affording him the right to be fully informed, the separately listed allegations were a barrage of vague statements, rendering any defense virtually impossible. The letter lacked even the most basic information about the acts alleged to have happened years before. Nor were the allegations supported by any evidence other than the word of the ex-girlfriend.
The hearing itself was a two-hour ordeal of unabated grilling by the school’s committee, during which, my son later reported, he was expressly denied his request to be represented by counsel or even to have an attorney outside the door of the room. The questioning, he said, ran far afield even from the vaguely stated allegations contained in the so-called notice. Questions from the distant past, even about unrelated matters, were flung at him with no opportunity for him to give thoughtful answers.
The many pages of written documentation that my son had put together—which were directly on point about his relationship with his accuser during the time period of his alleged wrongful conduct—were dismissed as somehow not relevant. What was relevant, however, according to the committee, was the unsworn testimony of “witnesses” deemed to have observable knowledge about the long-ago relationship between my son and his accuser.
That the recollections of these young people (made under intense peer pressure and with none of the safeguards consistent with fundamental fairness) were relevant—while records of the accuser’s email and social media postings were not—made a mockery of the very term. While my son was instructed by the committee not to “discuss this matter” with any potential witnesses, these witnesses against him were not identified to him, nor was he allowed to confront or question either them or his accuser.
Thankfully, I happen to be an attorney and had the resources to provide the necessary professional assistance to my son. The charges against him were ultimately dismissed but not before he and our family had to suffer through this ordeal. I am of course relieved and most grateful for this outcome. Yet I am also keenly aware not only of how easily this all could have gone the other way—with life-altering consequences—but how all too often it does.
Across the country and with increasing frequency, innocent victims of impossible-to-substantiate charges are afforded scant rights to fundamental fairness and find themselves entrapped in a widening web of this latest surge in political correctness. Few have a lawyer for a mother, and many may not know about the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education, which assisted me in my research.
There are very real and horrifying instances of sexual misconduct and abuse on college campuses and elsewhere. That these offenses should be investigated and prosecuted where appropriate is not open to question. What does remain a question is how we can make the process fair for everyone.
I fear that in the current climate the goal of “women’s rights,” with the compliance of politically motivated government policy and the tacit complicity of college administrators, runs the risk of grounding our most cherished institutions in a veritable snake pit of injustice—not unlike the very injustices the movement itself has for so long sought to correct. Unbridled feminist orthodoxy is no more the answer than are attitudes and policies that victimize the victim.
Source
Karma. That is the best way to put it. Karma.
But that was before my son, a senior at a small liberal-arts college in New England, was charged—by an ex-girlfriend—with alleged acts of “nonconsensual sex” that supposedly occurred during the course of their relationship a few years earlier.
What followed was a nightmare—a fall through Alice’s looking-glass into a world that I could not possibly have believed existed, least of all behind the ivy-covered walls thought to protect an ostensible dedication to enlightenment and intellectual betterment.
It began with a text of desperation. “CALL ME. URGENT. NOW.”
That was how my son informed me that not only had charges been brought against him but that he was ordered to appear to answer these allegations in a matter of days. There was no preliminary inquiry on the part of anyone at the school into these accusations about behavior alleged to have taken place a few years earlier, no consideration of the possibility that jealousy or revenge might be motivating a spurned young ex-lover to lash out. Worst of all, my son would not be afforded a presumption of innocence.
In fact, Title IX, that so-called guarantor of equality between the sexes on college campuses, and as applied by a recent directive from the Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights, has obliterated the presumption of innocence that is so foundational to our traditions of justice. On today’s college campuses, neither “beyond a reasonable doubt,” nor even the lesser “by clear and convincing evidence” standard of proof is required to establish guilt of sexual misconduct.
These safeguards of due process have, by order of the federal government, been replaced by what is known as “a preponderance of the evidence.” What this means, in plain English, is that all my son’s accuser needed to establish before a campus tribunal is that the allegations were “more likely than not” to have occurred by a margin of proof that can be as slim as 50.1% to 49.9%.
How does this campus tribunal proceed to evaluate the accusations? Upon what evidence is it able to make a judgment?
The frightening answer is that like the proverbial 800-pound gorilla, the tribunal does pretty much whatever it wants, showing scant regard for fundamental fairness, due process of law, and the well-established rules and procedures that have evolved under the Constitution for citizens’ protection. Who knew that American college students are required to surrender the Bill of Rights at the campus gates?
My son was given written notice of the charges against him, in the form of a letter from the campus Title IX officer. But instead of affording him the right to be fully informed, the separately listed allegations were a barrage of vague statements, rendering any defense virtually impossible. The letter lacked even the most basic information about the acts alleged to have happened years before. Nor were the allegations supported by any evidence other than the word of the ex-girlfriend.
The hearing itself was a two-hour ordeal of unabated grilling by the school’s committee, during which, my son later reported, he was expressly denied his request to be represented by counsel or even to have an attorney outside the door of the room. The questioning, he said, ran far afield even from the vaguely stated allegations contained in the so-called notice. Questions from the distant past, even about unrelated matters, were flung at him with no opportunity for him to give thoughtful answers.
The many pages of written documentation that my son had put together—which were directly on point about his relationship with his accuser during the time period of his alleged wrongful conduct—were dismissed as somehow not relevant. What was relevant, however, according to the committee, was the unsworn testimony of “witnesses” deemed to have observable knowledge about the long-ago relationship between my son and his accuser.
That the recollections of these young people (made under intense peer pressure and with none of the safeguards consistent with fundamental fairness) were relevant—while records of the accuser’s email and social media postings were not—made a mockery of the very term. While my son was instructed by the committee not to “discuss this matter” with any potential witnesses, these witnesses against him were not identified to him, nor was he allowed to confront or question either them or his accuser.
Thankfully, I happen to be an attorney and had the resources to provide the necessary professional assistance to my son. The charges against him were ultimately dismissed but not before he and our family had to suffer through this ordeal. I am of course relieved and most grateful for this outcome. Yet I am also keenly aware not only of how easily this all could have gone the other way—with life-altering consequences—but how all too often it does.
Across the country and with increasing frequency, innocent victims of impossible-to-substantiate charges are afforded scant rights to fundamental fairness and find themselves entrapped in a widening web of this latest surge in political correctness. Few have a lawyer for a mother, and many may not know about the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education, which assisted me in my research.
There are very real and horrifying instances of sexual misconduct and abuse on college campuses and elsewhere. That these offenses should be investigated and prosecuted where appropriate is not open to question. What does remain a question is how we can make the process fair for everyone.
I fear that in the current climate the goal of “women’s rights,” with the compliance of politically motivated government policy and the tacit complicity of college administrators, runs the risk of grounding our most cherished institutions in a veritable snake pit of injustice—not unlike the very injustices the movement itself has for so long sought to correct. Unbridled feminist orthodoxy is no more the answer than are attitudes and policies that victimize the victim.
Source
Karma. That is the best way to put it. Karma.
Tuesday, February 21, 2017
Tell the Secretary of Education to rescind Dear Colleague and to support Gail Heriot for leadership of the Office for Civil Rights
From the National Coalition For Men:
ACTION ALERT from NCFM: Please help us. Earlier this week the "all college men are rapists" activists launched a telephone campaign to intimidate the new Secretary of Education, Betsy DeVos asking her to keep the Title IX witch hunt against male students in place. We need everyone that cares how college men are treated to call Secretary Betsy DeVos' office at 202-401-3000 and leave a message asking her to oppose Title IX in its current form. It is important that that the Dept. of Education hears from all of you. We want the 2011 Dear Colleague Letter rescinded and constitutional Due Process Rights restored to everyone attending school. Students and/or faculty should never be expelled based on unsubstantiated accusations of sexual misconduct. Please contact the Dept. of Ed's office ASAP to voice your concerns. Thank you for your support!
Also:
Tell Department of Education Secretary Betsy DeVos to carefully consider the candidacy of professor Gail Heriot: Betsy.Devos@ed.gov
Let's kill two birds with one stone and ask her to take care of both. We can end the institutionalized misandry on our college and university campuses nationwide. Now is the time to act. You can contact DeVos by phone 202-401-3000 and/or email Betsy.Devos@ed.gov. The more of us they hear from the better so do it today.
ACTION ALERT from NCFM: Please help us. Earlier this week the "all college men are rapists" activists launched a telephone campaign to intimidate the new Secretary of Education, Betsy DeVos asking her to keep the Title IX witch hunt against male students in place. We need everyone that cares how college men are treated to call Secretary Betsy DeVos' office at 202-401-3000 and leave a message asking her to oppose Title IX in its current form. It is important that that the Dept. of Education hears from all of you. We want the 2011 Dear Colleague Letter rescinded and constitutional Due Process Rights restored to everyone attending school. Students and/or faculty should never be expelled based on unsubstantiated accusations of sexual misconduct. Please contact the Dept. of Ed's office ASAP to voice your concerns. Thank you for your support!
Also:
Tell Department of Education Secretary Betsy DeVos to carefully consider the candidacy of professor Gail Heriot: Betsy.Devos@ed.gov
Let's kill two birds with one stone and ask her to take care of both. We can end the institutionalized misandry on our college and university campuses nationwide. Now is the time to act. You can contact DeVos by phone 202-401-3000 and/or email Betsy.Devos@ed.gov. The more of us they hear from the better so do it today.
Friday, February 3, 2017
Support Betsy DeVos for Secretary of Education
President Donald Trump’s pick for Education secretary, Betsy DeVos, has cleared the first hurdle in her confirmation process.
The Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee approved DeVos on Tuesday afternoon in a 12-11 vote that fell along party lines.
Creative Commons/User Christopher Penn
Democrats had strongly opposed DeVos’ nomination during her Jan. 17 confirmation hearing. They pressed her on her extended family’s support of organizations that promote conversion therapy and whether she would support gun-free zones in schools. DeVos was mocked in the media for her answers to both questions, even though she denied supporting conversion therapy and her answer on gun-free zones revolved around the notion that a far-off federal bureaucracy might not be the best judge of the unique needs of individual schools.
DeVos was also questioned on campus sexual assault and the Obama administration’s guidance documents that require schools to more forcefully adjudicate accusations with almost no ability for accused students to defend themselves. DeVos wouldn’t commit to upholding Obama-era guidance documents, stating that she would ensure the law is carried out in a way that protects accusers and the rights of the accused.
This, naturally, didn’t sit well with Democrats and activists, who argue that guaranteeing due process for accused students is tantamount to harming accusers.
In opposing DeVos, those against due process rights and school choice (which DeVos strongly supports), created the hashtag “Dump DeVos,” hoping to influence senators. It only worked on Democrats, who were already going to oppose Trump’s nominee.
DeVos’ nomination now moves to the full Senate. Republicans are in the majority, but two GOP members who supported her in committee — Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska — have not committed to voting to confirm her on the Senate floor.
Source
We don't usually speak up for women here but this time we will make an exception. This woman has donated and support FIRE which is looking out for falsely accused male students on college and university campuses nationwide. She favors due process rights for the accused male student. That is very fair. I say we support Betsy DeVos for Secretary of Education by contacting our Senators and letting them know to support her Secretary of Education. The more of us they hear from the better.
The Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee approved DeVos on Tuesday afternoon in a 12-11 vote that fell along party lines.
Creative Commons/User Christopher Penn
Democrats had strongly opposed DeVos’ nomination during her Jan. 17 confirmation hearing. They pressed her on her extended family’s support of organizations that promote conversion therapy and whether she would support gun-free zones in schools. DeVos was mocked in the media for her answers to both questions, even though she denied supporting conversion therapy and her answer on gun-free zones revolved around the notion that a far-off federal bureaucracy might not be the best judge of the unique needs of individual schools.
DeVos was also questioned on campus sexual assault and the Obama administration’s guidance documents that require schools to more forcefully adjudicate accusations with almost no ability for accused students to defend themselves. DeVos wouldn’t commit to upholding Obama-era guidance documents, stating that she would ensure the law is carried out in a way that protects accusers and the rights of the accused.
This, naturally, didn’t sit well with Democrats and activists, who argue that guaranteeing due process for accused students is tantamount to harming accusers.
In opposing DeVos, those against due process rights and school choice (which DeVos strongly supports), created the hashtag “Dump DeVos,” hoping to influence senators. It only worked on Democrats, who were already going to oppose Trump’s nominee.
DeVos’ nomination now moves to the full Senate. Republicans are in the majority, but two GOP members who supported her in committee — Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska — have not committed to voting to confirm her on the Senate floor.
Source
We don't usually speak up for women here but this time we will make an exception. This woman has donated and support FIRE which is looking out for falsely accused male students on college and university campuses nationwide. She favors due process rights for the accused male student. That is very fair. I say we support Betsy DeVos for Secretary of Education by contacting our Senators and letting them know to support her Secretary of Education. The more of us they hear from the better.
Friday, January 13, 2017
Top Senate Republican vows end to ‘unchecked’ Office for Civil Rights under Trump Grace Curtis - Converse College •January 12, 2017
‘It was this type of overreach that the American people repudiated’
Congressional leaders who have long criticized the Obama administration for the Department of Education’s perceived overreach are promising big changes under a Trump administration.
That includes pressing for a leader of the Office for Civil Rights who will “stop the practice of using the office as an unchecked regulatory entity,” Republican Sen. James Lankford, who chairs the regulatory affairs subcommittee, told The College Fix in an email.
Rep. Virginia Foxx, the new chair of the House Education Committee, has said she has even grander designs: “to see the [entire] department scaled back.”
Advocates for the department’s current methods, including a sweeping interpretation of Title IX that micromanages how colleges handle sexual-misconduct complaints, have already tried to thwart anticipated changes.
They are speaking out against President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee for secretary, Betsy DeVos, for her donations to the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education, a vocal critic of the department’s sexual-misconduct “guidance.”
Republicans will ‘put a stop to this abuse’
Under the Obama administration, the department used alternate means to issue de facto regulations to colleges without going through the required rulemaking process, according to critics.
“Some of the most egregious examples of executive overreach and intimidation” took place at the department, “and I believe it was this type of overreach that the American people repudiated in this election,” Lankford told The Fix.
Administration officials “have abused ‘Dear Colleague’ letters and ‘guidance documents’ to mandate policies for schools without adhering to legally-required regulatory processes,” he said.
Lankford’s top priority for Trump’s incoming department is the appointment of an Office for Civil Rights director who understands and abides by proper regulatory processes.
“The new leader of the Department of Education, and especially the Office [for] Civil Rights, must restore the action of the office to their original construct and stop the practice of using the office as an unchecked regulatory entity,” he said: Unified Republican governance should “put a stop to this abuse.”
‘Very little tolerance’ for huge student loans
Incoming Chairman Foxx, a former college president with a Ph.D. in higher education, has been vocal in speaking against the federal government’s intrusion into states’ decisions on education policy.
After Trump’s election, she told Inside Higher Ed that the new Congress will “have a lot of emphasis on oversight,” but said she wanted “some really, really competent people” who will investigate “what’s going on” in the department from the inside.
Asked about the rumors that the Trump administration will eliminate or scale back the department’s reach, Foxx said: “I definitely see the opportunity to see the department scaled back,” in particular by devolving its functions to the state and local level.
According to The Chronicle of Higher Education, Foxx wants to torpedo an Obama rule (currently blocked by a federal judge) that “would make more salaried employees on college campuses and elsewhere eligible for overtime pay.”
She also wants to eliminate regulations on for-profit colleges and teacher-prep programs. Those regulations also bailed out student victims of fraud with taxpayer dollars.
Foxx once told a radio program she has “very little tolerance” for students taking out large loan amounts and their consequent dependence on the government. She is an advocate for early-college programs to save both students and governments money, as well as encouraging students to explore vocational training.
Foxx’s office responded to an initial Fix inquiry but did not provide a staffer to answer questions.
Uncertain future for speech codes
One of the open questions about a Trump presidency is how colleges might modify their speech codes in response.
House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte asked colleges in August 2015, and again in February 2016, to tell him how they are promoting “free and open expression” and bringing campus policies in line with the First Amendment.
MORE: Universities keep Congress waiting as they scramble to overhaul speech codes
He targeted 160 colleges slapped with a “red light” rating by the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education, meaning they have “at least one policy that both clearly and substantially restricts freedom of speech.”
In his second letter, Goodlatte targeted 33 colleges that had not responded a full six months after his deadline.
Goodlatte’s office did not return multiple emails and voicemails sent by The Fix seeking an update on his effort.
No excuse for violating due process without ‘guidance’
DeVos, Trump’s nominee for secretary of education, is best known for her philanthropy related to education reform in Michigan and charter-school expansion. She has also supported reform in Florida and Michigan, as well as the school-voucher movement.
But in the higher education realm, observers are focused on how she might change federal rules on disciplinary proceedings for sexual-misconduct allegations.
“Many believe” a DeVos-led department will get rid of the Office for Civil Rights’ 2011 guidance document on the subject, Inside Higher Ed reported.
That document, portrayed as nonbinding, told colleges to use a low evidence standard and abandon common protections given to the accused in civil-court settings, such as the right to cross-examination.
MORE: Senate chairman orders OCR to ‘immediately rein in’ Title IX ‘abuses‘
If it’s junked, colleges won’t be able to cite the guidance if they are sued by students who allege they were deprived of due process in campus proceedings.
Higher education legal consultant Gary Pavela told Inside Higher Ed that it was wrong for OCR to have “transformed that floor into a ceiling,” referring to the “preponderance” evidence standard mandated by the guidance.
Choosing an evidence standard “should be based [on] our own campus-based analysis and experience,” not dicates from Washington, he said. But as long as “other reasonable due process standards are applied,” colleges can probably continue using preponderance without “legal risk.”
Colleges won’t miss the 2011 guidance, if previous comments by the American Council on Education are any indication.
The group, which represents 1,800 college presidents at the federal level, last year called OCR “a Court of Star Chamber, with arbitrary rulings, no rights for those under investigation and a secret process” governing schools who fall under Title IX investigation.
Source
Let's thank Senator James Lankford for standing up for men who's due process rights are being violated. You can call his office at (202)224-5754 or you can email him here. Let's thank him for pursuing this as he has. The more of us he hears from the better so let's contact him right away.
Congressional leaders who have long criticized the Obama administration for the Department of Education’s perceived overreach are promising big changes under a Trump administration.
That includes pressing for a leader of the Office for Civil Rights who will “stop the practice of using the office as an unchecked regulatory entity,” Republican Sen. James Lankford, who chairs the regulatory affairs subcommittee, told The College Fix in an email.
Rep. Virginia Foxx, the new chair of the House Education Committee, has said she has even grander designs: “to see the [entire] department scaled back.”
Advocates for the department’s current methods, including a sweeping interpretation of Title IX that micromanages how colleges handle sexual-misconduct complaints, have already tried to thwart anticipated changes.
They are speaking out against President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee for secretary, Betsy DeVos, for her donations to the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education, a vocal critic of the department’s sexual-misconduct “guidance.”
Republicans will ‘put a stop to this abuse’
Under the Obama administration, the department used alternate means to issue de facto regulations to colleges without going through the required rulemaking process, according to critics.
“Some of the most egregious examples of executive overreach and intimidation” took place at the department, “and I believe it was this type of overreach that the American people repudiated in this election,” Lankford told The Fix.
Administration officials “have abused ‘Dear Colleague’ letters and ‘guidance documents’ to mandate policies for schools without adhering to legally-required regulatory processes,” he said.
Lankford’s top priority for Trump’s incoming department is the appointment of an Office for Civil Rights director who understands and abides by proper regulatory processes.
“The new leader of the Department of Education, and especially the Office [for] Civil Rights, must restore the action of the office to their original construct and stop the practice of using the office as an unchecked regulatory entity,” he said: Unified Republican governance should “put a stop to this abuse.”
‘Very little tolerance’ for huge student loans
Incoming Chairman Foxx, a former college president with a Ph.D. in higher education, has been vocal in speaking against the federal government’s intrusion into states’ decisions on education policy.
After Trump’s election, she told Inside Higher Ed that the new Congress will “have a lot of emphasis on oversight,” but said she wanted “some really, really competent people” who will investigate “what’s going on” in the department from the inside.
Asked about the rumors that the Trump administration will eliminate or scale back the department’s reach, Foxx said: “I definitely see the opportunity to see the department scaled back,” in particular by devolving its functions to the state and local level.
According to The Chronicle of Higher Education, Foxx wants to torpedo an Obama rule (currently blocked by a federal judge) that “would make more salaried employees on college campuses and elsewhere eligible for overtime pay.”
She also wants to eliminate regulations on for-profit colleges and teacher-prep programs. Those regulations also bailed out student victims of fraud with taxpayer dollars.
Foxx once told a radio program she has “very little tolerance” for students taking out large loan amounts and their consequent dependence on the government. She is an advocate for early-college programs to save both students and governments money, as well as encouraging students to explore vocational training.
Foxx’s office responded to an initial Fix inquiry but did not provide a staffer to answer questions.
Uncertain future for speech codes
One of the open questions about a Trump presidency is how colleges might modify their speech codes in response.
House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte asked colleges in August 2015, and again in February 2016, to tell him how they are promoting “free and open expression” and bringing campus policies in line with the First Amendment.
MORE: Universities keep Congress waiting as they scramble to overhaul speech codes
He targeted 160 colleges slapped with a “red light” rating by the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education, meaning they have “at least one policy that both clearly and substantially restricts freedom of speech.”
In his second letter, Goodlatte targeted 33 colleges that had not responded a full six months after his deadline.
Goodlatte’s office did not return multiple emails and voicemails sent by The Fix seeking an update on his effort.
No excuse for violating due process without ‘guidance’
DeVos, Trump’s nominee for secretary of education, is best known for her philanthropy related to education reform in Michigan and charter-school expansion. She has also supported reform in Florida and Michigan, as well as the school-voucher movement.
But in the higher education realm, observers are focused on how she might change federal rules on disciplinary proceedings for sexual-misconduct allegations.
“Many believe” a DeVos-led department will get rid of the Office for Civil Rights’ 2011 guidance document on the subject, Inside Higher Ed reported.
That document, portrayed as nonbinding, told colleges to use a low evidence standard and abandon common protections given to the accused in civil-court settings, such as the right to cross-examination.
MORE: Senate chairman orders OCR to ‘immediately rein in’ Title IX ‘abuses‘
If it’s junked, colleges won’t be able to cite the guidance if they are sued by students who allege they were deprived of due process in campus proceedings.
Higher education legal consultant Gary Pavela told Inside Higher Ed that it was wrong for OCR to have “transformed that floor into a ceiling,” referring to the “preponderance” evidence standard mandated by the guidance.
Choosing an evidence standard “should be based [on] our own campus-based analysis and experience,” not dicates from Washington, he said. But as long as “other reasonable due process standards are applied,” colleges can probably continue using preponderance without “legal risk.”
Colleges won’t miss the 2011 guidance, if previous comments by the American Council on Education are any indication.
The group, which represents 1,800 college presidents at the federal level, last year called OCR “a Court of Star Chamber, with arbitrary rulings, no rights for those under investigation and a secret process” governing schools who fall under Title IX investigation.
Source
Let's thank Senator James Lankford for standing up for men who's due process rights are being violated. You can call his office at (202)224-5754 or you can email him here. Let's thank him for pursuing this as he has. The more of us he hears from the better so let's contact him right away.
Sunday, December 4, 2016
Let's tell Donald Trump to dismantle Dear Colleague
I was at the Community Of The Wrongly Accused or COTWA and I was reading how Donald Trump is going to dismantle the Office of Civil Rights division of the Department Of Education. A lot of publications and organizations are bringing this to the forefront. Among them are Inside Higher Ed,Weekly Standard,Buzz Feed and Vox. This is a good thing if you are an MRA or you actually care about due process for the accused. I thank them for bring these issues to the forefront so the rest of country and planet can see what goes on at America's Universities and Colleges. Contacting Senators Lamar Alexander and James Lankford was a good idea. They are pressing on this with the tenacity of a pit bull. Congress has the power to yank the DOE's funding and with the Republicans running Congress that is a safe bet. Donald Trump has a Twitter account so let's contact him there and let him know what we think on this subject.
Tuesday, April 26, 2016
CSU student sues DOE for gender discrimination
A former Colorado State athlete who was suspended for sexual assault last fall is now suing the United States government for gender discrimination, while alleging that the Department of Education’s sexual assault guidance violates federal laws, therefore suggesting that every campus sex assault case decided under that guidance could be overturned.
According to the lawsuit, Grant Neal, a sophomore at Colorado State University-Pueblo (CSU-Pueblo) who played football and wrestled at the school, had consensual sexual intercourse with a female classmate, who is not named in the lawsuit, last October. The next day, a peer of that woman, who is also not named, reported to the school that Neal had raped the woman.
In December, after investigating, the school found that Neal was more than likely responsible for sexual misconduct—the standard that the federal Department of Education tells schools to use—and suspended him for as long as the alleged victim remained at the school. The woman said he never raped her, according to the lawsuit.
After the ruling, Neal apparently lost athletic scholarships and has found that no other school will admit him. His suspension had critics, and a petition for the university to overturn it has nearly 2,000 supporters.
The lawsuit names the university and several school officials, including its president, as defendants, and notably also includes the U.S., the Department of Education and the Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR), as well as Secretary of Education John King Jr. and Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights Catherine Lhamon—a first in such cases by male students accused of sexual assault, according to legal experts.
The basis for the lawsuit is the OCR’s controversial “Dear Colleague” letter, which it issued to colleges and universities in 2011. The letter stated that sexual violence at schools falls under Title IX, the federal law that prohibits sex discrimination in education settings. The OCR offered guidance for how schools should handle sexual assault and violence cases. It also said those that mishandle them would be in violation of Title IX and could lose federal funding.
Advocates for male respondents in campus sexual assault cases say the 2011 guidance led to an overcorrection on the issue in a way that discriminates against young men, is inherently anti-male and denies them due process. Neal’s lawsuit alleges that the OCR’s guidance violates the law.
“We believe the ‘Dear Colleague’ letter issued by the U.S. Department of Education is illegal and unconstitutional,” Andrew Miltenberg, who represents Neal and has become a go-to lawyer for male respondents in sexual assault cases, tells Newsweek via email. “By essentially encouraging male gender bias, the Administration’s directive has violated Title IX and created a new class of victims on campus—accused male students who have had their right to due process stripped away.”
Male students accused of sexual assault are increasingly suing their schools, and especially since 2013, more of them are claiming Title IX discrimination—the same violation that female sexual assault complainants have made, alleging that schools mishandled their claims in a way that goes against their Title IX rights. Most of these so-called reverse-Title IX cases have been unsuccessful: In March, a judge dismissed a high-profile case against Columbia University by Paul Nungesser, the student who was the subject of classmate Emma Sulkowicz’s “mattress” art project and protest. Nungesser has until April 25 to file an updated complaint. Miltenberg represents him too and has said he plans to file.
However, a handful of these cases have recently survived motions to dismiss, including ones against Washington and Lee University, Brown University and Brandeis University.
Neal is suing for violations of Title IX and due process and breach of contract. He also alleges that the “Dear Colleague” letter violates the federal Administrative Procedure Act, which mandates a notice and review process for when the government issues a new rule. The lawsuit claims that the OCR issued “binding law” under the guise of “guidance” without following the APA procedures.
Such a violation, the lawsuit alleges, means the “Dear Colleague” letter and all disciplinary decisions made under it are “unconstitutional, arbitrary and void.” A ruling in favor of that claim might open any campus sexual assault decision a school made since 2011 to a challenge.
Hans Bader is a senior attorney at the Competitive Enterprise Institute, a nonprofit public policy organization, who practices education law and previously worked as an attorney at the OCR. He points out that a footnote to the “Dear Colleague” letter says it does not add to existing law, and yet “it requires colleges to follow those letters to the T,” he asserts.
“Requiring schools to apply that as gospel when they essentially made it up out of nothing—that’s a plain violation of the APA because you have an entirely new legal obligation without notice and comment, without even the pretext of any real basis,” he says.
Several advocates for male respondents have recently vowed to take on the OCR. Last week, Families Advocating for Campus Equality, a due process advocacy organization led by mothers of male students accused of sexual misconduct, filed testimony with a Senate subcommittee opposing a federal proposal to increase the OCR’s funding by about 30 percent. “Approval of such a dramatic increase in OCR’s budget will only reward OCR for its much-criticized overreach,” the organization said.
And earlier this month, the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education, a nonprofit that advocates for free speech and due process on campus, called for students to help challenge the OCR for the same “abuse of power” that the Neal lawsuit alleges. A FIRE spokesman says the Neal lawsuit is unrelated to the organization’s effort.
“When an administrative agency wants to promulgate a regulation that will force people to change their behavior in some way,” says Justin Dillon, an attorney who is working with FIRE on its effort, “the agency, No. 1, has to put out a notice that it’s thinking of taking this action, and No. 2, allow people to comment on this action, whether they’re for or against it.”
Those procedures, Dillon says, ensure that only federal employees with accountability to the voting public are the ones setting rules. “Agencies are not Congress. Agencies are unelected people,” he says. “The staff of the agency are just garden-variety federal employees with absolutely no democratic accountability. The idea is, you don’t want to have people who are not accountable to the voters basically making laws” without those review procedures.
Should a judge determine that the “Dear Colleague” letter is null and void, Dillon says, some “might argue that they have a right to reopen a case” under pre-2011 procedures—unless the ruling that vacates the letter only applies moving forward.
Dillon, who is not involved in Neal’s case, says he and FIRE are “very close to filing” their own lawsuit that makes a similar argument.
The OCR has been a defendant in at least one other lawsuit. In 2005, plaintiffs sued the OCR, alleging its investigation into a possible Title IX violation involving male and female high school hockey teams was flawed. A federal court judge dismissed the case in 2007.
A CSU-Pueblo spokeswoman declined to comment on pending litigation. A Department of Education spokesman declined to comment for the same reason.
As of April 13, the OCR is investigating 175 colleges for their handling of sexual violence cases.
“We’ve seen just a cataclysmic change around the country in terms of attention to the issue; responsiveness to it; and training, preparation for our students so that we can see safer campuses,” Lhamon, the civil rights assistant secretary, told Newsweek last year. She said the OCR had not yet rescinded funding from a school for mishandling a sexual violence claim but added, “I would absolutely be prepared to do it.”
Source
If this was me I would name the little fink who butted her nose in my business like she did and teach her a lesson. I hope he did just that.
According to the lawsuit, Grant Neal, a sophomore at Colorado State University-Pueblo (CSU-Pueblo) who played football and wrestled at the school, had consensual sexual intercourse with a female classmate, who is not named in the lawsuit, last October. The next day, a peer of that woman, who is also not named, reported to the school that Neal had raped the woman.
In December, after investigating, the school found that Neal was more than likely responsible for sexual misconduct—the standard that the federal Department of Education tells schools to use—and suspended him for as long as the alleged victim remained at the school. The woman said he never raped her, according to the lawsuit.
After the ruling, Neal apparently lost athletic scholarships and has found that no other school will admit him. His suspension had critics, and a petition for the university to overturn it has nearly 2,000 supporters.
The lawsuit names the university and several school officials, including its president, as defendants, and notably also includes the U.S., the Department of Education and the Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR), as well as Secretary of Education John King Jr. and Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights Catherine Lhamon—a first in such cases by male students accused of sexual assault, according to legal experts.
The basis for the lawsuit is the OCR’s controversial “Dear Colleague” letter, which it issued to colleges and universities in 2011. The letter stated that sexual violence at schools falls under Title IX, the federal law that prohibits sex discrimination in education settings. The OCR offered guidance for how schools should handle sexual assault and violence cases. It also said those that mishandle them would be in violation of Title IX and could lose federal funding.
Advocates for male respondents in campus sexual assault cases say the 2011 guidance led to an overcorrection on the issue in a way that discriminates against young men, is inherently anti-male and denies them due process. Neal’s lawsuit alleges that the OCR’s guidance violates the law.
“We believe the ‘Dear Colleague’ letter issued by the U.S. Department of Education is illegal and unconstitutional,” Andrew Miltenberg, who represents Neal and has become a go-to lawyer for male respondents in sexual assault cases, tells Newsweek via email. “By essentially encouraging male gender bias, the Administration’s directive has violated Title IX and created a new class of victims on campus—accused male students who have had their right to due process stripped away.”
Male students accused of sexual assault are increasingly suing their schools, and especially since 2013, more of them are claiming Title IX discrimination—the same violation that female sexual assault complainants have made, alleging that schools mishandled their claims in a way that goes against their Title IX rights. Most of these so-called reverse-Title IX cases have been unsuccessful: In March, a judge dismissed a high-profile case against Columbia University by Paul Nungesser, the student who was the subject of classmate Emma Sulkowicz’s “mattress” art project and protest. Nungesser has until April 25 to file an updated complaint. Miltenberg represents him too and has said he plans to file.
However, a handful of these cases have recently survived motions to dismiss, including ones against Washington and Lee University, Brown University and Brandeis University.
Neal is suing for violations of Title IX and due process and breach of contract. He also alleges that the “Dear Colleague” letter violates the federal Administrative Procedure Act, which mandates a notice and review process for when the government issues a new rule. The lawsuit claims that the OCR issued “binding law” under the guise of “guidance” without following the APA procedures.
Such a violation, the lawsuit alleges, means the “Dear Colleague” letter and all disciplinary decisions made under it are “unconstitutional, arbitrary and void.” A ruling in favor of that claim might open any campus sexual assault decision a school made since 2011 to a challenge.
Hans Bader is a senior attorney at the Competitive Enterprise Institute, a nonprofit public policy organization, who practices education law and previously worked as an attorney at the OCR. He points out that a footnote to the “Dear Colleague” letter says it does not add to existing law, and yet “it requires colleges to follow those letters to the T,” he asserts.
“Requiring schools to apply that as gospel when they essentially made it up out of nothing—that’s a plain violation of the APA because you have an entirely new legal obligation without notice and comment, without even the pretext of any real basis,” he says.
Several advocates for male respondents have recently vowed to take on the OCR. Last week, Families Advocating for Campus Equality, a due process advocacy organization led by mothers of male students accused of sexual misconduct, filed testimony with a Senate subcommittee opposing a federal proposal to increase the OCR’s funding by about 30 percent. “Approval of such a dramatic increase in OCR’s budget will only reward OCR for its much-criticized overreach,” the organization said.
And earlier this month, the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education, a nonprofit that advocates for free speech and due process on campus, called for students to help challenge the OCR for the same “abuse of power” that the Neal lawsuit alleges. A FIRE spokesman says the Neal lawsuit is unrelated to the organization’s effort.
“When an administrative agency wants to promulgate a regulation that will force people to change their behavior in some way,” says Justin Dillon, an attorney who is working with FIRE on its effort, “the agency, No. 1, has to put out a notice that it’s thinking of taking this action, and No. 2, allow people to comment on this action, whether they’re for or against it.”
Those procedures, Dillon says, ensure that only federal employees with accountability to the voting public are the ones setting rules. “Agencies are not Congress. Agencies are unelected people,” he says. “The staff of the agency are just garden-variety federal employees with absolutely no democratic accountability. The idea is, you don’t want to have people who are not accountable to the voters basically making laws” without those review procedures.
Should a judge determine that the “Dear Colleague” letter is null and void, Dillon says, some “might argue that they have a right to reopen a case” under pre-2011 procedures—unless the ruling that vacates the letter only applies moving forward.
Dillon, who is not involved in Neal’s case, says he and FIRE are “very close to filing” their own lawsuit that makes a similar argument.
The OCR has been a defendant in at least one other lawsuit. In 2005, plaintiffs sued the OCR, alleging its investigation into a possible Title IX violation involving male and female high school hockey teams was flawed. A federal court judge dismissed the case in 2007.
A CSU-Pueblo spokeswoman declined to comment on pending litigation. A Department of Education spokesman declined to comment for the same reason.
As of April 13, the OCR is investigating 175 colleges for their handling of sexual violence cases.
“We’ve seen just a cataclysmic change around the country in terms of attention to the issue; responsiveness to it; and training, preparation for our students so that we can see safer campuses,” Lhamon, the civil rights assistant secretary, told Newsweek last year. She said the OCR had not yet rescinded funding from a school for mishandling a sexual violence claim but added, “I would absolutely be prepared to do it.”
Source
If this was me I would name the little fink who butted her nose in my business like she did and teach her a lesson. I hope he did just that.
Wednesday, March 9, 2016
Thank Senator James Lankford for standing up to the Department Of Education femibullies
Senate chairman demands Department of Education ‘immediately rein in’ its Title IX ‘abuses’
Greg Piper - Associate Editor
March 7, 2016
Acting Secretary of Education John King, who could be confirmed to the post Wednesday, won’t be able to pacify Sen. James Lankford, R-Okla., with tautologies.
In a letter Friday, the chairman of the Senate Regulatory Affairs Subcommittee dispensed with every argument by King’s underling at the Office for Civil Rights (OCR), Catherine Lhamon, that Title IX gives the department the power to unilaterally issue broad new regulations related to harassment, bullying and sexual misconduct with no public rulemaking. (Read the footnotes in particular.)
Lankford minced no words with King:
I again call on you personally to clarify that these policies are not required by Title IX, but reflect only one of various ways schools may choose to develop and implement policies for the prevention and remedy of sexual harassment and sexual violence that best meet the needs of their students and are compliant with federal law. I further ask that you immediately rein in the regulatory abuses within the Department of Education and take measures to ensure that all existing and future guidance documents issued by your agency are clearly and firmly rooted in statutory authority.
The senator is greatly annoyed that the department keeps citing its own earlier guidance as justifying its later guidance.
RELATED: Department of Education official bizarrely claims it’s not threatening colleges in rape disputes
Regarding OCR’s 2010 Dear Colleague letter on sexual harassment and bullying, Lankford wrote King that the office improperly included examples of conduct that “can” violate Title IX – many of which are protected by the First Amendment – in and of themselves, not as one element of a “three-part test” as it has previously laid out:
But more importantly, regardless of however well-developed these citations to previous guidance documents are, they … do not have the force and effect of law, and therefore [cannot answer Lankford’s primary question] … What statutory or regulatory authority do you construe to arrive at the conclusion that Title IX requires that this proscribed conduct “can” be prohibited?
Lankford is also flabbergasted that OCR chief Lhamon thinks that “letters of findings” – her office’s settlements with colleges – justify its 2011 Dear Colleague letter that told colleges they must use the preponderance-of-evidence standard in sexual-misconduct proceedings in order to provide an “equitable resolution,” as required by Title IX:
[L]etters of findings carry no precedential value themselves and are a poor vehicle to alert regulated entities of new requirements … [These particular letters also] demonstrate that you have penalized those you regulate by enforcing standards never articulated by the Department and for which I question your authority.
In order for preponderance to be the only appropriate standard under Title IX, the statute would have to impose “strict liability” on colleges regardless of their response to sexual harassment or violence by students, which it doesn’t, Lankford said.
He noted that OCR “strongly discourages” schools from letting parties cross-examine each other, prohibits schools from letting accused students appeal unless their accusers get the same right, and even allows schools to make the same person the “fact-finder” and the “decision-maker” – all of which contradict “essential protections [that] defendants in a court of law enjoy”:
OCR’s silence on important due process considerations, coupled with the requirement of a lower standard of proof, indisputably tips the playing field against the accused, making the disciplinary process anything but “equitable.”
If OCR is really only telling colleges “its construction of the statutes and regulations” it enforces, it needs to cite actual statutes and regulations – not its own guidance and letters of findings, Lankford wrote.
Read the letter and excerpts from Lankford’s office.
Source
This is great. Finally lawmakers are standing up to these femibullies that enjoy pushing men around,stealing from them and depriving them of an education but leaving a black mark on their records that will haunt them throughout their professional and personal lives. Let's thank Senator James Lankford for standing up for college and university men accused of rape and for demanding due process be observed. Let's all thank him. The more of us he hears from the better. Click on email comment.
Greg Piper - Associate Editor
March 7, 2016
Acting Secretary of Education John King, who could be confirmed to the post Wednesday, won’t be able to pacify Sen. James Lankford, R-Okla., with tautologies.
In a letter Friday, the chairman of the Senate Regulatory Affairs Subcommittee dispensed with every argument by King’s underling at the Office for Civil Rights (OCR), Catherine Lhamon, that Title IX gives the department the power to unilaterally issue broad new regulations related to harassment, bullying and sexual misconduct with no public rulemaking. (Read the footnotes in particular.)
Lankford minced no words with King:
I again call on you personally to clarify that these policies are not required by Title IX, but reflect only one of various ways schools may choose to develop and implement policies for the prevention and remedy of sexual harassment and sexual violence that best meet the needs of their students and are compliant with federal law. I further ask that you immediately rein in the regulatory abuses within the Department of Education and take measures to ensure that all existing and future guidance documents issued by your agency are clearly and firmly rooted in statutory authority.
The senator is greatly annoyed that the department keeps citing its own earlier guidance as justifying its later guidance.
RELATED: Department of Education official bizarrely claims it’s not threatening colleges in rape disputes
Regarding OCR’s 2010 Dear Colleague letter on sexual harassment and bullying, Lankford wrote King that the office improperly included examples of conduct that “can” violate Title IX – many of which are protected by the First Amendment – in and of themselves, not as one element of a “three-part test” as it has previously laid out:
But more importantly, regardless of however well-developed these citations to previous guidance documents are, they … do not have the force and effect of law, and therefore [cannot answer Lankford’s primary question] … What statutory or regulatory authority do you construe to arrive at the conclusion that Title IX requires that this proscribed conduct “can” be prohibited?
Lankford is also flabbergasted that OCR chief Lhamon thinks that “letters of findings” – her office’s settlements with colleges – justify its 2011 Dear Colleague letter that told colleges they must use the preponderance-of-evidence standard in sexual-misconduct proceedings in order to provide an “equitable resolution,” as required by Title IX:
[L]etters of findings carry no precedential value themselves and are a poor vehicle to alert regulated entities of new requirements … [These particular letters also] demonstrate that you have penalized those you regulate by enforcing standards never articulated by the Department and for which I question your authority.
In order for preponderance to be the only appropriate standard under Title IX, the statute would have to impose “strict liability” on colleges regardless of their response to sexual harassment or violence by students, which it doesn’t, Lankford said.
He noted that OCR “strongly discourages” schools from letting parties cross-examine each other, prohibits schools from letting accused students appeal unless their accusers get the same right, and even allows schools to make the same person the “fact-finder” and the “decision-maker” – all of which contradict “essential protections [that] defendants in a court of law enjoy”:
OCR’s silence on important due process considerations, coupled with the requirement of a lower standard of proof, indisputably tips the playing field against the accused, making the disciplinary process anything but “equitable.”
If OCR is really only telling colleges “its construction of the statutes and regulations” it enforces, it needs to cite actual statutes and regulations – not its own guidance and letters of findings, Lankford wrote.
Read the letter and excerpts from Lankford’s office.
Source
This is great. Finally lawmakers are standing up to these femibullies that enjoy pushing men around,stealing from them and depriving them of an education but leaving a black mark on their records that will haunt them throughout their professional and personal lives. Let's thank Senator James Lankford for standing up for college and university men accused of rape and for demanding due process be observed. Let's all thank him. The more of us he hears from the better. Click on email comment.
Tuesday, November 24, 2015
Catherine Lhamon: the woman behind "Dear Colleague"
Glenn Reynolds: The unilateral war on college men
Glenn Harlan Reynolds 11:01 a.m. EDT September 30, 2015
An assistant secretary of education thinks she can rewrite rape law by writing a letter.
It appears to many — including me — as if the Obama administration is engaged in a war on college men. Using debunked statistics, the president, the vice president and various other political officials have falsely claimed that there’s an epidemic of rape on college campuses, even though campus rape is, in fact, falling, just as off-campus rape is. (And, in fact, rape is less common on campus than off).
And, ever since the Department of Education issued a ”Dear Colleague" letter to universities in 2011, in essence ordering them to adopt new and draconian campus “sexual assault” rules that treat accusations as presumptively true and force the accused — almost always men — to prove their innocence, sometimes even very strong evidence of innocence is ignored.
Spearheading this effort has been Assistant Secretary of Education for Civil Rights Catherine Lhamon, who has characterized the letter as binding on colleges and universities even though it is not a law, was not adopted as a formal or informal rule making after notice and comment under any law, and appears to have very little to do with the federal anti-discrimination law Title IX, which says only that “no person in the United States shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any education program or activity receiving federal financial assistance.”
Title IX was supposed to force colleges to admit women to programs formerly reserved for men. The law says nothing about sexual assault, sexual harassment, or the duty of universities to investigate criminal behavior on their own instead of referring crimes to law enforcement. But through a period of interpretation and reinterpretation, that simple statutory language has produced reams of federal paperwork that, in effect, turn a simple academic non-discrimination rule into a rape law that lacks the due process protections and evidentiary standards of actual rape law.
Now it appears that Congress has noticed. Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., crashed a Senate hearing last week to grill Deputy Assistant Secretary of Education Amy McIntosh about past statements by Lhamon that purported to establish the “guidance” letter as binding law. How could this be binding, asked Sen. Alexander, when it’s simply a letter issued without any of the procedures required for administrative rule making?
McIntosh didn’t offer much of an answer, and that’s because there isn’t one. As some, including Ari Cohn, have argued for a while, the Department of Education is acting unlawfully here.
A law, to be binding, must pass both houses of Congress and be presented to the president's desk, where it must either pass into law or be vetoed and then overridden by a two-thirds vote of each house. Because this procedure, which the framers of our Constitution designed in order to make lawmaking difficult, turns out to make it difficult to pass laws, we also allow administrative agencies to issue regulations that are binding as law. But those regulations can be issued only after a draft is published and the public has a chance to comment, via either formal or informal rule making.
A mere letter from a bureaucrat, which is all the “Dear Colleague” letter is, has no binding authority. At most, it suggests that the bureaucrats might be willing to go to court to try to convince a judge that their interpretation of the statute is correct.
So why did colleges roll over? Law blogger Scott Greenfield suggests that it’s because the colleges are also warring against college men: “After all, why should a college risk the loss of its lifeblood (federal money) for the sake of protecting a few guys, particularly when the colleges pretty much agree with Lhamon’s progressive ideals?”
Greenfield notes that once Columbia University was sued by a male student claiming that his Title IX rights were violated because of the university’s response to a false accusation, it changed its mind and decided that Title IX didn’t create much in the way of student rights after all. Greenfield concludes: “Regardless of whether one embraces the policy choice embodied in Lhamon’s ‘Dear Colleague’ letters or not, there is no doubt but that it was imposed without lawful authority and adopted by schools who chose to sacrifice one segment of their student population to appease another segment. This is not the law. This is not what Title IX mandates. And they know it, even if you don’t.”
Greenfield is right. It’s nice that members of Congress are taking notice. But male college students and their parents, as well as alumni and trustees — and those women noticing that there’s a shortage of college-educated men all of a sudden — need to ask why there’s a war on college men, and why colleges, seemingly, are on the other side.
Source
There is no other way of saying it. This bitch needs to go to prison. She has deliberately fucked up men's lives. She needs to pay. The best way of doing that is to contact your Representative and Senators and tell them to send Lhamon to prison.
Wednesday, July 30, 2014
Senator McCaskill to introduce misandric bill
From SAVE Services:
The addition of the Campus Sexual Violence Elimination (Campus SaVE) Act to last year's Violence Against Women Act increased awareness of the campus sexual assault issue, and it brought new regulations from the Department of Education.
Unfortunately, campus radicals have now exploited this effort, claiming that "one in five college women are victims of sexual assault" and insisting that "we live in a rape culture." They want to remove fundamental due process protections!
If that's not bad enough, Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-MO) is going to introduce a new bill that we believe will further erode due process protections of students accused of sexual assault.
So this week, SAVE is announcing the establishment of the Campus Justice Coalition, which will focus on legislative reforms to restore due process and fairness to the sexual assault adjudicatory process: click here
The CJC will consist of representatives of university associations, attorneys, media representatives, parents of the wrongly accused, and other concerned citizens.
Can you help with this effort? We need to raise $5,000 for media and promotion, including radio interviews, press releases, and Facebook, and we'd like to host a few DC lobbying events with CJC members.
Please make a tax deductible donation: click here. Every gift, big or small, is greatly appreciated!
Thank you,
teri
Teri Stoddard, Program Director
Stop Abusive and Violent Environments
www.saveservices.org
The addition of the Campus Sexual Violence Elimination (Campus SaVE) Act to last year's Violence Against Women Act increased awareness of the campus sexual assault issue, and it brought new regulations from the Department of Education.
Unfortunately, campus radicals have now exploited this effort, claiming that "one in five college women are victims of sexual assault" and insisting that "we live in a rape culture." They want to remove fundamental due process protections!
If that's not bad enough, Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-MO) is going to introduce a new bill that we believe will further erode due process protections of students accused of sexual assault.
So this week, SAVE is announcing the establishment of the Campus Justice Coalition, which will focus on legislative reforms to restore due process and fairness to the sexual assault adjudicatory process: click here
The CJC will consist of representatives of university associations, attorneys, media representatives, parents of the wrongly accused, and other concerned citizens.
Can you help with this effort? We need to raise $5,000 for media and promotion, including radio interviews, press releases, and Facebook, and we'd like to host a few DC lobbying events with CJC members.
Please make a tax deductible donation: click here. Every gift, big or small, is greatly appreciated!
Thank you,
teri
Teri Stoddard, Program Director
Stop Abusive and Violent Environments
www.saveservices.org
Wednesday, August 21, 2013
Wrongfully expelled man sues Xavier Unversity
Maryland guard Dez Wells suing Xavier for expulsion
Tue, Aug 20, 2013 10:13 PM EDT..
University of Maryland guard Dez Wells filed a federal lawsuit Tuesday seeking damages against his former school, Xavier University, and its president, Father Michael Graham, over what he asserts was his wrongful expulsion last summer.
Dez Wells played for Maryland last season after he was expelled by Xavier. (USA Today Sports)The suit alleges Xavier failed to follow its own policies when deciding to expel him following a 2012 allegation of sexual assault. The local prosecutor investigated the case and not only declined to charge Wells but declared in media accounts the allegation "didn't reach anything close to a standard of proof" and "should never have gotten to the point where someone's reputation is ruined." A grand jury also declined to indict the basketball star.
The lawsuit, filed at the United States District Court in Cincinnati, seeks monetary compensation as well as an overturning of the expulsion to clear Wells' name of what he calls a false accusation.
Wells, according to his attorney, has no interest in returning to Xavier, but has suffered "severe emotional distress" for having been essentially deemed a rapist – and heckled as such while playing road games. This, Wells said, is his best chance to set the record straight with the public and hold Xavier accountable.
"From the moment this nightmare began, I've been trying to get everyone to understand that I am innocent," Wells said in a statement through attorney Peter Ginsberg. "The supposed leaders at Xavier destroyed my reputation. It needs to make this right. Xavier needs to set the record straight."
Xavier released a statement from Father Graham to Yahoo! Sports on Tuesday evening.
"We have read the complaint and the allegations of wrongdoing are unfounded and cannot be supported," Graham said. "The process used by the Xavier University Conduct Board (UCB) applies to all of our students and is the standard used in American universities. After members of the Conduct Board reached their decision, the matter was considered and upheld in an appeal. The sanction for the offense was expulsion.
"The University has never revealed the specific charge against Dez Wells other than to say he was found responsible for a violation of the Student Code of Conduct. The university will vigorously defend the process and the decision."
After being expelled in the summer of 2012, Wells transferred to Maryland. The NCAA, in a rare move, ruled on appeal to grant him immediate eligibility rather than make him sit out a season like most transfers. He started 37 of 38 games and led the Terrapins in scoring with 13.1 points a game. He will be a focal point of the team again this season.
It is highly unusual, if not unprecedented, for an active, high-profile player to file a federal suit against another NCAA member institution. Adding to the uniqueness of the case, Wells' most powerful advocate is Hamilton, Ohio prosecutor Joseph Deters, who has forcefully and publicly, defended Wells and blasted Xavier's handling of the incident as "fundamentally unfair."
"If I thought [Wells] did this, he'd be in prison," Deters says in the lawsuit. "I wouldn't pull any punches."
Wells' lawsuit alleges Xavier failed to follow its own policies when deciding to expel him. (USA Today Sports)Wells, a native of Raleigh, N.C., was named to the Atlantic 10 All-Rookie team following the 2011-12 season.
Last summer, on the night of June 7, 2012, he engaged in what he asserts was consensual sex with an Xavier student.
The two, among others, had been hanging out that night in their dorm playing a game of group "truth or dare," according to the lawsuit. "A number of the dares were sexual in nature," the suit alleges, including lap dances and stripping. The two kissed multiple times during the evening before going to the woman's room, where, according to the suit, she asked if Wells had a condom before they had sex.
The next day she reported to the campus police she had been sexually assaulted. She later met with Cincinnati police but declined to press charges. Undeterred, Deters, the local prospector assigned two staff members to look into the incident.
Deters, according to the suit, quickly "developed serious concerns about [the] truthfulness of the allegations." He left messages with Father Graham, the Xavier president, in an effort to convey those concerns but the messages were not returned, the suit alleges. He later discussed with another Xavier official and instructed his concerns be passed on to Graham.
Before the prosecutor finished his work and a grand jury cleared Wells, however, the player was called before Xavier's University Conduct Board, where the lawsuit alleges a group of administrators, faculty and students "impermissibly placed the burden on Wells to prove his innocence."
The suit runs through a litany of what it alleges are breaches of the UCB rules and procedures. It also hammers the group for either dismissing or ignoring the concerns of the prosecutor's office, failing to wait for "vital laboratory tests" and allowing for just a brief, two-day appeal process. It also alleged UCB members "had received woefully inadequate training" to make a ruling on these kinds of cases.
The UCB expelled Wells on Aug. 3, 2012. On Aug. 28, a grand jury declined to indict him and Deters took to the local media to stand up for the player and urge Xavier to reconsider.
Ginsberg alleges Xavier acted unfairly to Wells because it was under pressure from an investigation by the U.S. Education Department's Office of Civil Rights for mishandling previous allegations brought against male students and treating them too leniently.
"It was much more anxious to appease the Department of Education then satisfy its own obligations to fairness for its own students," Ginsberg told Yahoo! Sports Tuesday night. "Unfortunately, Dez was the sacrificial lamb."
Ginsberg cites Father Graham ignoring the prosecutor's urge for caution and reconsideration as proof.
"It should have been clear to university officials on their own that the accusations were fictitious," Ginsberg said. "Add to that a trained professional with no skin in the game was imploring Father Graham to hold off and act responsibly and Father Graham simply ignored Mr. Deters admonitions."
The suit seeks a jury trial in Ohio and seeks unspecified damages. Outside the specific wording of the lawsuit, Wells stated he is also seeking an apology from Father Graham.
Source: click here
Tue, Aug 20, 2013 10:13 PM EDT..
University of Maryland guard Dez Wells filed a federal lawsuit Tuesday seeking damages against his former school, Xavier University, and its president, Father Michael Graham, over what he asserts was his wrongful expulsion last summer.
Dez Wells played for Maryland last season after he was expelled by Xavier. (USA Today Sports)The suit alleges Xavier failed to follow its own policies when deciding to expel him following a 2012 allegation of sexual assault. The local prosecutor investigated the case and not only declined to charge Wells but declared in media accounts the allegation "didn't reach anything close to a standard of proof" and "should never have gotten to the point where someone's reputation is ruined." A grand jury also declined to indict the basketball star.
The lawsuit, filed at the United States District Court in Cincinnati, seeks monetary compensation as well as an overturning of the expulsion to clear Wells' name of what he calls a false accusation.
Wells, according to his attorney, has no interest in returning to Xavier, but has suffered "severe emotional distress" for having been essentially deemed a rapist – and heckled as such while playing road games. This, Wells said, is his best chance to set the record straight with the public and hold Xavier accountable.
"From the moment this nightmare began, I've been trying to get everyone to understand that I am innocent," Wells said in a statement through attorney Peter Ginsberg. "The supposed leaders at Xavier destroyed my reputation. It needs to make this right. Xavier needs to set the record straight."
Xavier released a statement from Father Graham to Yahoo! Sports on Tuesday evening.
"We have read the complaint and the allegations of wrongdoing are unfounded and cannot be supported," Graham said. "The process used by the Xavier University Conduct Board (UCB) applies to all of our students and is the standard used in American universities. After members of the Conduct Board reached their decision, the matter was considered and upheld in an appeal. The sanction for the offense was expulsion.
"The University has never revealed the specific charge against Dez Wells other than to say he was found responsible for a violation of the Student Code of Conduct. The university will vigorously defend the process and the decision."
After being expelled in the summer of 2012, Wells transferred to Maryland. The NCAA, in a rare move, ruled on appeal to grant him immediate eligibility rather than make him sit out a season like most transfers. He started 37 of 38 games and led the Terrapins in scoring with 13.1 points a game. He will be a focal point of the team again this season.
It is highly unusual, if not unprecedented, for an active, high-profile player to file a federal suit against another NCAA member institution. Adding to the uniqueness of the case, Wells' most powerful advocate is Hamilton, Ohio prosecutor Joseph Deters, who has forcefully and publicly, defended Wells and blasted Xavier's handling of the incident as "fundamentally unfair."
"If I thought [Wells] did this, he'd be in prison," Deters says in the lawsuit. "I wouldn't pull any punches."
Wells' lawsuit alleges Xavier failed to follow its own policies when deciding to expel him. (USA Today Sports)Wells, a native of Raleigh, N.C., was named to the Atlantic 10 All-Rookie team following the 2011-12 season.
Last summer, on the night of June 7, 2012, he engaged in what he asserts was consensual sex with an Xavier student.
The two, among others, had been hanging out that night in their dorm playing a game of group "truth or dare," according to the lawsuit. "A number of the dares were sexual in nature," the suit alleges, including lap dances and stripping. The two kissed multiple times during the evening before going to the woman's room, where, according to the suit, she asked if Wells had a condom before they had sex.
The next day she reported to the campus police she had been sexually assaulted. She later met with Cincinnati police but declined to press charges. Undeterred, Deters, the local prospector assigned two staff members to look into the incident.
Deters, according to the suit, quickly "developed serious concerns about [the] truthfulness of the allegations." He left messages with Father Graham, the Xavier president, in an effort to convey those concerns but the messages were not returned, the suit alleges. He later discussed with another Xavier official and instructed his concerns be passed on to Graham.
Before the prosecutor finished his work and a grand jury cleared Wells, however, the player was called before Xavier's University Conduct Board, where the lawsuit alleges a group of administrators, faculty and students "impermissibly placed the burden on Wells to prove his innocence."
The suit runs through a litany of what it alleges are breaches of the UCB rules and procedures. It also hammers the group for either dismissing or ignoring the concerns of the prosecutor's office, failing to wait for "vital laboratory tests" and allowing for just a brief, two-day appeal process. It also alleged UCB members "had received woefully inadequate training" to make a ruling on these kinds of cases.
The UCB expelled Wells on Aug. 3, 2012. On Aug. 28, a grand jury declined to indict him and Deters took to the local media to stand up for the player and urge Xavier to reconsider.
Ginsberg alleges Xavier acted unfairly to Wells because it was under pressure from an investigation by the U.S. Education Department's Office of Civil Rights for mishandling previous allegations brought against male students and treating them too leniently.
"It was much more anxious to appease the Department of Education then satisfy its own obligations to fairness for its own students," Ginsberg told Yahoo! Sports Tuesday night. "Unfortunately, Dez was the sacrificial lamb."
Ginsberg cites Father Graham ignoring the prosecutor's urge for caution and reconsideration as proof.
"It should have been clear to university officials on their own that the accusations were fictitious," Ginsberg said. "Add to that a trained professional with no skin in the game was imploring Father Graham to hold off and act responsibly and Father Graham simply ignored Mr. Deters admonitions."
The suit seeks a jury trial in Ohio and seeks unspecified damages. Outside the specific wording of the lawsuit, Wells stated he is also seeking an apology from Father Graham.
Source: click here
Friday, December 7, 2012
Tell Arne Duncan to repeal "dear colleague"
From SAVE Services:
After a Duke Law Review article chided the Department of Education's Sexual Assault Directive for its "fatally inadequate discussion" and "unacceptable" and "perverse" effects on due process, Russlynn Ali resigned. Ali headed the Dept. of Education's Office for Civil Rights and was the lead author of the Directive.
Today, email or call Dept. of Ed. Secretary Arne Duncan with the message, "Repeal the Sexual Assault Directive!"
Email: arne.duncan@ed.gov
Call: 1-800-USA-LEARN (872-5327)
Nearly 90 editorials have criticized the Directive for ignoring civil rights, removing the presumption of innocence, and fostering false allegations: click here.
Let's end this nonsense now!
teri
Teri Stoddard, Program Director Stop Abusive and Violent Environments www.saveservices.org
Sounds good. We're rid of Russlynn Ali but the stench she created with that mandate continues on. It's time to vacate it and it is up to us to let Arne Duncan know to repeal this mandate. If you have sons,brothers,nephews or male cousins that are attending a college or university that receives federal money then you definitely want this repealed and the sooner the better.
Tuesday, September 18, 2012
A couple of things from SAVE
he University of Montana has recently implemented new sexual assault guidelines and created a series of personal empowerment awareness videos for students. Unfortunately, the videos are spreading misinformation about rape, and the guidelines are restricting the civil rights of falsely accused students.
Jordan Johnson
The videos are based on claims by the Justice Department that are wholly unverified -- such as "80 reported rapes" at the university in the past three years. The videos even promote the untrue statistic that only 2 percent of rape accusations are false.
Montana quarterback Jordan Johnson was charged with rape despite all evidence pointing to his innocence. His accuser admitted to her friends "I don't think he did anything wrong to be honest," but prosecutors continued with the case inviting, as an investigation reported, "the possible conviction of an innocent defendant."
In a letter to Univ. of Montana President Royce Engstrom, Stop Abusive and Violent Environments (SAVE) has requested that the university immediately remove the damaging videos from its curriculum.
We'd like your help. Tell Royce Engstrom to withdraw his biased sex assault videos and to respect the rights of accused students, who are innocent until proven guilty.
Univ. of Montana president Royce Engstrom:
Email: prestalk@umontana.edu
Phone: 406-243-2311
Thank you!
teri
Teri Stoddard, Program Director
Stop Abusive and Violent Environments
www.saveservices.org
And this.
The U.S. Department of Education (DED)'s 2011 sexual assault directive has resulted in a number of false allegations and wrongful convictions. High profile cases involve the University of Hawaii at Manoa, the University of North Dakota, Cornell University, the University of North Carolina, Brown University, Xavier University, Yale University, and the University of Montana.
Learn more at accusingu.org.
SAVE believes that holding false accusers accountable will result in a reduction of false allegations. Today, we're asking you to write to Secretary of Education Arne Duncan. Tell him, "False Accusers Must be Held Accountable!"
Secretary of Education Arne Duncan:
arne.duncan@ed.gov.
Oh behalf of every male student on campus, thank you!
teri
Teri Stoddard, Program Director
Stop Abusive and Violent Environments
www.saveservices.org
No problem we can send these emails to correct these injustices so the more of us they hear from the better so send them today.
Jordan Johnson
The videos are based on claims by the Justice Department that are wholly unverified -- such as "80 reported rapes" at the university in the past three years. The videos even promote the untrue statistic that only 2 percent of rape accusations are false.
Montana quarterback Jordan Johnson was charged with rape despite all evidence pointing to his innocence. His accuser admitted to her friends "I don't think he did anything wrong to be honest," but prosecutors continued with the case inviting, as an investigation reported, "the possible conviction of an innocent defendant."
In a letter to Univ. of Montana President Royce Engstrom, Stop Abusive and Violent Environments (SAVE) has requested that the university immediately remove the damaging videos from its curriculum.
We'd like your help. Tell Royce Engstrom to withdraw his biased sex assault videos and to respect the rights of accused students, who are innocent until proven guilty.
Univ. of Montana president Royce Engstrom:
Email: prestalk@umontana.edu
Phone: 406-243-2311
Thank you!
teri
Teri Stoddard, Program Director
Stop Abusive and Violent Environments
www.saveservices.org
And this.
The U.S. Department of Education (DED)'s 2011 sexual assault directive has resulted in a number of false allegations and wrongful convictions. High profile cases involve the University of Hawaii at Manoa, the University of North Dakota, Cornell University, the University of North Carolina, Brown University, Xavier University, Yale University, and the University of Montana.
Learn more at accusingu.org.
SAVE believes that holding false accusers accountable will result in a reduction of false allegations. Today, we're asking you to write to Secretary of Education Arne Duncan. Tell him, "False Accusers Must be Held Accountable!"
Secretary of Education Arne Duncan:
arne.duncan@ed.gov.
Oh behalf of every male student on campus, thank you!
teri
Teri Stoddard, Program Director
Stop Abusive and Violent Environments
www.saveservices.org
No problem we can send these emails to correct these injustices so the more of us they hear from the better so send them today.
Wednesday, September 5, 2012
Help rescind the "dear colleague" letter
Students returning to campuses are facing the curtailment of student civil rights, thanks to a 2011 U.S. Department of Education (DED) sex assault mandate. Stop Abusive and Violent Environments (SAVE) is calling on the federal agency to retract the Directive, and restore due process to campuses across the nation.
Under the policy, rather than the usual "reasonable doubt" standard used in courts of law, colleges are now mandated to use the 50.1% "preponderance of evidence" standard when adjudicating claims of sexual assault.
Release of the Directive has resulted in a number of high-profile debacles across the country:click here
Learn more at click here
SAVE wants to stop the Directive from inviting false allegations, which harm the credibility of true victims and dissipate needed services for victims.
Help us convince the DED to rescind the Directive. Sign the petition: sign the petition or write to Secretary of Education Arne Duncan: arne.duncan@ed.gov.
Thank you!
teri
Teri Stoddard, Program Director
Stop Abusive and Violent Environments
www.saveservices.org
Or we can do both,sign the petition and contact Arne Duncan. Let's see if the Obama administration reaches out to men,a voting bloc they desperately need or are they going to make Team Romney clean up their mess on January 21 or after. Let's see.
Under the policy, rather than the usual "reasonable doubt" standard used in courts of law, colleges are now mandated to use the 50.1% "preponderance of evidence" standard when adjudicating claims of sexual assault.
Release of the Directive has resulted in a number of high-profile debacles across the country:click here
Learn more at click here
SAVE wants to stop the Directive from inviting false allegations, which harm the credibility of true victims and dissipate needed services for victims.
Help us convince the DED to rescind the Directive. Sign the petition: sign the petition or write to Secretary of Education Arne Duncan: arne.duncan@ed.gov.
Thank you!
teri
Teri Stoddard, Program Director
Stop Abusive and Violent Environments
www.saveservices.org
Or we can do both,sign the petition and contact Arne Duncan. Let's see if the Obama administration reaches out to men,a voting bloc they desperately need or are they going to make Team Romney clean up their mess on January 21 or after. Let's see.
Tuesday, August 28, 2012
SAVE's plans
From SAVE services:
Last December the University of Montana at Missoula was ranked as the "safest" university in Montana in terms of low rates of forcible rape and other violent crimes click here. But five months later the U.S. Dept. of Justice and Dept. of Education claimed the U. of Montana's failure to adequately address an alleged rash of sexual assaults was "very disturbing."
In March, quarterback Jordan Johnson was charged with rape, which former prosecutor Kirsten Pabst said was done just "to send a message." click here And just this week, it was revealed that the U. of Montana has implemented mandatory training for students that talk about "rape-prone culture" and label false allegations of rape a "myth."click here
Has the U. of Montana suddenly become a hotbed of sexual assault, or is the college simply terrifying everyone because of the DED's April 11 sexual assault directive?
Next week, SAVE will be launching a month-long campaign designed to expose the ideological agenda behind the Dept. of Education's Sexual Assault Directive. The campaign will consist of op-ed columns, social media, a lobbying event in DC, and radio interviews (with Sherry Warner, mother of Caleb Warner, who was terminated by the University of North Dakota, even though the local police issued a warrant against his false rape accuser for perjury!)
We'd also like to place some Facebook ads. Last June we spent $2,000, which resulted in an incredible 4 million FB impressions. Hoping to reach the same number of people this time, we're asking for your help to raise $2,000 in one week.Can you help us stop false allegations on college campuses?
You can contribute by PayPal: http://www.saveservices.org/contribute. Or send a check payable to:
Stop Abusive and Violent Environments
P.O. Box 1221
Rockville, MD 20849
If you contribute $100 or more, we will send you a False Allegation T-shirt - but we need to receive your contribution by Sept. 4.
Thank you!
Teri Stoddard, Program Director
Stop Abusive and Violent Environments
www.saveservices.org
Last December the University of Montana at Missoula was ranked as the "safest" university in Montana in terms of low rates of forcible rape and other violent crimes click here. But five months later the U.S. Dept. of Justice and Dept. of Education claimed the U. of Montana's failure to adequately address an alleged rash of sexual assaults was "very disturbing."
In March, quarterback Jordan Johnson was charged with rape, which former prosecutor Kirsten Pabst said was done just "to send a message." click here And just this week, it was revealed that the U. of Montana has implemented mandatory training for students that talk about "rape-prone culture" and label false allegations of rape a "myth."click here
Has the U. of Montana suddenly become a hotbed of sexual assault, or is the college simply terrifying everyone because of the DED's April 11 sexual assault directive?
Next week, SAVE will be launching a month-long campaign designed to expose the ideological agenda behind the Dept. of Education's Sexual Assault Directive. The campaign will consist of op-ed columns, social media, a lobbying event in DC, and radio interviews (with Sherry Warner, mother of Caleb Warner, who was terminated by the University of North Dakota, even though the local police issued a warrant against his false rape accuser for perjury!)
We'd also like to place some Facebook ads. Last June we spent $2,000, which resulted in an incredible 4 million FB impressions. Hoping to reach the same number of people this time, we're asking for your help to raise $2,000 in one week.Can you help us stop false allegations on college campuses?
You can contribute by PayPal: http://www.saveservices.org/contribute. Or send a check payable to:
Stop Abusive and Violent Environments
P.O. Box 1221
Rockville, MD 20849
If you contribute $100 or more, we will send you a False Allegation T-shirt - but we need to receive your contribution by Sept. 4.
Thank you!
Teri Stoddard, Program Director
Stop Abusive and Violent Environments
www.saveservices.org
Thursday, June 21, 2012
Rescind the "dear colleague" letter
From SAVE:
On April 4, 2011 without public comment or debate, the Department of Education issued its controversial "Dear Colleague" letter on sex assault. The directive requires federally supported universities to institute numerous changes to their policies and procedures regarding allegations of sexual harassment and sexual violence.
Concerned that the Dept. of Ed. policy fails to protect fundamental constitutional principles, over 50 editorials have criticized the mandate. SAVE and 12 other organizations have issued statements opposing the directive: click here
It's been over a year since Dept. of Ed. secretary Arne Duncan starting getting complaints, yet he's still disturbingly silent.
"Stonewalling these requests, and allowing false accusations of rape to continue, constitutes a parody of justice," notes SAVE spokesman Philip W. Cook in Unblinding Lady Justice: SAVE Calls on Dept. of Education to Respond to Civil Rights Complaints.
Seems Arne thinks he can ignore us. So we need your help. Tell Arne Duncan to rescind the Sexual Assault policy, immediately. Tell him once, tell him twice, tell him three times!
Contact Arne Duncan: arne.duncan@ed.gov
Thank you, all, for the miracles we create together!
Sincerely,
teri
Teri Stoddard, Program Director
Stop Abusive and Violent Environments
www.saveservices.org
Let's ask Arne Duncan why he didn't rescind that letter. Let's tell him it's a good idea to rescind it.
On April 4, 2011 without public comment or debate, the Department of Education issued its controversial "Dear Colleague" letter on sex assault. The directive requires federally supported universities to institute numerous changes to their policies and procedures regarding allegations of sexual harassment and sexual violence.
Concerned that the Dept. of Ed. policy fails to protect fundamental constitutional principles, over 50 editorials have criticized the mandate. SAVE and 12 other organizations have issued statements opposing the directive: click here
It's been over a year since Dept. of Ed. secretary Arne Duncan starting getting complaints, yet he's still disturbingly silent.
"Stonewalling these requests, and allowing false accusations of rape to continue, constitutes a parody of justice," notes SAVE spokesman Philip W. Cook in Unblinding Lady Justice: SAVE Calls on Dept. of Education to Respond to Civil Rights Complaints.
Seems Arne thinks he can ignore us. So we need your help. Tell Arne Duncan to rescind the Sexual Assault policy, immediately. Tell him once, tell him twice, tell him three times!
Contact Arne Duncan: arne.duncan@ed.gov
Thank you, all, for the miracles we create together!
Sincerely,
teri
Teri Stoddard, Program Director
Stop Abusive and Violent Environments
www.saveservices.org
Let's ask Arne Duncan why he didn't rescind that letter. Let's tell him it's a good idea to rescind it.
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