Bipartisan drive to restore due process on college and univerity campuses

Drive to Restore Due Process on Campus Gains Traction

SAVE

March 7, 2016

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs

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

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

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

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

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

A. Minimizing the Role of the Criminal Justice System:

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

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

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

B. Lack of Due Process:

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

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

C. Unlawful Policy-Making Procedures:

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

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

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

D. Heavy-Handed Enforcement Practices:

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

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Citations at source.

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

Fuck Ted Cruz

I have received word that Senators Ted Cruz,Mike Lee and Marco Rubio have voted against legislation that would required women to sign up for Selective Service. They have no problem sending your sons,nephews and other male relatives to die but god forbid one of their little cunt angels gets her hands dirty. Women want more of a free ride from men,at men's expenses, and these buttheads are more than happy to hand it to them. Fuck these assholes. As it stands we are not endorsing anyone.

Thank you Marco Rubio

How Marco Would Combat Sexual Assault and Protect Due Process Rights on Campus

As a Senator, Marco has heard stories of sexual assault on campus, and of schools badly mishandling allegations and investigations. He’s heard from victims — both of assaults, and accusations gone wrong. He’s also heard from campus administrators who feel stuck between conflicting statutes, shifting regulations, and damaging cultural forces. And he has four children — boys and girls — who are on their way to college some day.

So in 2014, Marco joined a bipartisan group of senators to co-sponsor the Campus Accountability and Safety Act, which aims to improve the handling of sexual assault on campus while protecting the rights of the accused. Republicans supporting the bill include Senators Joni Ernst and Chuck Grassley.

We don’t need to buy into the Left’s overheated rhetoric and misleading statistics about campus sexual assault to believe something should be done. Of course, the government’s role is also limited: Many of the problems of campus life are connected with broader cultural issues, weakened values, and the plague of substance abuse.

Incidences of sexual violence are among the most serious and destructive crimes imaginable; they should be taken seriously whether they occur on campus or anywhere else in America.

A few important principles should govern the handling of such a crime: Perpetrators of sexual violence should face the same system of punishment no matter who they are; those accused of sexual assault should have their due process rights respected; victims should get the support they need to heal; and wherever possible, the cases should be handled by the criminal justice system.

Those are the main issues the bill tackles: It requires that every university enter into a Memorandum of Understanding with local police departments, so that law enforcement and campus personnel are best trained, prepared, and equipped to handle allegations of sexual violence on campus. The bill also requires that every school have a confidential advisor that a victim can speak to understand his or her options following sexual violence, including how to pursue a criminal complaint. These two measures together would help make it more likely crimes of sexual violence will be reported and prosecuted.

Second, the bill protect due process rights without more federal micromanagement: It simply requires that schools notify an accused student within 24 hours of the decision to move forward with a disciplinary proceeding, offering the details of the complaint, the process followed, and the due process rights of each party.

Third, it includes an important prohibition against schools operating, in the case of sexual violence, any special campus disciplinary procedures for athletes, honor students, or any other favored subgroup. Whatever policies universities have in this area must be uniform for everyone on campus.

Marco has fought successfully to exclude the key items on the left’s wish-list. The bill does not adopt “affirmative consent” (known as “Yes-means-yes”) as a national standard for campus sexual assault. Nor does it legislate a “preponderance of the evidence” standard for campus disciplinary proceedings.

Those ideas are an assault on notions of fair play and due process, and Marco would not stand for them. Opponents claiming that this bill includes or promotes them do are relying on guilt by association or simply no evidence at all.

Sexual assault can destroy lives, but so can false allegations of sexual assault. One need only review recent news reports to know that false allegations do, in fact, happen. Certainly, we should make additional efforts to protect due process on campus. Most importantly, as President, Marco would swiftly move to stop the Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights’s assault against due process rights.

The Campus Safety and Accountability Act is not a perfect bill. It is a compromise, but it is a step in the right direction on a pressing problem. Sexual assault should not be a partisan issue, and the modest steps forward under consideration will improve the situation for the millions of students and their families who’ve put their trust in universities and law enforcement.

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I'm glad Senator Marco Rubio has seen the light when it comes to the importance of protecting due process for young college and university men. Perhaps if we wrote him and thanked him for clarifying his position on this serious matter that would go a long way to promoting the Men's Rights Movement. So let's do so without delay.

A tale of two Senators

Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) broke with his party on Monday, when he said that police departments, not campus tribunals, should be the ones who deal with sexual assault allegations.

From The Hill:

"Rape and assault is rape or assault whether it takes place on a campus or a dark street," he said Monday at the Black and Brown Presidential Forum in Iowa.

"If a student rapes another student it has got to be understood as a very serious crime, it has to get outside of the school and have a police investigation and that has to take place."

He added that too many schools are treating it as a "student issue" instead of referring accusations to law enforcement, and added that victims shouldn't have to be in classes with their rapists.

Sanders is exactly right on this issue. Rape is a serious crime, not a petty student offense, and rape should be treated as a serious crime by people who are trained to investigate these types of crimes.

I guess it's true that broken clocks can be right twice a day.

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Petty crime? A lot of wrongfully accused men have even committed suicide because they were accused of this "petty crime". This is nothing to be cavalier about. Anyway thank you to Senator Bernie Sanders for sticking up for men and for referring "he said/she said"'s to courts of law where they belong. If fact let's contact Bernie by clicking on the link above,click on "education" and thank him for sticking up for due process.That is a big step up. Note to Republicans out there: Bernie Sanders is making a lot of sense and we're not married to the Republican Party so if you want help from MRA's to stave off Hillary it's either match Sanders offer or beat it.

And now going the other way:

We urge our readers not to vote for Senator Marco Rubio (R. Fla.). Rubio has sold out to the sexual grievance industry. He is an original co-sponsor of the Campus Accountability and Safety Act--bill S. 590, a proposed law that throws our sons under the proverbial bus in the interest of pandering to extremist women's groups. The proposed CASA refers to accusers as "victims" 59 times and as "accusers" only twice. (In an earlier version of the bill, accused students were actually called "assailants.") This is a chilling barometer of how gender extremists have seized not just the public discourse on this issue but the reigns of government. It is very disappointing that Rubio, who otherwise largely seems to eschew political correctness and group identity politics, buys into the injustices the gender extremists promote.

The bill famously affords substantial resources only to accusing students, none to students who are accused. It would require schools to provide confidential advisers to accusers without providing confidential advisers to accused students, an unmistakable signal that the federal government's goal is not to insure fair hearings but to help accusers prevail--to expel more of our sons. The penalty for schools that don't provide such advisors? According to the bill, it's based on the school's operating budget. A school like Harvard could be fined up to $42 million per year.

Perhaps the greatest of the bill's many affronts to fairness is the requirement that the persons who will decide whether our sons are expelled are to question accusers in a manner that will assure a finding of guilt. The bill calls it "victim-centered, trauma-informed interview techniques," and it requires that the school be "focused on the experience of the victim." In other words, the people who will decide whether to expel your son must be sympathetic to his accuser. The accuser's "experience" will always be that she was raped--but as even Brett Sokolow, the nation's preeminent campus victim's advocate, has conceded: "We see complainants who genuinely believe they have been assaulted, despite overwhelming proof that it did not happen," and "in a lot of these cases, the campus is holding the male accountable in spite of the evidence – or the lack thereof – because they think they are supposed to . . .." Mr. Sokolow suggesetd that mental health issues play an important role in these wrongful accusations. (As another example of the injustice that will result by focusing on the experience of the accuser--almost half of all college women think that when a woman gives a guy a "nod in agreement," that isn't enough for consent.) According to the proposed bill, the interview cannot suggest that the school is "judging" the reporting student's account of the alleged assault, even though judging is exactly what has to happen to decide whether to initiate charges and to decide guilt or innocence. The bill leaves it up to "the victim" whether she wants the interview of her accusation recorded--an interview that could destroy the life an innocent young man.

Strangely, Sen. Bernie Sanders is also a co-sponsor of this terrible bill, but statements he made earlier this week indicate he wants sexual assault claims to be decided by the police, not colleges. We fear that Sanders will "clarify" the statements he made earlier this week to say he won't dismantle the campus sexual grievance industry, but if he stands by those statements, he will be on the record as supporting fairness.

Senator Rubio's support for CASA is inexcusable. Until he backs away from it, he is no friend of the presumptively innocent.

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Fucking jerkoff Rubio. He doesn't care about due process for men. Let's tell Marco Rubio that we are no fans of his.