Hon. José A. Cabranes: Higher education procedures in Title IX cases "have been compared unfavorably to those of the infamous English Star Chamber."...
We haven't heard much about campus "rape culture" ever since the idea of abolishing the police became trendy in higher education, but Biden's pick to lead civil rights at the Department of Education is bringing it back.
Under Trump, Betsy DeVos fought to uphold the concept of due process on campus. Now Catherine Lhamon wants to reverse that.
Journalist Ed Henry is suing FOX News and its CEO, claiming they made him look like a sex criminal after the network fired him in July 2020 for alleged sexual misconduct.
Joe Biden has picked Catherine Lhamon, a holdover from the Obama administration, to head civil rights in his education department.
Advocates of free speech and due process on campus have concerns.
In 2017, Oberlin College was sued by an expelled male student who had been found responsible for sexual assault in a campus disciplinary hearing. The student, identified only as John Doe, alleged a seriously flawed hearing process as well as discrimination on the basis of sex because the process allegedly was biased against men.
We first covered the case, and the motion to dismiss filed by Oberlin, in Lawsuit: Oberlin College sexual assault hearing process rigged, 100% conviction rate:
The more cases of campus sexual assault adjudications we cover, the more we see patterns.
There frequently is an ongoing consensual sexual relationship in which only some of the interactions were claimed to be non-consensual; a delay in reporting the alleged assault; a process in which the accused is left uncertain as to the charges against him; an inability to be represented by counsel or anyone who could give substantive assistance; a university investigation under pressure to "believe" the accuser; the inability to call a key witnesses, the issue of whether there was sufficient affirmative consent (there being no claim that the female said "No"), and of course, the use of alcohol in varying degrees.
Our "foreign" correspondent in California, Leslie Eastman, has made a blog career of documenting the tarnishing of the Golden State by insane legislative and regulatory policies, most of which are rubber-stamped by Governor Jerry Brown.
But this week there were two astounding moments of sanity from the Governor.
Last week, Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-SC) schooled an official from the Department of Homeland Security on our Constitutionally protected right to due process.
"Let me ask you another question about the terrorism list, what process if afforded a U.S. citizen before they go on that list?" Gowdy asked.
After a brief pause, Ms. Burriesci of the Department of Homeland Security, obviously confused said, "I'm sorry, there's not a process afforded the citizen prior to getting on the list. There is a process should someone feel they are unduly placed on the list."