5 Ways Biden's New Title IX Rules Will Eviscerate Due Process on Campus
Reason| ROBBY SOAVE
Robby Soave argues, “The new rules would drop live hearings, bring back the single-investigator model, and limit accused students' options.” The implications include serious threats to free speech, elimination of due process (including cross-examination, access to evidence, and opportunities for self-defense), and “suspected” misconduct treated as misconduct.
Soave delves into 5 areas of serious concern with the new rules:
“The definition of sexual harassment is substantially broadened: Under the new rules…unwelcome conduct harassment… is ‘conduct that is sufficiently severe or pervasive, that…denies or limits a person's ability to participate’ in their education. This would open the door to Title IX investigations of speech that is sexual in nature and subjectively offensive to another person, without it needing to be severe and pervasive. The free speech implications are significant…”
“Schools no longer need to provide hearings for accused students to cross-examine their accusers,” eliminating any semblance of due process, the underpinning of our justice system.
“The single-investigator model is back…the most alarming aspect of the new rules,” according to one expert, wherein one individual serves as the judge and jury, increasing wrongful findings biased against the accused.
“Accused students aren't guaranteed access to the evidence against them….This is a significant revision that could substantially derail a student's efforts to prove their side of the story…The new rules would once again create situations where accused students would have to rely on the accuracy of statements made by the very investigators charged with determining their guilt.”
“University personnel would be required to report suspected sexual misconduct, even if the purported victim opposes this…University personnel would… have to report rumored sexual misconduct to the Title IX office, whether or not this comports with the purported victim's view of the situation.”
Related:
Sex Police (Common Sense, 6/27/22)
Expect the Title IX Inquisition (Tablet, 6/28/22)
FIRE Petition: Title IX Regs Put Student Rights at Risk (FIRE, 6/23/22)
