College Men Litigate for Due Process

Article here. Jump the log-in requirement by Googling the first paragraph and click on the first search result. Excerpt:

'The string of higher-education lawsuits over alleged violations of due process in sexual-assault cases is no surprise (“More Men Fight College Allegations of Sexual Assault,” U.S. News, March 20). College professors and deans lack the training and experience to investigate and fairly determine guilt and innocence. Charges of such major crimes are properly the domain of police and the courts.

The federal government has placed colleges in an impossible position. Title IX enforcers threaten schools for not aggressively prosecuting cases independent of the criminal-justice system. But bungled cases mean that the guilty walk and the innocent suffer, and that colleges will pay the price in civil lawsuits. The heavy burden—and responsibility—of playing detective, judge and jury in these serious matters is not one colleges could ever competently undertake.

In the important campaign to end sexual assault on campus, due-process rights remain the bulwark of a just and lawful society. It is ironic that the courts may have to teach that lesson to the federal government.'