The Campus Accountability and Safety Act (CASA) was introduced last week by Sen. Claire McCaskill. See SAVE's Summary and Analysis.

CASA calls on colleges to "advise the victim of both the victim's rights and the institution's responsibilities regarding orders of protection, no contact orders, restraining orders, or similar lawful orders issued by the institution or a criminal, civil, or tribal court."

Ashe Schow of the Washington Examiner asked the bill's sponsors:

Press release here. Excerpt:

'WASHINGTON / August 5, 2014 – Today Stop Abusive and Violent Environments (SAVE) is announcing its opposition to the Campus Accountability and Safety Act. The CASA bill was introduced last week by Sen. Claire McCaskill of Missouri.

By limiting the involvement of the criminal justice system, the bill would make it harder for thorough investigations to be completed, fair trials to be conducted, and appropriate sanctions to be imposed. The bill impairs the deployment of criminal justice resources in three ways:

1. The Act would not require campus rapes to be reported to law enforcement, thus thwarting the ability of trained investigators to collect evidence.

2. Campus security programs do not possess the legal authority to search FBI DNA and fingerprint databases. A match can prevent a future rape, and allow a previous crime to be solved, as well.

Article here. Excerpt:

'This is in response to Rabbi Tirzah Firestone and Rabbi Marc Soloway, who wrote a lettter to the editor to support Brit Milah and circumcision on behalf of Haver, Boulder's Rabbinic Fellowship.

Yes, rabbis are the gatekeepers and, as such, feel obliged to defend and promote ritual circumcision. However, many committed and affiliated Jews, who now understand the profound and serious pain inflicted on the newborn, the short and long term effects of foreskin removal, are no longer willing to justify this medical, sexual and ethical assault on our baby boys and are choosing to welcome their male babies with a brit shalom, a covenantal ceremony without cutting.

The real reason for circumcision can be found in Maimonides, the great 12th century Jewish physician, Talmudic scholar, and philosopher who stated:

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: www.saveservices.org/camp/campus-justice-coalition.

Press release here. Excerpt:

'WASHINGTON / July 30, 2014 – Representatives of sexual assault victims, the accused, and universities have come together to establish the Campus Justice Coalition. The Coalition will seek to achieve legislative change to assure the proper handling of sexual assault cases on college campuses.

Campus sex committees have been criticized for being poorly trained, under-resourced, and lacking the legal authority to impose meaningful sanctions. Rape is a crime, but the campus boards possess legal authority to only expel, not imprison the perpetrator.

The current system was established by a 2011 Department of Education regulation which shifted the resolution process to campus disciplinary panels, and eliminated a number of due process safeguards. Under current policies, neither the identified victim or the accused person are allowed to be represented by an attorney.

Article here. Excerpt:

'The White House stated in a January 2014 report, Rape and Sexual Assault: A Renewed Call to Action, that one in five women has been sexually assaulted while in college, an assertion repeated by Gillibrand during the press conference.

But this figure does not match data from the Department of Justice’s Bureau of Justice Statistics , released in October 2013, which show rape/sexual assault rates of 1.3 per 1,000 people in 2012, both reported and unreported rapes. It assumes a crisis where none exists, and interferes in university affairs for no cause.

University of Michigan professor Mark Perry has effectively debunked the CDC number using actual number of reported sexual assaults on college campuses combined with the White House’s underreporting percentage. He concludes that 3% to 5% of women will be sexually assaulted at college —too high, but not 20%.
...
Then, some questions are ambiguous. For example, the survey asks, “When you were drunk, high, drugged, or passed out and unable to consent, how many people have had vaginal sex with you?” To a typical respondent, it is not clear whether the condition of “unable to consent” applies to “drunk, high, drugged,” or if “unable to consent” is a separate condition. Respondents who had consensual sex while drunk but were able to consent (not exactly an uncommon act on campuses these days) may answer affirmatively, leading the surveyor to wrongfully count this as an instance of rape.

Nevertheless, the survey is a catalyst for potentially harmful bipartisan legislation.

Article here. Excerpt:

'A University of Cincinnati student is suing the school after he was kicked out of school after he says he was wrongfully accused of raping two female students.

Ethan Peloe said he was wrongfully accused of raping two girls, and despite never being indicted by a grand jury, he was still kicked out of school.

According to the lawsuit, the student said the university never game him a chance to defend himself during several university held hearings.

On the other hand, several accommodations were given to the women who made the accusations, including class makeups, but no help was offered to Peloe, the suit says.

Peloe said in his suit that evidence, including text messages, was not used during the hearing, and despite requesting UC officers come to the hearings, they did not come.'

Article here. Excerpt:

“Not Alone,” the White House entitled its task force report on campus sexual assaults. “Believe the Victim,” the report might as well have been called. It reflects a presumption of guilt in sexual assault cases that practically obliterates the due process rights of the accused. Students leveling accusations of assault are automatically described as “survivors” or “victims” (not alleged victims or complaining witnesses), implying that their accusations are true.

When you categorically presume the good faith, infallible memories and entirely objective perspectives of self-identified victims, you dispense with the need for cumbersome judicial or quasi-judicial proceedings and an adversary model of justice. Thus the task force effectively prohibits cross-examination of complaining witnesses: “The parties should not be allowed to cross-examine each other,” the report advises, denying the fundamental right to confront your accuser.'

Article here. Excerpt:

'However, the bills still contain plenty that would trouble civil libertarians. KC Johnson of Minding the Campus raises some questions about the CASA's presumption that accusers are truthful:

Article here. Excerpt:

'1. What protections will be in place to make sure the annually reported statistics won’t lead to more convictions based on political correctness?
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2. How will the student surveys solve the problem, instead of being used for political purposes?
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3. Who will have more authority, the colleges or local law enforcement?
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4. Will there be “support services” for the accused?

The bill will establish “university support for survivors of sexual violence.” Nowhere does it mention any kind of support services for those accused.

The “confidential advisers” designated to assist accusers will “perform a victim-centered, trauma-informed (forensic) interview” with the accuser. They will also inform the accuser of what they can do next, whether that be notifying campus officials or local police. The advisers may also assist accusers in reporting the incident.

Nowhere does the bill mention any services for the accused (note: accused means innocent until proven guilty). Will there be someone on campus providing them with information on what they can do to provide for their own defense? Will they be informed of their rights, and will those rights be under the law (due process) or under campus rules? Will they have the right to legal counsel in disciplinary proceedings?
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5. Who will pay for campus personnel training?
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6. Will the government detail a “uniform campus-wide process” for dealing with claims of sexual assault?
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Will this bill do anything for the accused by way of allowing them to defend themselves? Will the accused be able to obtain counsel or cross-examine the accuser? Why doesn’t this bill ensure all campuses allow the same defense procedures for the accused?

Article here. Excerpt:

'The federal government is suing Pennsylvania over a physical fitness test it argues unfairly and unnecessarily disadvantages women who apply to be state troopers.

Applicants to the Pennsylvania State Police Academy must pass a Physical Readiness Test that requires, among other things, jumping 14 inches in the air; running 1.5 miles in 17 minutes and 48 seconds; and performing 13 pushups. The Police Department maintains that each aspect of the test measures a skill necessary for the job: It says (PDF) pushups, for example, reflect on an applicant’s aptitude for “tasks including use of force, lifting, carrying, and pushing.”

Article here. Excerpt:

'Where would we be without the gender pay gap? With girls outperforming boys at school, outnumbering male students at university, and women experiencing no more practical hindrances than men to achieving anything they want in life, feminists have been forced to shift their attention to the more nebulous cultural sphere in order to prove that women remain victims of a patriarchal conspiracy. Often played out in the messy virtual world, feminism has been reduced to a question of lifestyle choice and personal identity, with the supporters of the Twitter hashtag #YesAllWomen hysterically pitched against those in the #WomenAgainstFeminism camp. So, apparent evidence that women really are disadvantaged in a way that can be counted and measured, through the pay gap, is greeted with an almost audible sigh of relief.
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But the above suggests that, for all the shrinkage of the pay gap, it is still the case that women are hard done by in comparison with men. Certainly, these headline-grabbing statistics about a smaller but still existing pay gap are used by politicians and campaigners in their handwringing over the plight of women and girls today. However, what is less well known is that such statistics are arrived at by conflating the earnings of women of all ages, all occupations, and those in part-time and full-time work. The reality is that for people aged under 40 and working full-time, the gender pay gap is around zero; since 2009 women aged 22 to 29 have actually earned more than men. Furthermore, evidence shows that as the pay gap falls first for younger people, this smaller differential sticks with each generational cohort as they age. So, if current trends continue, the pay gap should be a thing of the past in the space of some 20 years.

Article here. Excerpt:

'Sen. Barbara Boxer and Rep. Susan Davis, both California Democrats, on Wednesday proposed new legislation to address campus sexual assault, just hours after a broader bipartisan package on the same topic was unveiled.
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"Wherever a conflict exists between the university’s interest and the victim’s interest," a one-pager on the bill explains, "the advocate must side with the victim."

The advocate would be available to guide victims of sexual assault through reporting the assault; counseling; administrative procedures; medical, health and academic accommodations; and legal processes of the institution or local law enforcement. The advocate would be required to attend any university adjudications on the assault on behalf of the victim, if the victim requests. The advocate also would be required to "maintain the privacy and confidentiality of the victim.'

Article here. Excerpt:

'The U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, a bipartisan, independent agency responsible for investigating civil rights issues, held a briefing on Friday to discuss the effects of recent federal guidance on Title IX sexual harassment law in schools, and whether that guidance might come in conflict with the First Amendment.

The hearing centered around the 2013 “Montana agreement,” a resolution reached between federal agencies and the University of Montana at Missoula after the university and local law enforcement were found to have failed to adequately address allegations of sexual assault and harassment. Failure to protect students from sexual violence and harassment is a violation of Title IX, a statute that protects students from gender-based discrimination, and violating Title IX puts schools in jeopardy of losing federal funding.

Story here. Excerpt:

'A woman in Alberta lied about domestic violence to bilk an Ontario woman out of $70,000, police said.

Mounties were alerted to a woman who went to TD and Scotiabank in the Spruce Grove and Stony Plain area, just west of Edmonton, with a forged identification of a woman in Ontario.

Cpl. Colette Zazulak says the suspect was very manipulative at the bank, telling employees she was fleeing an abusive relationship and all she had was her social insurance number.

The suspect somehow got hold of the victim's social insurance number and used it to get a photo ID.

Once the fraudster got into the victim's bank accounts, she used her line of credit and made fraudulent purchases.'