Harvard Law Professors Slam Government Stance on Sexual Assault

Article here. Excerpt:

'One of America’s most prestigious law schools got a legal slap on the wrist on Tuesday, and many of its professors are unhappy. The U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights announced that Harvard Law School had failed to respond adequately to student claims of sexual harassment and assault and was therefore in violation of Title IX. The decision will see that the Ivy League law school revise its sexual harassment policies again, in addition to the university-wide changes announced earlier this year. The OCR cited two specific incidents where the prominent school failed to respond swiftly and appropriately to student complaints.

The problem, in the eyes of many Harvard Law professors, is that the decision and the changes it kicks off (a) are flawed and (b) fly in the face of the basic principles of law. In the current atmosphere, where rape and sexual assault on college campuses are believed to be epidemic, seeing colleges like Harvard Law forced into self-improvement could be understood as a welcome change. However, professors at the school, which has produced 20 Supreme Court justices, say the announcement could actually hurt the civil rights of students. They also see it as part of the federal government’s ongoing bullying of the nation’s institutes of higher education. And this isn’t a case of mansplaining to protect entitled male students—the Harvard Law professors who object to the judgment include several female academics."
...
Bartholet and her colleagues acknowledge that sexual assault is a horrific crime and that those who commit such crimes should be punished accordingly, but the university’s sexual harassment policy, they argue, solves problems by creating different ones. As they wrote in their statement to The Boston Globe, “This particular sexual harassment policy adopted by Harvard will do more harm than good.” The danger, they believe, is that it makes it near impossible for someone accused of sexual harassment to be given a fair hearing.
...
“I have served on the Harvard Law School faculty since 1977, and during that time have observed no unfair treatment of students claiming violation of their Title IX rights. I have, however, observed wrongful treatment of a student accused of such violation.” (Elizabeth Bartholet*)

---
From her faculty page:

'Elizabeth Bartholet is the Morris Wasserstein Public Interest Professor of Law and Faculty Director of the Child Advocacy Program (CAP), which she founded in the fall of 2004. She teaches civil rights and family law, specializing in child welfare, adoption, and reproductive technology. Before joining the Harvard Faculty, she was engaged in civil rights and public interest work, first with the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, and later as founder and director of the Legal Action Center, a non-profit organization in New York City focused on criminal justice and substance abuse issues. Bartholet graduated from Radcliffe College in 1962, and from Harvard Law School in 1965."