New campus sex assault bill: At least it doesn’t call the accused ‘assailants’

Article here. Excerpt:

'There’s not much to get excited about in the new version of the Campus Accountability and Safety Act, introduced last year in the Senate, according to the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education.

The group praises small improvements in the new version, like removing the word “assailants” to refer to students accused of sexual assault, and notes that at least it doesn’t codify the “more likely than not” legal standard for guilt or “affirmative consent” regime.

But it’s thin on due-process protections, doing nothing to protect students whose schools have “inadequate” or “biased” institutional policies for adjudicating assault claims.

It gives “substantial resources” only to students who make accusations, including a “confidential advisor,” which “potentially” violates regulations implementing the reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act and even Department of Education guidance, FIRE says.

The revised version would require employees handling assault complaints to get training on the “neurobiology of trauma,” which FIRE says “potentially undermines the impartiality of the process.”

The new bill removes the Office for Civil Rights’ financial incentive to fine schools for violations, but would still let the agency drain a school’s operating budget if it finds 100 violations, under the 1 percent fine provision.

Absurdly, it says schools can only cooperate with law enforcement on “alleged criminal offenses” if that aligns with the “victim’s wishes”'