California makes ‘aggressive’ push to combat campus sexual assaults

Article here. Excerpt:

'Advocates argue that the campus system is a crucial alternative to provide some form of justice for victims who may be afraid to report to law enforcement, don’t want their parents to find out, or want action taken sooner than can occur in a lengthy legal process.

“That doesn’t mean she shouldn’t be entitled to other accommodations with classes or not have to see the accused,” said Sandra Henriquez, executive director of the California Coalition Against Sexual Assault. “She still should have the right to have all of the support and have the campus help her to complete her education.”

A backlash is growing, however, from critics who worry that schools are supplanting the criminal justice system with unfair tribunals that run roughshod over the accused. They point to proceedings run by faculty and administrators, a lower “preponderance of the evidence” standard for finding guilt, and a lack of fundamental legal protections like the right to a lawyer.

Those arguments gained traction in July, when a judge overturned the suspension of a UC San Diego student found guilty of sexual assault by a university panel because he was not allowed to confront and cross-examine his accuser.

“At the end of the day, you have an amateur trying to figure out if a rape has occurred,” said Joe Cohn, legislative and policy director for the Foundation for Individual Rights, a Philadelphia-based nonprofit that advocates for free speech and due process at universities. “The better approach would be to make sure predators are actually removed from society and are in jail.”'