American Academia’s War on Due Process

Article here. Excerpt:

'We are still, for the most part, a nation of laws, except on college campuses.

At the Heritage Foundation recently, Samantha Harris, director of policy research at the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE), said that “students have complained about the lack of due process” at colleges. “In the last five years, thanks to unprecedented intrusion by the federal government…due process has gotten a lot worse,” she said. Too often, accused students are left “without a hearing or [cannot] confront their accuser” in court, Harris averred. By her estimate, “more than 60 students have filed lawsuits” of unfair treatment by colleges by withholding due process.

She said that in her travels, people ask, “Why are colleges handling rape cases?” Her answer? “The short answer is Title IX.” “Over the years,” Harris pointed out, “reports and administrative agencies have expanded the meaning of discrimination to sexual assaults,” rapes and other types of cases. Title IX has “inserted the agency directly into the minutia” of sexual assault cases that have gotten media attention. The Office of Civil Rights (OCR) at the Department of Education discourages cross-examination by college administrators, which is considered an essential part of a fair trial by lawyers. If a college rejects this Title IX directive from the OCR, it is found to be out of compliance and will see their its federal funding revoked.'