Campus Is a Poor Court for Students Facing Sexual-Misconduct Charges

Article here. Excerpt:

'As student-conduct administrators nationwide know all too well, the Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights required in a letter issued last April that institutions adopt our judiciary's lowest standard of proof—the "preponderance of evidence" standard—for use in campus sexual-misconduct hearings, which handle allegations ranging from sexual harassment to sexual assault and rape.

Under the new standard, if it is determined that an accuser's claims are a fraction of a percent more likely to be true than false, the accused may be subjected to discipline, including expulsion.

Unfortunately for students' rights, a long line of institutions have adopted this low standard under federal pressure. In fact, a review of policies at 198 of the colleges ranked this year by U.S. News & World Report reveals that 30 institutions—including Yale University, Stanford University, and the University of Virginia—have changed their standards of proof following OCR's mandate.

That's too bad, because colleges should be free to grant their students more robust due-process rights—and the federal government should not stand in their way.'