States Step in as Biden Moves to Reverse Trump-Era Title IX Reforms

I have my doubts that Donald Trump will emerge victorious in the upcoming election. It's not that I think he can't win; I just believe that the Left will work double overtime to ensure he does not win. But the Democrats have enough concern that Trump has picked up enough steam to regain the White House come November. 

Naturally, the party wants to be certain that even if the figurehead falls, the regime itself will stay largely intact for the foreseeable future. I have read several articles that claim that Democrats are urging Joe Biden to do as much as he can before the election so that even if the worst progressive nightmares come true, the unholy infrastructure will remain in place.

For example, Just the News reports that the Biden administration will likely issue a set of Title IX rules that will undo a Trump-era due-process protection for students who have been accused of sexual misconduct. The article recalls a threat by Obama to withhold federal funding from schools that did not give preferential treatment to accusers in campus proceedings. Such treatment included lowering the standards for evidence, putting investigations and decision-making power into one person's hands, and precluding the use of lawyers. 

This resulted in litigation by a number of male college students against colleges. Six months before the last presidential election, the Department of Education under Betsy DeVos created a binding regulation that gave accused students the right to hire lawyers, conduct cross-examinations, and have live hearings and raised the standard of evidence to that enjoyed by accused faculty members. 

The draft regulation from the Biden administration that will reverse much of that should be ready by the first week of May. 

Just the News notes that Kentucky passed a bipartisan campus due process bill two years ago. Last month, Utah passed HB 414. According to a press release from FIRE, the bill creates:

• The right to the active assistance of an attorney or non-attorney advocate, who may make opening and closing statements during a disciplinary hearing, examine and cross-examine witnesses, introduce relevant evidence, and provide support and advice;
• An express presumption of innocence that remains until either the student admits responsibility or the institution proves every element of an alleged violation;
• Advance notice of the charges; and
• An express prohibition on conflicts of interest for investigators and the comingling of the judge and investigator roles, precluding the use of the problematic “single investigator model

FIRE is a civil liberties watchdog that claims its model campus due process bill provided the basis for HB 414. Tyler Coward, FIRE’s lead counsel for government affairs, commented, “By enacting HB 414, Utah sends the clear message that it takes seriously the rights of the accused and accusers alike. This law gives students, their parents, and the public confidence that the outcomes of campus disciplinary proceedings are fair and reliable.”

Sex abuse is a serious thing, and it occurs more frequently than most people realize. I have covered enough court cases to know that, and I have seen the devastation that these kinds of crimes create. I came from just such a situation, and I had nowhere to turn for help at the time. 

Because of the gravity of sexual assault and abuse, the accusations should be taken very seriously. And because the accusations in and of themselves will irrevocably change the life of the accused, serious and sober examinations of those accusations are paramount. The guilty should be punished, but the wrongfully accused deserve to be exonerated.