In College? You’re About to Lose Your Due Process Rights

I must say, I feel bad for men on college campuses now. Good luck. According to a new report, Joe Biden’s Department of Education (DOE) is planning to roll back Title IX due process regulations after President Donald Trump’s administration restored them.

The Trump-era rule required schools “to respond meaningfully to every known report of sexual harassment and to investigate every formal complaint,” and “apply basic due process protections for students, including a presumption of innocence throughout the grievance process; written notice of allegations and an equal opportunity to review all evidence collected; and the right to cross-examination, subject to ‘rape shield’ protections.”

What’s wrong with that? Objectively, nothing is wrong with it, save for Orange Man Bad.

“It ultimately returns Title IX back to a guilty until proven innocent standard,” Sarah Perry, a senior legal fellow for the Heritage Foundation explained.

In 2011, Barack Obama not only expanded Title IX’s definition of sexual harassment as “any unwelcome conduct of a sexual nature,” making colleges and universities responsible for sexual harassment and assaults that occur both on and off campus, but also drastically lowered the standard of evidence in order to increase the likelihood of finding the accused guilty. Schools had to comply or risk losing funding under Title IX—all at the expense of due process for the accused.

It was a terrible policy that went against the American ideal of justice. As we know, false accusations of assault happen, but under Obama’s Title IX interpretation, the accused were now guilty until proven innocent, and good luck trying to prove your innocence because the deck is going to be stacked against you.

Fifteen state attorneys general have already expressed concern about the Biden administration’s plan to roll back due process protections under Title IX.

“Hundreds of successful lawsuits against schools for denying basic due process and widespread criticism from across the ideological spectrum arose from the Obama-era rules,” the statement said. “The rules also resulted in a disproportionate number of expulsions and scholarship losses for black male students.”

Let’s see if Joe Biden cares.