Colleges Worried That Men Accused of Sexual Assault Might Receive Due Process
01-17-2014, 01:43 PM
Government Demands Colleges Expel Students Without Due Process
The Community of the Wrongly Accused blog reported today on a story in Virginia where a bill has been introduced to allow college students accused of sexual assault to be allowed the right to a lawyer to help defend themselves. In 2011, the Department of Education handed down a ruling that demands colleges find students guilty of sexual assault based on a “preponderance of the evidence” rather than convictions based on “beyond a reasonable doubt.” Students are currently not allowed to have a lawyer represent them at college hearings.
Follow TLR on Google+
The bill introduced by Delegate Rick Morris would grant students facing disciplinary hearings the right to be represented by an attorney or an advocate that they choose. The COTWA blog believes there’ll be a big fight over it considering what happened when similar legislation was introduced in North Carolina last year.
From COTWA:
Lynn Roeder, Dean of Students at East Carolina, said she that adding attorneys to the disciplinary process would take away an opportunity for students to learn from their mistakes. She said: “‘The whole process is not to be adversarial . . . . We know students make mistakes and what we want to do it make sure we’re able to help them make better decisions so that’s why we never had lawyers.’”
How do you know a student made a “mistake” without a fair hearing, Ms. Roeder? Wait. It gets better:
“A key component of the developmental process of responding to student misconduct is for the student to take responsibility for their own behavior and to learn from the incident,” said Bill Haggard, vice chancellor for student affairs at the University of North Carolina at Asheville. “Part of that learning experience is being able to speak on their own behalf, take responsibility for their own behaviors and engage in a conversation about changing their behavior in the future.”
That will be a whole lot less likely, officials say, if students have a lawyer speaking for them.
“It’s obviously something that most student affairs professionals are not that crazy about,” Haggard said.The problem with these assertions is that they assume the student accused of the offense must be guilty. After all, an innocent student shouldn’t be forced to “take responsibility for his own behaviors” or “change” his behavior “in the future,” should he? Mr. Haggard has it exactly backwards: the university should have a fair hearing first, and only if the evidence supports a finding of guilt should there then be a “conversation about changing . . . behaviors.”
Other “concerns” expressed about having a lawyer present: “Officials worry that changing the rules will drag out the length of proceedings — by who knows how long, if attorneys are able to do things like motion for stays . . . .” And: “It raises lots of potential questions and problems and it makes what is an educational and administrative process now into a quasi-courtroom.”
Read more at TLR: Colleges Worried That Men Accused of Sexual Assault Might Receive Due Process | The Libertarian Republic http://thelibertarianrepublic.com/colleg...z2qgOBTfEU
Follow us: @LibRepublic on Twitter | LibertarianRepublic on Facebook
The Community of the Wrongly Accused blog reported today on a story in Virginia where a bill has been introduced to allow college students accused of sexual assault to be allowed the right to a lawyer to help defend themselves. In 2011, the Department of Education handed down a ruling that demands colleges find students guilty of sexual assault based on a “preponderance of the evidence” rather than convictions based on “beyond a reasonable doubt.” Students are currently not allowed to have a lawyer represent them at college hearings.
Follow TLR on Google+
The bill introduced by Delegate Rick Morris would grant students facing disciplinary hearings the right to be represented by an attorney or an advocate that they choose. The COTWA blog believes there’ll be a big fight over it considering what happened when similar legislation was introduced in North Carolina last year.
From COTWA:
Lynn Roeder, Dean of Students at East Carolina, said she that adding attorneys to the disciplinary process would take away an opportunity for students to learn from their mistakes. She said: “‘The whole process is not to be adversarial . . . . We know students make mistakes and what we want to do it make sure we’re able to help them make better decisions so that’s why we never had lawyers.’”
How do you know a student made a “mistake” without a fair hearing, Ms. Roeder? Wait. It gets better:
“A key component of the developmental process of responding to student misconduct is for the student to take responsibility for their own behavior and to learn from the incident,” said Bill Haggard, vice chancellor for student affairs at the University of North Carolina at Asheville. “Part of that learning experience is being able to speak on their own behalf, take responsibility for their own behaviors and engage in a conversation about changing their behavior in the future.”
That will be a whole lot less likely, officials say, if students have a lawyer speaking for them.
“It’s obviously something that most student affairs professionals are not that crazy about,” Haggard said.The problem with these assertions is that they assume the student accused of the offense must be guilty. After all, an innocent student shouldn’t be forced to “take responsibility for his own behaviors” or “change” his behavior “in the future,” should he? Mr. Haggard has it exactly backwards: the university should have a fair hearing first, and only if the evidence supports a finding of guilt should there then be a “conversation about changing . . . behaviors.”
Other “concerns” expressed about having a lawyer present: “Officials worry that changing the rules will drag out the length of proceedings — by who knows how long, if attorneys are able to do things like motion for stays . . . .” And: “It raises lots of potential questions and problems and it makes what is an educational and administrative process now into a quasi-courtroom.”
Read more at TLR: Colleges Worried That Men Accused of Sexual Assault Might Receive Due Process | The Libertarian Republic http://thelibertarianrepublic.com/colleg...z2qgOBTfEU
Follow us: @LibRepublic on Twitter | LibertarianRepublic on Facebook
"Feminism is a trade union for ugly women"- Peregrine