You might have seen this story on Twitchy Wednesday night, but the Daily Wire’s Ashe Schow has picked up on it and written an excellent piece about a male student whose two-year suspension from the University of California Santa Barbara was reversed by the courts, which noted there wasn’t even the semblance of due process in the school’s handling of the case.
This one is absolutely absurd. He was asleep facing away from her, and physically unable to assault her. Two people were IN THE ROOM and said this didn’t happen. School found him responsible anyway:https://t.co/8hLWvKC757
— Ashe Schow (@AsheSchow) October 11, 2018
Schow writes about how the school handled “Jane’s” allegation that “John” sexually assaulted her:
A female student claimed a male student assaulted her while they lay next to each other on a bed one night after drinking. Just a few feet away, the man’s girlfriend and roommate were talking, and neither heard or saw anything corroborating the woman’s claims. The school suspended him anyway.
…
John submitted his evidence and list of witnesses by July 6, while Jane submitted nothing. The day before the hearing, July 11, John was notified that it would be pushed back to Aug. 16 “to ensure all requested information is gathered, made available for review in a timely manner to all parties prior to a hearing, and available for review by the [Committee] during the hearing.”
John contested, saying one of his witnesses – his girlfriend – would be studying abroad at that time and would be unable to attend. He was overruled.
…
John tried to question Jane about the side effects of the antidepressant she was taking the night of the alleged assault. Those side effects – made worse by consuming alcohol – included “hallucinations and sleep paralysis and night terrors,” according to John’s testimony.
John’s mother called the manufacturer to ask about the effects of the medication, but was not allowed to testify about what she learned.
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There’s a lot more to the story, but like we wrote Wednesday night, this is exactly what Education Secretary Betsy DeVos is trying to address with reforms of Obama-era policies, but her efforts are always framed as making it more difficult for victims to find justice.
ABC News reported on DeVos Thursday:
Trump administration finalizing plan expected to limit scope of sexual assault inquiries by colleges and universities and make it easier for students accused of misconduct to push back. https://t.co/s1OgcYxRzv
— ABC News (@ABC) October 11, 2018
ABC News reports that “the revised guidelines are being pushed by a small group of advocates who have told Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos and other high-ranking government officials in private meetings that they believe male students are often falsely accused and face expulsion from colleges and universities with little due process.”
None of that seems to matter; DeVos has been harshly criticized before, and check out these responses to ABC News’ tweet:
He wants our future Kavanaughs to have a fighting chance to assault and still live the American dream!
— Gailen (@gailendavid) October 11, 2018
I would love to know why we’re more worried about 3% of accusations being false rather than the 25% of women who are sexually assaulted. And the fact that college women are 4x more likely to be assaulted than other age groups
— MLE (@emilyryan123) October 11, 2018
Ball is in your court, media. Take a hard, hard swing at it. @MSNBC @maddow @Lawrence
— P.P. Demyan (@PPDofSpNv) October 11, 2018
Evil
— MinorityReport ™ (@obamadailywire) October 11, 2018
So wrong
— Lisa Johnson (@seabreeze303) October 11, 2018
That is Despicable! As I said before, DeVos makes me SICK!
— Daniel Bazalar (@Daroba4Bazalar) October 11, 2018
@BetsyDeVosED Queen of sexual abuse and protector of abusers. Shameful.
— Scot Mar (@bsmar206) October 11, 2018
@BetsyDeVosED Would you just prefer we legalize rape? Then maybe you wouldn’t have to deal with such ‘stand up men’ being accused? You can just skip past all the unpleasantness since no crime = no punishment.
— Amanda ?? (@Amanda_PNW) October 11, 2018
This administration and the policies are sickening. I hope she never had a loved one in a position like this to experience what she is wanting to put thousands of women through… shame on her
— Kreatorofkaos (@Kreatorofkaos1) October 11, 2018
Wow. It is a war on women. Go ahead and @ me.
— Valerie Collanton (@VCE96) October 11, 2018
This woman is a danger to education. She disgusts me with every single policy she tosses out there that diminishes the ability for people to get a quality and safety education that doesn’t hold them to paying tens of thousands of dollars back the rest of their lives.
— TheMadRush (@themadrush) October 11, 2018
I do Title IX at my university. Requiring accused persons to directly cross-examine the “victim” (for lack of a more widely understood term) is a horrible idea. Young people have trouble telling their roommates to stop eating their food. Assuming that someone who has been
— DrDeeKay (@DrDeeKay2) October 11, 2018
…harassed or assaulted is ridiculous. And what if the accused is a 55 year old professor? What 18 year old woman could stand up to that?!
— DrDeeKay (@DrDeeKay2) October 11, 2018
See this is what I'm talking about if you vote Republican you vote against a woman's rights soon it will be legal to sexually assault women and they will not have the right to fight back if the Republicans have their way Republicans are against women's rights
— kennethmascuch (@kenjmas) October 11, 2018
It’s the Handmaid’s Tale all right. At least some people still have some perspective:
False accusations should have consequences. Yes the statistics with 98% accuracy about sexual misconduct is cited around quite a bit. Urine is more than 99% water. It doesn't make it a beverage. Accusations must be thoroughly investigated but mob justice must be discouraged.
— intune (@intuneWP) October 11, 2018
Good! Evidence and corroboration will always be the not-optional American standard. Both sides get the support they need, an appropriate adult response. I don't agree with much of what she says and does, but this is long overdue.
— Ken Pfaff (@ETSubmariner) October 11, 2018
Admins and profs have NO business investigating sexual assault. They don’t investigate homicide and are not trained to do this either. Go to the police. File a report. @benshapiro
— A Former Tailgater (@CheckerBDMafia) October 11, 2018
Related:
Imagine: Court reverses student’s suspension for sexual misconduct, cites total absence of due process https://t.co/lBwJaz4oMj
— Twitchy Team (@TwitchyTeam) October 11, 2018
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