• Syracuse University: Students threatened with expulsion for satirical fraternity ‘roast’; fires professor who defended free speech

  May 7, 2018
  Category: Cases, Due Process, Free Speech

  A Syracuse University engineering fraternity has been dismantled and its members face possible expulsion after videos of a satirical “roast” leaked from a private Facebook page last month. An adjunct professor who questioned the university’s response to the incident was also dismissed.

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• U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights: Federal Lawsuit Challenges April 4, 2011, “Dear Colleague” Letter

  June 16, 2016
  Category: Due Process

  On June 16, 2016, a former University of Virginia School of Law student filed a federal lawsuit challenging the Department of Education’s (ED’s) unlawful mandate that colleges abandon due process protections and try sexual misconduct cases using the lowest standard of evidence.

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• Rowan College at Gloucester County: Professor Fired After Student Complaints Over Classroom Language and Course Content

  August 12, 2015
  Category: Due Process, Free Speech

  Sociology professor Dawn Tawwater assumed a new position as a tenure-track professor at Rowan College at Gloucester County in September 2014, teaching five course sections. Within weeks of beginning her teaching, however, Tawwater was the subject of four student complaints regarding, among other matters, her occasional use of profanity in the classroom and her screening of a racy feminist parody of the music video for the Robin Thicke song “Blurred Lines.” At an October 6 hearing Rowan attempted to force Tawwater to sign a “Last Chance Agreement” requiring that she “refrain from using indecent language in the classroom” and apologize […]

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• University of Tulsa: Student Suspended for Husband’s Facebook Posts

  February 12, 2015
  Category: Due Process, Free Speech

  The University of Tulsa suspended Trey Barnett and banned him from from the TU campus until 2016 because of Facebook posts written by his husband.

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• Marquette University: Faculty Member Facing Loss of Tenure for Opinions on Blog

  February 5, 2015
  Category: Due Process, Free Speech

  A professor’s job is at risk after he wrote a blog criticizing another instructor.

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• California: Affirmative Consent Bill Threatens Student Due Process

  October 13, 2014
  Category: Due Process

  On September 28, 2014, California Governor Jerry Brown signed into law SB 967, a bill that requires California’s university and college students to obtain verifiable “affirmative consent” for sexual activity. Under this bill, students must receive not just explicit consent to sexual activity but ongoing consent—although it is impossible to tell how often students must pause to receive explicit consent in order for their sexual activity to qualify as consensual. The bill also codifies use of the “preponderance of the evidence” standard of proof, meaning that a student accused of sexual assault will be found guilty if fact-finders determine it is only slightly more […]

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• Occidental College: Student Found Guilty of Sexual Assault After Incapacitation Standard Is Misapplied

  June 4, 2014
  Category: Due Process

  Occidental College found a student “responsible” for sexual assault despite the fact that police refused to charge him and text message evidence indicates that both parties consented to having sex.

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• National: White House Task Force on Campus Sexual Assault Jeopardizes Student Due Process

  April 30, 2014
  Category: Due Process

  The White House fails to answer FIRE’s grave and continuing concerns about campus civil liberties.

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• Asnuntuck Community College: Student Recording Conversation with Governor Suspended, Deprived of Fair Hearing

  April 1, 2014
  Category: Due Process

  When at a hearing for charges of harassment and making threats, Asnuntuck refused to allow Nicholas Saucier to present a recording of the event as evidence.

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• Virginia: Right to Counsel Bill

  January 29, 2014
  Category: Due Process

  Following in North Carolina’s footsteps, Virginia Delegate Rick Morris has introduced a bill that would grant students facing serious non-academic disciplinary charges the right to be represented by an attorney or other advocate of the student’s choosing.

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