due process
Virginia’s been getting some pretty positive press from FIRE lately: the Commonwealth has three of the nation’s 16 “green light” schools, and its legislature is considering bills that would safeguard student rights by eliminating “free speech zones” and allowing students to hire legal counsel for serious non-academic misconduct hearings on campus. And last year, Virginia... Read more Read more
Last Wednesday, President Obama announced the creation of the White House Task Force to Protect Students from Sexual Assault. The announcement, part of a renewed focus on rape and sexual assault from the Obama administration, was included in a new report (PDF) from the White House Council on Women and Girls and the Office of the Vice President. As... Read more Read more
As 2013 comes to a close, the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE) looks back on a year that was headlined by dire threats to free speech and student rights on campus. Read more
In Reason magazine’s January 2014 issue, Cathy Young highlights the troubling reduction in due process protections afforded to students accused of sexual assault or harassment on college campuses. In particular, Young notes the problematic implications of using the “preponderance of the evidence” standard in such cases, as was mandated by the U.S. Department of Education Office of Civil Rights in its April... Read more Read more
For her most recent column, Tampa Bay Times columnist Robyn E. Blumner spoke with FIRE’s Robert Shibley about campus sexual misconduct hearings. Blumner discussed why universities are “stuck in the middle” between allegations that they are not doing enough to punish students accused of sexual misconduct and reminders from FIRE and other civil liberties organizations that they must... Read more Read more
Over the weekend, Wall Street Journal editorial board member James Taranto penned a piece about one Auburn University student’s treatment by the campus judiciary following another student’s allegation that he committed sexual assault. Joshua Strange faced two separate systems. In the criminal court system, a grand jury failed even to find probable cause to prosecute him, despite the fact... Read more Read more
Students and FIRE supporters in the Philadelphia area are invited to hear Samantha Harris, FIRE’s Director of Policy Research, speak at Swarthmore College this coming Tuesday, December 10. Swarthmore has a “red light” rating in FIRE’s Spotlight Database, and was recently discussed on The Torch after the Swarthmore Independent reported that Swarthmore solicits volunteers to serve on panels for hearings involving allegations of sexual... Read more Read more
WASHINGTON, November 21, 2013—The federal government is backing away from the nationwide “blueprint” for campus speech restrictions issued this May by the Departments of Education and Justice. The agencies’ settlement with the University of Montana sought to impose new, unconstitutional speech restrictions, due process abuses, and an overbroad definition of sexual harassment and proclaimed the agreement to... Read more Read more
The Missoulian reported earlier this month that the University of Montana (UM) will not report to the federal government a list of names of faculty members who do not complete training on sexual misconduct. The announcement breaks with the requirements set forth by the university’s May 9 agreement with the Departments of Justice and Education (also known as the “blueprint”).... Read more Read more
Addressing concerns that State University of New York (SUNY) institutions were not responding adequately to sexual misconduct allegations, SUNY and the Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR) entered into an agreement on September 30 setting forth changes SUNY will make to its policies and procedures. In contrast to the University of Montana’s agreement with OCR and the... Read more Read more