Title IX & civil rights on campus.

Hunt
Mon, 07 May 2012 10:36:35 +0000

By definition, simple “he said, she said” would not result in a “preponderance of evidence”.

Not so. If the tryer of fact finds one of the two more credible than the other–even slightly more credible–that constitutes a preponderance.

Title IX is clear. It doesn’t mention rape or sexual assault once. You are the one who criticized the schools for dishonesty, not I. (I think that for the most part they use pretty good discretion, though clearly they have not investigated nearly enough cases. But that’s true of police and prosecutors as well.)

So, mini, you are suggesting that the Justice Department misunderstood Title IX in the following letter:
http://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/dear_colleague_sexual_violence.pdf

As I’ve said before, I simply don’t agree that a disciplinary hearing for a serious offense like rape or sexual assualt, with penalties like expulsion, should be treated as a civil dispute with a preponderance of the evidence standard. I think that this has been done because these cases are hard to prove. They’re hard to prove for multiple reasons, some of which have to do with sexist attitudes, and some of which have to do with simple evidentiary problems. Mixing those up creates bad law, in my opinion.