Harvard Law School and Evidence

For John, BLUF:  Laws should be fair to all.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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From The Boston Globe we have an article on another Middlesex County college knuckling under to the US Department of Education, over Title IX issues, in this case sexual assault.  The first embarrassment is that the school ever got in this situation to begin with.  The second is that this college, and its Law School, is willing to throw out constitutional protections to conform with the Department of Education view of equality.  One wonders what the former Harvard Law Review editor would have to say over a cool one.

The headline is "Harvard settles sex assault case".

The University changed its policies after the Federal Department of Education determined the University was not responsive to student complaints.

The US Department of Education announced Tuesday that Harvard Law School had failed to respond properly to two students’ complaints of sexual assault, and violated federal rules governing how sexual harassment and assault complaints are handled.

In response, Harvard agreed to change its policies to bring them in compliance with federal Title IX regulations, which require gender equity at educational institutions that receive federal funding.

The official Harvard response to the Department of Education finding was, in part:

“As the conversation about sexual assault at colleges and universities spread to campuses across the nation, Harvard recognized that, like many peer institutions around the country, we could and should do more,’’ a Harvard statement said.

In July, Harvard announced sweeping changes of its policies for handling reports of sexual assaults and harassment. The university created a centralized office to investigate allegations and adopted rules that would apply across each of its 13 schools to make the system more consistent.

In determining whether sexual assault or harassment occurred, Harvard has adopted a “preponderance of evidence” standard.

There will be law suits to follow, as those accused find that their rights are being ignored.

In the mean time, down at UVA, two fraternities (Alpha Tau Omega and Kappa Alpha) have refused to sign the new Fraternity Operating Agreement, claiming the University violated the old one and now increases risk to fraternities.  Oh, and the University President, Ms Teresa Sullivan, has refused to apologize for previously overreacting to a fake new story out of Rolling Stone over an alleged gang rape at the University.

Regards  —  Cliff