Month: March 2016

PR: Affirmative Consent for Sex Gets ‘Thumbs-Down’ from Lawmakers, Legal Defense Group, and Harvard Professors

Post author By saveadmin
Post date March 28, 2016

Contact: Gina Lauterio

Affirmative Consent for Sex Gets ‘Thumbs-Down’ from Lawmakers, Legal Defense Group, and Harvard Professors

WASHINGTON / March 28, 2016 – Polices designed to require explicit and ongoing agreement, often referred to as “affirmative consent,” experienced three setbacks during the past week. These developments signal broader concerns about the effectiveness, workability, and constitutionality of these policies, sometimes referred to as “yes means yes.”

Last Monday, members of the Maryland House Judiciary Committee declined to take a vote on HB 1142, a bill that would have required students at all Maryland colleges to give their “ongoing,” “clear, unambiguous, knowing, informed, and voluntary” agreement before engaging in sexual activities. Monday was the deadline for Maryland Delegates to approve a bill in order for it to advance to the Senate. Since no vote was taken, the affirmative consent bill is now considered “dead.” (1)

On March 22, the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers (NACDL) released a position paper on a proposed rewrite of criminal sexual assault laws. The Preliminary Draft, currently being considered by the American Law Institute (ALI), would make the absence of affirmative consent a key element in determining whether a sexual offense had occurred. (2)

The NACDL document takes sharp issue with the ALI proposal, saying the proposed affirmative consent standard would “shift the burden of proof to the accused,” a change the NACDL views as unconstitutional. The Preliminary Draft, according to the NACDL, would “use the bludgeon of criminal sanctions to impose the new and yet untested concept of ‘affirmative consent’ upon society.”

Highlighting the difficulty of laying out a precise definition of affirmative consent, the NACDL notes, “No person should face prosecution, conviction and imprisonment based upon a vague and ambiguous law.” The NACDL concludes, “In a utopian society, transparent and free flowing communication about sexual activity would be a beneficial goal, but we are hardly a utopian society.”

Thirdly, Harvard University professors Jacob Gersen and Jeannie Suk released a scholarly article titled The Sex Bureaucracy. The paper posits that ever-expanding definitions of affirmative consent have led to the current untenable situation in which “conduct classified as illegal by the sex bureaucracy…plausibly covers almost all sex students are having today.” (3)

More information about affirmative consent is available on the SAVE website. (4)

(1) http://mgaleg.maryland.gov/webmga/frmMain.aspx?stab=01&pid=billpage&tab=subject3&ys=2016rs&id=HB1142

(2) http://www.prosecutorintegrity.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/NACDL-Comments-Draft-6-MPC-Sexual-Assault.pdf

(3) http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2750143

(4) http://www.saveservices.org/sexual-assault/affirmative-consent/

SAVE is working for evidence-based, constitutionally sound solutions to campus sexual assault: www.saveservices.org

Campus Office for Civil Rights Press Release Sexual Assault

PR: Lawmakers Double-Down on Campus Due Process Abuses

Post author By saveadmin
Post date March 14, 2016

Contact: Gina Lauterio

Telephone: 301-801-0608

Email: glauterio@saveservices.org

Lawmakers Double-Down on Campus Due Process Abuses

WASHINGTON / March 14, 2016 – In an effort to restore due process rights on campuses, state and federal lawmakers have taken determined steps in recent weeks to press college administrators and a federal oversight agency to uphold constitutionally based rights for students accused of sexual assault.

In the most dramatic development, Georgia Rep. Earl Ehrhart, chairman of the House appropriations committee, disapproved a $47 million funding request for Georgia Tech University over due process concerns for accused students.

Ehrhart then called out the Georgia Tech administrators. “The president and the administration are just clueless when it comes to due process on that campus and protecting all those kids. If I have to talk to another brokenhearted mother about their fine son where any allegation is a conviction and they toss these kids out of school after three and a half years, sometimes just before graduation, it’s just tragic,” Ehrhart charged (1).

At the federal level, criticisms were voiced during the course of two hearings in which Department of Education secretary-designate John King provided testimony.

At an Appropriations Committee hearing this past Thursday, Sen. Lamar Alexander of Tennessee repeatedly confronted King with the fact that his department was threatening colleges with loss of federal funding if they did not comply with a 2011 “guidance” document (2).

During a previous hearing of the House Committee on Education and the Workforce, Rep. Virginia Foxx of North Carolina voiced concerns that the Department of Education has issued sexual assault directives with “potential negative impact on students and institutions.” She then requested that King provide written answers to nine questions about the department’s policy-making procedures (3).

On March 4, James Lankford of Oklahoma, chairman of the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, sent a strongly worded letter to the John King. The letter charged, “OCR’s silence on important due process considerations, coupled with the requirement of a lower standard of proof, indisputably tips the playing field against the accused, making the disciplinary process anything but ‘equitable.’” (4)

More information about executive over-reach by the federal Office for Civil Rights can be found on the SAVE website (5).

(1) http://politics.blog.ajc.com/2016/03/07/powerful-state-lawmaker-calls-for-georgia-tech-presidents-ouster/

(2) http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/senator-grills-acting-education-secretary-over-agency-overreach/article/2585472#.VuIfEXFPqD0.facebook

(3) http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/gop-congresswoman-questions-ed.-dept.-nominee-on-campus-sexual-assault/article/2584078

(4) https://onedrive.live.com/redir?resid=A56B7CAF8A43C485!16667&authkey=!AA5bfF-DWgQ-dZg&ithint=file%2cpdf

(5) http://www.saveservices.org/sexual-assault/ocr/

SAVE is working for evidence-based, constitutionally sound solutions to campus sexual assault: www.saveservices.org

Campus Due Process Sexual Assault

PR: Free Speech and Due Process Violations on Campus Give Rise to Budget Cutbacks, Costly Lawsuits

Post author By saveadmin
Post date March 1, 2016

Contact: Gina Lauterio

Email: glauterio@saveservices.org

Free Speech and Due Process Violations on Campus Give Rise to Budget Cutbacks, Costly Lawsuits

WASHINGTON / March 1, 2016 – A growing number of budget cutbacks and lawsuits across the nation reveals colleges that fail to respect free speech and due process rights may incur substantial financial liabilities. SAVE urges administrators and lawmakers to work cooperatively to restore the constitutionally based rights of students and faculty members on campus.

Regarding free speech, state lawmakers in Missouri recently announced they plan to reduce funding for the University of Missouri by $8 million. State House and Senate members singled out the actions of professor Melissa Click who was recorded interfering with students’ exercise of free speech rights (1).

University of Missouri trustees were also informed that the university system expects to lose $20-25 million in tuition revenues this year. Last month Standard & Poor’s lowered the system’s credit rating, citing a severe drop in new student enrollments (2).

Last July Valdosta State University in Georgia settled a First Amendment lawsuit, agreeing to pay $900,000 to former student Hayden Barnes who had been expelled due to his protests over planned construction of two parking garages (3).

Due process violations are proving to be costly, as well.

In Georgia, Rep. Earl Ehrhart warned Georgia Tech president GP Peterson on January 26 that he wouldn’t consider Tech’s budget request until the college adopted “simple, basic due process protections.” The following week, Georgia Tech withdrew its request for state bond funds for building renovations (4).

Lawsuits filed by students accused of or expelled on allegations of sexual assault have become more prevalent. At the University of Montana, administrators just agreed to pay $245,000 to former quarterback Jordan Johnson for the college’s “misconduct” in investigating a 2012 rape allegation (5).

Last week the Rhode Island District Court refused to dismiss a complaint filed by a male student who had been suspended from Brown University, citing breach of contract and a pattern of sex discrimination against male students (6).

Last month two men announced they were suing the University of Texas to prevent sanctions from being imposed on them. They charged the school is using them as scapegoats to build a reputation for being tough on sexual assault (7).

Over 100 due process lawsuits have been filed against colleges and universities across the country (8).

(1) http://www.stltoday.com/news/local/govt-and-politics/um-system-could-see-m-cut-under-mo-house-s/article_14d95137-311b-5d27-ade9-d9a5275c9768.html

(2) http://www.columbiamissourian.com/news/state_news/university-of-missouri-system-s-credit-outlook-is-lowered/article_3d6e872a-10b8-5285-b568-62cdb5afd4f9.html

(3) http://www.ajc.com/news/news/local-education/valdosta-state-to-pay-900k-to-settle-students-civi/nm5sy/

(4) http://www.news.gatech.edu/2016/02/04/tech-withdraws-library-budget-request

(5) http://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/ncaafb/montana-to-pay-ex-qb-dollar245k-over-rape-investigation/ar-BBpB2l4?ocid=st

(6) http://www.saveservices.org/wp-content/uploads/Doe-v.-Brown-University-2016.pdf

(7) http://www.mystatesman.com/news/news/crime-law/men-accuse-ut-of-unfairly-punishing-them-for-sex-a/nqQcf/

(8) https://boysmeneducation.knackhq.com/due-process-lawsuits

SAVE is working for evidence-based, constitutionally sound solutions to campus sexual assault: www.saveservices.org