Student courts ( "Kangaroo courts") at college campuses can have serious repercussions for students.
A Stanford University student accused of sexual assault in an incident that the Palo Alto police and prosecutor investigated and declined to pursue nevertheless was convicted by a student court under relaxed evidence standards introduced by U.S. Department of Education.
In the Rupert Murdoch-owned New York Post, Princeton alumna Samantha Harris reports that the student court – which I guess is what you would get if you replaced kangaroos with students in a kangaroo court – changed its standard mid-trial, in response to a letter from Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights (OCR):
At the time the student was charged, Stanford was using the "beyond a reasonable doubt" standard -- the highest standard of proof, used by courts in criminal cases. But after OCR's letter, Stanford shifted to the "preponderance" standard in the middle of his case.
Plus, the campus panel that heard the case had been "trained" using documents boldly proclaiming that "everyone should be very, very cautious in accepting a man's claim that he has been wrongly accused of abuse or violence" and that one indication of an abuser is that he will "act persuasive and logical."
Perhaps the Stanford student acted too logically: He was promptly found guilty and suspended for two years. But because the OCR's letter forces colleges to permit the accuser to appeal the decision if the accused may do so, she has appealed and is seeking permanent expulsion of her alleged attacker.
On campus today, if you hook up with your date (or even your wife) after she's had a few drinks, you're often automatically guilty of sexual assault.
In the real world, drinking doesn't necessarily destroy your freedom of choice. Many US colleges and universities, however, believe it renders you unable to consent to sex.
At Stanford University, "intoxicated" students can't consent to sexual contact. At Princeton, you need only be "under the influence" of alcohol to lose your ability to consent -- which surely makes many a student both the victim and perpetrator of sexual assault.
The idea that an adult loses all agency upon the first effects of alcohol is bizarre enough. Stranger still, colleges are enforcing these strict regulations in part because they're scared of losing millions in federal funding.
A new mandate from the federal Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights forces all universities that get federal funding to judge claims of sexual assault using a "preponderance of the evidence" standard -- the lowest standard of proof, at about 50.01 percent certainty.
In other words, students on virtually all American campuses will now be found guilty of sexual assault if a hearing panel finds their accuser's story just barely more credible than their own.
Links:
http://www.nypost.com/p/news/opinion/opedcolumnists/the_feds_mad_assault_on_campus_sex_zjUl29Y8d3NmoYOkKchblO#ixzz1SlVnjvdt
http://reason.com/blog/2011/07/21/stanford-so-smart-even-its-rap