Richard Vedder of See Thru Edu has written a new post in which he examines the injustice of academic justice.

Collegiate Star Chambers

Where in America do we have quasi-judicial proceedings rivaling those of the English Star Chamber or Spanish Inquisition of the 16th century, in terms of lack of fairness and due process? In the student judiciary systems of many universities. These systems often feature most of the following:

• The proceedings are typically held in secret, with public attendance prohibited, just like the English Star Chamber;

• Often, the presiding officer and the “prosecution” are coworkers with the same boss;

• The “jury” is often picked by those prosecuting the case;

• Attorneys are often either forbidden to attend, or present but not allowed to speak;

• The accused is often not allowed to cross examine his/her accuser;

• The accused often is constrained in presenting his/her own witnesses;

• The standard of proof needed for conviction is not that used in U.S. courts (“beyond reasonable doubt”) but the much lower “preponderance of evidence;”

• Speech clearly admissible under the First Amendment is often subject to punishment under blatantly unconstitutional “speech code” regulations;

• The appellate process is similarly limited and secretive in many cases.

• Students often face double jeopardy, being punished twice for the same offense.

The Wall Street Journal’s James Taranto recently told the story of Joshua Strange, who was cleared by the courts of rape and assault charges, but was thrown out of Auburn by the campus judicial system using many of the procedures discussed above, involving largely “he said/she said” contradictory evidence, and was also told he can NEVER visit the campus again. A similar thing happened a few years ago at my school with tragic results: the student committed suicide.