Democrat: Colleges Should Expel Students for Rape Even if They’re Not Sure it Happened
Who needs due process on campus? One Democrat in Colorado doesn’t think schools even need definitive proof that a rape occurred before expulsion.
Robby Soave reports at Reason.
Rep. Jared Polis Thinks Colleges Should Be Able to Expel Students When They’re Only 20% Sure a Rape Happened
Forget preponderance of evidence—Rep. Jared Polis (D-Colorado) wonders why campus rape adjudicators don’t use an even lower standard of proof and expel students in cases where there is only a 20 percent chance that they are guilty.
Polis made this shocking remark during a House Subcommittee on Higher Education and Workforce Training hearing on campus sexual assault prevention Thursday morning. The hearing featured a Q and A session between lawmakers and campus rape experts—most of whom were dismissive of concerns that the campus adjudication process was unfriendly to the due process rights of accused students (the exception being Foundation for Individual Rights lawyer Joseph Cohn).
Toward the end of the hearing, several panelists noted that they preferred the “preponderance of evidence” standard, which holds that a student should be found guilty of sexual assault if adjudicators decide it is more likely than not he committed the crime. This standard is “the most equitable” one, they said: it establishes identical burdens for accusers and the accused.
I could go into all the ways this idea is wrong and flies in the face of liberal Western notions about justice and fairness—whatever happened to innocent until proven guilty? Not equitable, alas—but it’s actually a downright reasonable position, considering what Polis advocated moments later. He said:
“It certainly seems reasonable that a school for its own purposes might want to use a preponderance of evidence standard, or even a lower standard. Perhaps a likelihood standard…. If I was running a (private college) I might say, well, even if there is only a 20 or 30 percent chance that it happened, I would want to remove this individual.”
Rep. Jared Polis Thinks Colleges Should Be Able to Expel Students When They're Only 20% Sure a Rape Happened (Reason)
Comments
Why not lynch them or castrate them?
How about we throw Rep. Polis out of office if there’s a 20% chance that he might’ve violated campaign finance laws?
Rep. Jared Polis seems to have made a “career changing” decision.
Perhaps, we should call the process of been accused and summarily dismissed .. to be Polis-ed
It is clear that people will elect any idiot to congress.
And it’s only going to get worse.
Even if a VIP’s son has this happen, they’ll maybe make an exception, but they’ll never give up the ideology.
And notice – NO ONE is addressing female on male sexual assault. Which, if the same standard was applied (drunk, not continually affirming, or after-the-fact-regret) would a huge swath of the female co-ed population.
This is simply a joining of feminist male hatred and giving any female (the mentally unbalanced and vindicitive ones – not all females) the perogative to destroy any man who displeases her.
Even if they’re female.
This is insane on so many levels
1) Aren’t we being told how VITAL a university degree is? And this “there should be a provision to allow the accused to withdraw without taint on their record” will NEVER be allowed to happen by the feminists. Never.
2) If you are accused you are REQUIRED to show up and give testimony, while being denied an attorney (either to speak for you or advise), which can later be used against you in a court of law in criminal proceedings.
3) You cannot cross examine, nor are the hearing board members required to use all your questions, to try to catch the accuser in various lies.
4) You may (or probably not) be presented all the evidence, especially exculpatory evidence, nor is the university required to turn over discovery prior to your hearing board. You are walking in blind.
5) Even if, by some miracle, you are found not responsible, NOTHING will happen to the false accuser.
6) If you decide to conduct your own investigation (and please Google this) you can be threatened with and “charged” under university policies, of witness intimidation or obstruction of process.
7) Long before you even show up the investigator and the hearing board members are hand selected after they go through a ton of feminist indoctrination on rape culture, feminist “facts” about rape and false allegations, and they are deemed to be of the “proper mindset” to sit in judgement.
In what freaking universe is this fair?!