President Obama’s Department of Education has ruled that “common sense and reason” are not allowed to guide decisions of alleged sexual harassment under Title IX. This should come as no surprise because Title IX is completely unreasonable and void of common sense.
Under President Obama, the Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights has begun to investigate colleges that might not fit within Title IX’s narrow standards. That was the case for Frostburg State University in Maryland.
The Department of Education ruled that the school’s definition of sexual harassment set too high a standard for potential victims. This whole debacle came about because of a letter sent out by the DOE in 2011 that called for universities to dramatically lower standards for convictions of sexual misconduct.
They wanted schools to require only “preponderance of the evidence,” which means more than 50 percent certainty that the act was sexual harassment. That puts allegations of rape on the same level as a parking ticket.
This all stems from the left’s narrative about a supposed “rape culture” on college campuses.
Everyone has heard that favorite liberal statistic that one in every five college women will be sexually assaulted. However, there are no facts to support such an outrageous claim. The city of Detroit has one of the worst crime rates in the country, but less than one-tenth of one percent of women were the victims of rape in Detroit in 2014.
That is a far cry from the 20 percent number liberals like to throw around. Of course, every instance of sexual assault is tragic. That does not mean universities should strip young men of their due-process rights to fit into the feminist agenda.
The Title IX sexual assault standards are not in the best interest of college students. Frostburg State University was right to base its standards on “common sense and reason.” More schools should fight for the rights our Founding Fathers secured for us.
Every American deserves to have the due process of law when accused of a crime. {eoa}
This article was originally published at EagleForum.org. Used with permission.
