Proposed Changes in VAWA Could Further Undermine Due Process Rights on Campus

Glenn Ricketts

From bad to worse:  Competitive Enterprise attorney Hans Bader examines the implications of proposed revisions to the Violence Against Women Act, currently in re-authorization review in the US Senate. Among other things, the revisions would further weaken the due process protections of the accused in campus sexual harassment cases, including the prospect of double jeopardy following an aquittal.  That's because the accuser would have the right of appeal as well, which would essentialy require re-prosecution of the case.  On the face of it, the changes apparently codify some of the worst aspects of the new, mandatory guidelines imposed last year by the Dept. of Education's Office for Civil Rights.   

And as Bader notes, even if the proposed changes are defeated in the House, all of the VAWA's already problematical features will still be there.  I guess it's good news though, if an already bad law isn't made even worse.

  • Share

Most Commented

October 29, 2024

1.

The Looming Irrelevance of Middle East Study Centers

Today’s Middle Eastern Studies Centers are facing a crisis due to the winds of change in the Middle East and their own ideological echo chamber....

November 19, 2024

2.

Lee Zeldin Should Reform EPA Science Policy

NAS welcomes the nomination of Congressmen Lee Zeldin to lead the Environmental Protection Agency....

November 20, 2024

3.

NAS Welcomes Administrator McMahon's Nomination to Serve as Education Secretary

With McMahon, the new administration has a chance to drastically slim down and depoliticize the Education Department....

Most Read

May 15, 2015

1.

Where Did We Get the Idea That Only White People Can Be Racist?

A look at the double standard that has arisen regarding racism, illustrated recently by the reaction to a black professor's biased comments on Twitter....

October 12, 2010

2.

Ask a Scholar: What is the True Definition of Latino?

What does it mean to be Latino? Are only Latin American people Latino, or does the term apply to anyone whose language derived from Latin?...

May 26, 2010

3.

10 Reasons Not to Go to College

A sampling of arguments for the idea that college may not be for everyone....