Trump education secretary Betsy DeVos tears up Obama's rules on campus sex assault investigations

[sandensea]

Source: Daily Mail

Trump Education Secretary Betsy DeVos tore up Obama's rules on investigating campus sex assault claims Thursday, saying they had been 'weaponized' and had led to people being wrongly accused.

DeVos said there would now be months of consultation on new rules which she said had to offer protection to the 'falsely accused' and respect 'due process'. There were protests outside as she spoke at George Mason University in Arlington, VA, in an indication that her moves are likely to prove controversial.

Dev Vos offered a lengthy critique of how the Obama administration had ordered campuses to enforce Title IX legislation, saying it had failed to offer justice. Speaking at the Atonin Scalia Law School, named for the late conservative Supreme Court justice, she said ''the era of 'rule by letter' is over,'' as she announced plans to review and replace the way colleges and university handle investigations.

The Obama administration guidance was originally delivered in a letter to schools. She says it has failed many students and done a 'disservice to everyone involved.'


Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4862570/The-Latest-Waiting-new-guidance-Title-IX-enforcement.html

[Thrill]

1. Besides just being Evil

What do they gain from this. Hateful ass person

[iluvtennis]

4. She's Cruella...this is asinine

[JonLP24]

2. Wrongly?

Has she ever heard of Baylor? If anything Title 9 failed the victims.

[CurtEastPoint]

3. Puke alert. Look where she's talking from....

[SergeStorms]

23. That would be akin to......

The Donald Trump School of Diplomacy. Neither of them were very acquainted with their respective areas of "expertise".

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

26. The funny thing is that they were going to call it

the Antonin Scalia School of Law - until they noticed it abbreviates to ASSoL.

[CurtEastPoint]

31. Oh, I SO WISH no one had noticed that! Perfect. ASSoL, indeed.

[Judi Lynn]

5. Rules are only meant to apply to people who can't own politicians. This is grotesque. n/t

[sandensea]

15. Well put as always, Judi.

These people, as you know, believe they need to be licentious to feel important - and are trying to encourage others to do the same.

As Trump might put it: sad.

[ellie]

6. Will no one think

of the frat boy rapists?

[Motownman78]

13. Duke LaCrosse Players n/t

[radicalliberal]

16. On the other hand, --

-- think of all the Baylor football fans who were opposed to any attempt to investigate the charges of gang rape. If they had had their way, there would have been NO investigation. Not to mention the history of cover-ups in the name of sport over a period of decades.

Well, thanks to the President and his hireling, future rape victims whose perpetrator(s) happen to be a coach, one or more athletes (especially football players and basketball players), or a frat rat or more than one frat rat will just have to shut up and keep their pain to themselves. How dare the victims interfere with our entertainment! After all, the sports fans must have their games; and the "good image" of the fraternities must be preserved. It's all about power and defending the super-privileged, something that is of great concern for today's Republicans.

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

7. .....

[Cryptoad]

8. One of her GOP Oligarch buddies

must have had a son that got prosecuted for rape!

[DeltaLitProf]

9. Asinine

These conservatives would be quick to tell you that attending college is not a right but a privilege. If college is not a basic right, that means colleges are not bound by the same standards as criminal courts in their decisions of who is allowed to attend.

In addition, colleges are a special circumstance in which young people are much more vulnerable to one another than in workplaces or while attending K-12. Most live in dorms. Most have property and cars in more convenient places for thieves and vandals to prey on. They must often attend night classes and walk long distances without protection. The unique environment of a college calls for a different approach to keeping students safe. It demands that colleges not be subject to the standard of "beyond the shadow of a doubt" before making a ruling on whether a student implicated in crime can be expelled.

But of course Betsy deVos is the instrument of a misogynist groper and con man. She does what she knows will please him. In any circumstance in which rape or sexual assault is alleged, she knows Trump will instinctively side with the perpetrators he feels a kinship with.

DeVos is an emergency, not just on this front but on many others. Her policies have to be fought in order to preserve the safety and integrity of the college experience. She must be publically shamed for her siding against student safety and for perpetrators of campus crime.

[NNadir]

10. Trust this freak to speak on behalf of pussy grabbing and worse. Of course, pussy grabbing...

...means nothing to this barely literate uneducated philistine.

Her boss, also a freak, brags about it.

[Ligyron]

11. and this crap is actually coming from a woman?

I could never understand females who think this way. Over half the women in this country (the ones who voted anyway) voted for Trump. Liberation has yet to reach some people.

[yuiyoshida]

12. She is going to fail ever student but the difference is ...

She is a Republican and doesn't give a flying fuck what happens to students, let them get their own lawyers and carry a gun. That's the Republican way, can't afford a lawyer? too damn bad, can't get a gun? Carry a Kitchen Knife.

[Motownman78]

14. Rape is a serious charge

There has been a lot of "Trials in the court of Public Opinion" lately involving rape and assaults on campus where innocent men and women have been accused of rape or assault. The Duke Lacrosse team is probably the most famous. The rights of both victim and accused should be protected at all costs.

[radicalliberal]

17. It's also true that for decades many instances of rape by athletes and frat rats --

-- were covered up. There's a long history of this injustice. So, how receptive are sports fans to the notion that victims of rape deserve justice? They're not receptive at all. Actual rape victims, such as the young woman in the Steubenville rape case, can expect to receive death threats from sports fans. But who cares?

[Motownman78]

18. And someone falsely accused of rape

Has to deal with that the rest of their lives.

Maybe have the prison term the same for those who falsely accuse others of rape? Both suffer for the rest of their lives.

[Le Gaucher]

25. Hopefully justice is not denied ..but if it must

Its, on the whole, preferable that that men go jail. This crime is exclusively perpetrated by men. and if by design/circumstance the law is biased towards the victim rather than perpetrator - then it is not a bad thing.

[Loki Liesmith]

27. So you are saying it's preferable for an innocent man to go to jail

Then for justice to be denied someone else? Because that's what it sounds like.

[Le Gaucher]

34. No .. That is not what Iam saying .

But if have to err, the benefit of doubt should go to the girl.

[Le Gaucher]

35. The safest route for boys/ men would be never be alone where they can

Be vulnerable to a charge like that. Especially when there is alcohol involved. Either be in a group or be with someone they want to be with

[ProgressiveValue]

36. I've heard some college guys are going to extremes.

They are so terrified of being accused of rape, they are secretly videotaping the sex encounter so as to have proof if a rape accusation occurs.

First: They are making it sound like there is a massive group of college women just plotting fake rape claims. The paranoia from them is extreme.

Second: In some states, where two parties have to consent to being recorded, they would be committing a crime.

Lastly: A woman can take consent away at any time. So even if these paranoid men have her sign a legal document before the act and video tape it, she can take consent away during the act anyway. And if they don't stop, the videotape would just be proof of rape.

If they are so goddamn paranoid of rape allegations, then they should stick to servicing themselves, while more confident men, who understand the word no, can enjoy the college dating scene.

As far as alcohol being involved. That would probably be good advice for both parties; but that isn't going to stop any time soon.

[Yupster]

21. Rape and sexual assault are very serious crimes

They should be investigated by the police and tried in court.

Colleges do not have the expertise or resources to do a fair job of this.

If I am falsely accused of rape I want to have a lawyer. I want to be able to face my accuser and I want to be tried by a jury.

The standards colleges are using are not fair. You can be thrown out of school without ever getting to hear exactly what you're being accused of and you're judged by a panel of professors, administrators and students. And all without a lawyer in the room with you.

No thanks to kangaroo courts ruining a young man's life.

Colleges have no business being involved with serious crimes. We already have a long established process that works to handle that and it has nothing to do with college students or professors deciding punishments.

On edit -- someone explain to me why we're so willing to throw away all rules of due process in this case? If the crime is bad enough, the accused loses his rights? How can that be?

[Still In Wisconsin]

19. She probably thinks they were all "asking for it." n/t

[joshdawg]

24. Apparently, her "policy" is

to blame the victim.
She learned that from her idiot boss.

[Doreen]

20. I say take her to a high rape crime area

leave her there with no phone or protection and then tell her she is lying when she says she got raped. Then just drop her off in front of her house and leave. See how she feels when that has happened to her and no one will listen to her and tell her she is lying and if it did happen it was her fucking fault. That stupid fucking b***h just needs to go to hell. She calls herself a woman? She calls herself a human being?

[radicalliberal]

22. It's all about power and money.

I suspect that DeVos has a "blame the victim" mentality along with an accompanying bias in favor of overly privileged football players and other athletes in one or more of the most mindlessly popular sports -- After all, tens of millions of dollars are at stake here, doncha know -- and the "image" of fraternities and the image of the college or university. The rape victim is a nobody who certainly is not worth as much as a college athlete or a fraternity member, especially one from a rich family.

Look at it this way: If a member of the proverbial Chess Club commits rape or participates in a gang rape, there's no doubt he'll be convicted, as he should be. But if an aspiring athlete commits rape, more likely than not the school administration will protect him from the consequences of his crime. (After all, we don't want his career to be ruined, do we?) Yes, there have been false accusations of rape against athletes; and they are absolutely despicable and unforgivable. But I wouldn't be surprised if the number of coverups of actual rapes and gang rapes by athletes way exceeds the number of false accusations. The fact of the matter is that the deck is stacked against young women who have been raped by athletes. If nothing else, just put sports fans in the jury; and you'll get the verdict you want! (By the way, was there a rush at Penn State to expose the pedophile coach Jerry Sandusky? No, there wasn't; and that was because officials of the university were more concerned about protecting the image of the football program than they were over the rape of traumatized young boys who will have to deal with their misery for the rest of their lives! When he was outed at his high school during his senior year, one of Sandusky's rape victims was bullied so badly by fellow students who were Joe Paterno fans that he had to drop out of school before he could graduate!)

Look at this mess: Betsy DeVos is from a filthy rich family who want to dominate this country and undoubtedly view "the common people" with contempt whose cries for justice should be ignored. Her assistant what's-her-name has publicly declared that 90 percent of rape accusations are false. And then there's Trump -- who, incidentally, according to biographers was a "jock bully" all throughout his adolescence. Does anyone actually believe that he cares about rape victims on college campuses and universities? He probably laughs about it. Does anyone actually believe that something good will come out of this witches' brew of bad actors who have no credibility at all? I certainly don't!

Future college rape victims are in for a world of hurt. Not only do they suffer the victimization of rape, but they are viciously victimized again for daring to seek justice. They will be left to the mercy of those who are indifferent (if not outright hostile) to rape victims when their assailants happen to belong to the class of over-privilege and excessive wealth.

[Ilsa]

28. She favors the rich coaches, like Art Briles.

These people are millionaires. And God forbid anything happen to a just man like Ken Starr.

That being said, I do think the issue of expelling a student needs to be discussed. Until a perpetrator is charged, not just accused, I don't think they need to be removed from school, but I think their participation in sports, drama, etc should be put on hold. False accusations are usually sorted out quickly.

Some false accusers do press charges, however, and this brings us to an unpalatable point. Because real rape victims are often mistaken for false accusers, it can be uncomfortable to insinuate anything negative about either group. But these two groups are not at all alike. In fact, rape victims aren’t even a group; they have no unifying traits. They can be young or old, black or white, men or women, gay or straight, rich or poor—anyone at all. Even a 65-year-old man can be a victim of rape.

When one looks at a series of fabricated sexual assaults, on the other hand, patterns immediately begin to emerge. The most striking of these is that, almost invariably, adult false accusers who persist in pursuing charges have a previous history of bizarre fabrications or criminal fraud. Indeed, they’re often criminals whose family and friends are also criminals; broken people trapped in chaotic lives.

https://qz.com/980766/the-truth-about-false-rape-accusations/

[radicalliberal]

32. Excellent article! n/t

[njhoneybadger]

29. 2 words. SICK FUCK!

[no_hypocrisy]

30. Even if DeVos "loosens" or eradicates Obama's rules on investigation,

colleges and universities may continue the more stringent and comprehensive standards because of demands by insurance/liability carriers.

IOW, to keep a policy viable, certain practices must be in place. Schools get insurance protection against potential lawsuits and to lessen the risk of such lawsuits, insurance carriers want standards and practices in place before they pay out.

There will be colleges and universities that follow DeVos' misguided "reforms", but others will continue the Obama Administration's guidelines.

[Ilsa]

37. That's good news. The insurance companies

won't bend to a poorly-conceived market. They understand actual and actuarial risk. Keep the Obama policy, or watch the premiums skyrocket!

[Yupster]

38. Sorry young man.

We'd like to provide you with basic due process rights before throwing you out of school and labeling you a sexual predator, but if we did that our insurance premiums would go up don't you see.

I feel real bad about it, and I know it sucks for you, but it's for the best.

[Blue_Tires]

33. Elections have consequences...