A Clinton-appointed judge upheld due-process reforms to sexual assault cases this week in New York, meaning male athletes and frat boys are finally presumed innocent again. The new rule is a big win for Betsy Devos, the Secretary of Education, who’s been presumed always wrong by far-left feminists and teacher’s unions. More on the rule’s details later, after un-packing the macro-message.
It’s about time Ms. Devos gave a middle finger to the so-called liberals that hate her wealth and investment in school-choice activism. She is heiress to the Prince Corporation, married to the former CEO of Amway, and founded the Windquest Group. However, her big sin is funding school-choice groups that threaten public teacher’s unions, scaring every Senate Democrat into voting against her confirmation.
I share two beliefs with Secretary Devos: (1) low-income families deserve competitive schools, and (2) Title IX should not be weaponized to serve identity politics. Did you know…
- The NEA and AFT are the primary constraints to school choice, which is supported by 89% of black Democrats – and 81% of Democrat primary voters (source: DFER). Plus, 72% of African-Americans and 73% of Latinos support school vouchers to afford a private-school education for their kids.
- Title IX was a 1972 civil-rights statute preventing gender discrimination in education, which rightly created big time college women’s sports and wrongly gave #MeToo an over-sized voice on campus.
Give far-left progressives a little social justice (Title IX) and they’ll take a mountain of rights from Christians and men. Such was the case in March 2006 at Duke University, when a black stripper with Democrat prosecutor Mike Nifong falsely accused 3 men’s lacrosse players of rape, and November 2014 at UVA, when Rolling Stone magazine falsely alleged Phi Kappa Psi of rape. In both instances, college boys were denied the presumption of innocence in the rush to believe every woman.
In fairness, there would be no #MeToo movement but for the reality of too many male sexual predators and the slut-shaming tactics of defense attorneys. I support all the exposure #MeToo can get to ruin Harvey Weinstein and prevent the next Jeffrey Epstein, but not at the cost of chipping away at the Bill of Rights – especially when a college boy with no priors is presumed guilty or denied due process.
The punitive abuse was exacerbated in 2011 by Obama “clarification” that broadened the definition of “sexual harassment” and held schools liable for incidents they “should have known about.” In short, clarification was weaponization, and innocent college boys became the victims of get-even vendettas. This, of course, detracted from legitimate prosecutions of sexual harassment.
The new rules create a legitimate fact-checking and truth-seeking process that benefits real victims and innocent boys. The key changes are to adopt the Supreme Court’s definition of “sexual harassment” and require live hearings in which claimant and defendant are cross-examined. Further, school investigations must begin with formal complaints within the school’s jurisdiction (campus and programs). Why is this change so important?
All Americans believed in absolute truths until 2008, when Barack Obama told the Left, “the Founders [rejected] absolute truth.” In his view, we should believe every woman because (1) “elections have consequences” and (2) he needed feminist votes. Hence, he binarized social justice into she’s just that right and he’s just that wrong (e.g. Kavanaugh hearings). His type of politics is exactly why the Founders made the Judiciary a co-equal branch and protected individuals with the Bill of Rights.