Republican Rep. Patrick Meehan of Pennsylvania is putting a giant target on his back by signing onto a bill that would increase funding for skewed sexual-misconduct investigations by the Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights.
The agency has been accused by law professors across the ideological spectrum of exceeding its statutory authority and bullying colleges into depriving students accused of sexual misconduct of basic due-process rights.
A press release by Democratic Rep. Jackie Speier of California refers to her Hold Accountable and Lend Transparency (HALT) Campus Sexual Violence Act as “bipartisan,” despite that fact that Meehan is the lone Republican among 26 co-sponsors, according to Inside Higher Ed.
The bill would give the agency another $5 million a year for “Title IX and Clery investigators,” Speier’s release says, as well as increase penalties for violating the Clery Act (campus crime reporting) to $100,000 from the current $35,000, and make public information about sanctions or findings in response to investigations of institutions. It would also required schools to do biennial campus climate surveys.
Quoted in Speier’s release, Meehan appears to have been duped into believing debunked statistics that one in five college women will be raped:
“No student should have to fear sexual assault on campus and no parent should fear their child is in danger when they send them to college,” said Congressman Meehan. “As a prosecutor, I worked closely with the victims of sexual assault on campus and I saw firsthand the need to improve protections for survivors. This legislation takes sensible steps forward to strengthen protections for victims and it will help them access the resources they need in the wake of attack.”
Maybe House Republicans need fewer former prosecutors and more civil libertarians.
This is just the latest version of Speier’s HALT bill.
Read the release and Inside Higher Ed story.
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