ACLU Lawsuit Shows It No Longer Cares about Campus Civil Liberties

Four advocacy groups filed a federal lawsuit Thursday over Education Secretary Betsy DeVos’ revised federal guidelines for sexual assault allegations on the campuses of colleges and K-12 schools.  They claim these changes “dramatically undermine” victims’ civil rights.

These victim-advocacy groups hope to block the changes, which bolster the rights of due process for those accused, before their Aug. 14 enactment date.   The suit was filed in a Maryland U.S. District Court by the American CivilLiberties Union and the law firm Stroock & Stroock & Lavan LLP. 

“This new federal effort to weaken Title IX makes it more difficult for victims of sexual harassment or sexual assault to continue their educations and needlessly comes amid a global pandemic,” the suit claims, naming specifically DeVos, the Department of Education, and Kenneth Marcus, the agency’s assistant secretary for civil rights.

Yahoo News reports:

DeVos last week denied that the final rule would discourage accusers from coming forward to report abuse, saying that it instead allows for schools to be more balanced in how they review claims, rather than through what she called a “kangaroo court” approach.

“We can continue to combat sexual misconduct without abandoning our core values of fairness, presumption of innocence and due process,” DeVos told reporters.

I’m on Team DeVos. 

Remember “innocent until proven guilty?”  Kids, it was a thing once, I promise.  Before the Obama administration demolished the presumption of innocence.

Robby Soave summed up this situation best, when he tweeted, “It breaks my heart to report that the ACLU, ostensibly an organization that defends civil liberties, is suing to prevent Betsy DeVos from strengthening civil liberties protections on college campuses.”

Hat Tip: Yahoo News

Image Credit: Gage Skidmore on Flickr