By Professor Doom
I remember when I
was a big fan of the ACLU, as they would defend the underdog, some deplorable
guy who, even if I didn’t like whatever he said, I still felt he should have a
defense from an organization skilled in protecting the rights all citizens of
this country have.
Those days seems
to be over, as the ACLU really seems to be converged, taken over by Leftists
who now feel only the people who think rightly deserve protection. Heck,
they’ve pretty much declared they no longer care about defending civil
liberties, at least not if gets in the way of their ideology.
I’ve written many
times before how Title IX has turned into yet another weapon the Left uses to
destroy faculty and students on campus who do not adhere to Leftist values
(basically anyone to the right of Chairman Mao is fair game). Particularly vile
is how a male, when accused of sexual wrongdoing by a female, can’t really
defend himself, because he has so few rights. Yes, I know this happens to some
extent off campus (Hi Justice Kavanaugh! Isn’t it odd how the witnesses who
recanted their testimony won’t be charged with anything, despite the clear harm
they’ve done to his family), but how the
kangaroo campus court system handles these things is over-the-top.
Betsy DeVos
recently proposed, among many other things, giving rights to those accused
under Title IX. That sounds like the kind of thing the old ACLU would
approve…but what of today’s converged ACLU?
Trump Derangement
Syndrome (TDS) is a real thing, I have some friends with it, so filled with
hatred of the man they can interpret nothing he does in a positive way, and
readily believe any accusation made against him, even with a media well
established as being miserly at best with the truth regarding Trump.
So, while ordinarily the ACLU would want
rights given to the accused, the fact that Trump’s representative is asking for
such means they have no choice but to oppose, or so the headline says. What
kind of reforms are we talking here?
The Title IX reforms, as David French aptly describes
at National Review,
requires colleges to end their kangaroo courts when it comes to sexual
assault…The new rules require colleges to permit cross-examination of witnesses
including the accuser by attorneys for the accused, and stops universities from
allowing evidence from those who refuse cross-examination. Furthermore, the new
Title IX regulations allow the accused to see the evidence given against them –
and yes, there were schools that prohibited the accused from even knowing the
nature of the accusations against them.
Having personally
been involved with a kangaroo court where evidence submitted by the accused was
systematically destroyed, and then the accused was convicted because he
couldn’t prove his innocence, I assure the gentle reader the above really is
how many of our campus court systems are run.
Gee whiz, none of
the above sounds particularly unreasonable. Additionally, the definition of
“sexual harassment” was tightened up, because it was clear the very loose
definition was being abused by Title IX fiefdoms on campus.
Surely the ACLU
isn’t against putting at least some due process into the court system here?
Allow me to edit their official statement:
…We strongly oppose
it…inappropriately favoring the accused and letting schools ignore their
responsibility under Title IX to respond promptly and fairly to complaints of
sexual violence.
Hey, I concede the rights the accused have
definitely slowed down the wheels of justice, but to snarl at every change as
bad, even granting the accused the right
to know what he’s accused of, strikes me at plenty deranged.
Since I’m citing
a decent news site, they allow comments, and one bears further discussion:
So the ACLU just came out as opposed to "Innocent until
proven guilty"? Wow!
Why are rapes being investigated by Gender Studies professors and not the police?
Why are rapes being investigated by Gender Studies professors and not the police?
Yes, the ACLU does
seem to have put itself in a funny position here.
Why are rapes
being investigated by Gender Studies professors? It’s a good question, and the answer involves quirks
in our laws which grant our campuses (the older ones) considerable autonomy in how
alleged crimes are investigated and punished. Yes, admin could pass over their
power to the local police/legal system, but that would cut into their
power…it’s not gonna happen.
I also feel the
need to point out that the kangaroo system for investigating rapes is often the
same system used for investigating “improper” behavior by faculty (note
carefully: espousing views to the right of Chairman Mao would be improper on
many campuses). One the other hand, wildly inappropriate behavior by admin gets
such a pass that they seldom even make it to the campus court system (eg, here,
here,
here,
and here,
among others).
As a gratuitous
kick, I also point out this is all paid for by the student loan scam.
No comments:
Post a Comment