This interview originally aired on The Rich Zeoli Show on Talk Radio 1210am WPHT on October 29, 2019.
Rich Zeoli: Andrew Miltenberg is with me. Andrew is a New York attorney who specializes in Title IX and campus assault due process issues. He’s currently engaged in several groundbreaking Title IX cases, and he’s been on the show before. Andrew, welcome back to Philadelphia.
Andrew Miltenberg: Thanks for having me again, Rich.
Rich: Absolutely. So you know, we talked before when Betsy DeVos was named the secretary of education, and they, hopefully, we’re gonna put back some of these due process provisions that students should be afforded under the constitution. For those who don’t know, can you give us kind of a 30,000-foot view of what it’s like to be a young man on today’s college campuses if you are accused of sexual assault or sexual harassment?
Andrew: Simply put, it’s incredibly dangerous and you have a very limited opportunity to present your narrative and, more likely than not, will be found responsible and expelled or suspended.
Rich: So the burden of proof is on you. In other words, you’re guilty just because you’ve been accused of something, and then you have to fight to prove your innocence.
Andrew: That’s absolutely correct, Rich. The way these cases are handled is that it starts with believing the victim, and that is a mantra of what’s known as the victim-centric investigative technique which is employed by all colleges when it comes to sexual assault. So the mere fact that someone is making the claim or making the allegations makes it true in the mind of an investigator.
Rich: You know, it was the Obama administration, really led by Joe Biden, who did this by stripping away the due process protections that people should be afforded at colleges and universities. It was really them who took the step of saying, a simple accusation is enough. They create these kangaroo courts, the kids are thrown out of college. And by the way, we’ve talked about this too, Andrew. It could be something where a woman revokes consent that she had given weeks earlier, right?
Andrew: It could be that and it could be a woman revokes consent that she gave moments ago. So it’s sort of the Wild West if you’re a young man and you are alone with a woman at your own risk.
Rich: You defend a lot of these students and you’ve had a lot of success defending feminism. It’s wonderful that you’ve been able to do that. What are some of the cases that really stand out for you?
Andrew: Well, some of the cases that stand out most recently is a former NFL player who lost his job with the Houston Texans as a wide receiver and had been there for two years and was moving up the depth chart, because a young lady, two years after he graduated, made a claim to the university that she had been sexually assaulted by him. The university held an investigation and a hearing without him present, revoked, retroactively took back his degree, and it was picked up by a newspaper that he was found responsible for sexual assault and was waived the next day by the Houston Texans. And that’s a very dramatic but very real indication of how deep these allegations can go and how much they can affect you even when you’re no longer in college.
Rich: Andrew Miltenberg is an attorney. He specializes in these Title IX cases, defending young men who’ve been accused on various campuses — and faculty as well, I should mention — at Columbia University, Princeton University, Colorado University, Michigan State University, and Tulane University. So when Betsy DeVos became the Secretary of Education, the Trump administration said, “We’re gonna try to reverse this.” What were some of the steps that they took?
Andrew: Well, some of the steps that they took included a new set of proposed regulations for colleges to have these disciplinary hearings, which include things like you must have a hearing instead of just a written report which denounces and finds the young men responsible, there must be some form of cross-examinations or tempering this questioning of the complainant, and there must be a clear standard at universities as to how these hearings and investigations are going to take place. And unfortunately, that was very well-intentioned, but now, it looks like the Democrats are fighting very hard against that and have proposed that all of those changes are not affected.
Rich: This is what the Democrats have done with the College Affordability Act which would prohibit the implementation of Secretary DeVos’s new rules under Title IX, right?
Andrew: Of course. And they buried it within a nice-sounding College Affordability Act. But you know, it’s very frightening, because if the current manner in which these cases are handled at the college level continues, you know, it’s going to be disastrous, as it has been for young men who find themselves constantly under attack, getting accused of sexual assault for everything from an errant kiss, to after a breakup, or someone they had dated for months and had an intimate relationship with for a significant time. There’s a breakup, and all of a sudden, the young lady will go and make a complaint that, months ago, one of their sexual encounters was nonconsensual.
Rich: That’s amazing. It’s really, really amazing, and it undermines women who are actually raped by people who, you know, deserve to be prosecuted. This kangaroo court makes a mockery of that in my opinion.
Andrew: It absolutely does. Women sexual assault is a real issue, and it’s very dangerous, and it’s tragic. And I have two daughters, and I speak to it not just as a lawyer but as a father. But much of what I see is borderline ridiculous. The allegations are ridiculous, and you shake your head at them and you think to yourself, “Seriously? These are the real allegations that someone’s making, and this is going to impact a young man’s life forever and ever.” And it does denigrate women who are really need it and men who are subject to sexual assault, attacks, and rape.
Rich: Andrew, where can people find you, especially if they need help defending themselves?
Andrew: In New York, my office is in midtown Manhattan. And you can reach me at Nesenoff & Miltenberg. We’re at 212-736-4500.
Rich: All right. Andrew Miltenberg, thanks for your time today, my friend. Good to talk to you again.
Andrew: Thank you very much, Rich.
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