Miltenberg: “Princeton University’s Sexual Misconduct Policies Must Not Confuse Justice With Vengeance | Opinion,” NJ.com

Recently, the Daily Princetonian at Princeton University reported that long-time Professor Joshua Katz had inappropriate relationships with a number of his female students for many years. This investigation has rightly raised concerns by student groups, calling for action from Princeton’s administration on matters of campus safety and sexual misconduct protocols. Indeed, Princeton, and virtually all colleges and universities, turned a blind eye for far too long to sexual misconduct on their campuses. However, as these well-meaning movements grow and gain momentum, we have also seen a disturbing trend of intermingling reasonable calls for thoughtful reform, with unabashed, anti-democratic demands, usually in the form of expecting all those accused of misconduct to be punished, even in some cases specifying the punishments against individuals, often based on little more than rumor, gossip and speculation. In a recently published letter in the Daily Princetonian, Princeton Students for Title IX Reform (PIXR) and the Organizing Committee of Princeton Graduate Students United (PGSU), submitted a list of demands to the Princeton administration. Unfortunately, this “call to action” follows the same pattern. While much of the letter focuses on desired policy and organizational changes to better address the problem of sexual violence on campus, it closes with a bald demand that Princeton University bend to the will of public opinion in making staffing and personnel decisions in individual cases by calling on the university to terminate employment positions immediately, solely based on allegations and without due process.

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