Miltenberg: “Trump Administration Defends Campus Sexual Assault Rules,” NPR

Trump administration lawyers are defending their new rules on how campuses should handle cases of sexual assault. DeVos’ interim guidelines allow schools to demand a higher standard of evidence that would make it tougher to prove an assault, permit schools to hear appeals only from the accused, and let investigations go on for an indefinite amount of time. … If the Trump administration’s approach prompts some schools to ease up on how they handle sexual assault cases, it’s also already prompting others schools to double down, according to Andrew Miltenberg, an attorney who has represented hundreds of accused students. “It’s driven very much by personal politics … as opposed to institutional policy,” he says. “There has been a very palpable sense of, ‘Hell no! Women have rights, and I’m not turning around and changing how we treat rape victims just because we have Donald Trump as a president.’ I’ve heard it too many times to discount.” Miltenberg says policy corrections are needed, but they must be consistent and measured. Campuses that flout due process protections are as troubling, he says, as schools that are now meting out probation for offenses that used to get expulsions.

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