Accused College Students Deserve the Presumption of Innocence

Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos believes that college students accused of sexual misconduct in Title IX cases are owed a presumption of innocence, or non-responsibility, in keeping with a bedrock principle of Western justice. Attorneys general from 18 states and the District of Columbia disagree.

In a formal letter, these senior law-enforcement officials, who must overcome the presumption of innocence in their criminal prosecutions, asserted that the presumption of non-responsibility in campus proceedings “improperly tilts the process” in favor of the accused, and that it therefore should not be required of colleges, as the Department of Education recently suggested it should be in a proposed rule.

Their reasoning:

The proposed rule states that there is a “presumption” that the respondent is “not responsible” for the alleged sexual harassment. The presumption appears aimed at protecting respondents in a manner akin to the presumption of innocence in criminal cases. But the grievance procedures are non-criminal in nature, so a criminal presumption by another name is not appropriate. Relatedly, but more fundamentally, the presumption contradicts the regulation’s stated goal of promoting impartiality by inherently favoring the respondent’s denial