Tuesday, October 17, 2017

Voice of reason

About a month ago, Education Secretary Betsy DeVos ended an Obama era ruling which essentially lowered the burden of proof for sexual assaults on campus. And if state universities were non-compliant with the Obama administration ruling and thus had the nerve to be guided by that Constitution thingy, said universities lived with the threat of having Federal funds cut off.

Because DeVos is part of the Donald Trump administration, her common sense directive was met with the obligatory lunacy and hyperbole.

Recently there was a state legislature looking to codify the old Obama directive, essentially looking to have its state's campuses resume "kangaroo courts" as opposed to letting the legal system adjudicate allegations of a crime.

Thankfully this particular state's governor was the voice of reason in vetoing such legislation.

..(T)houghtful legal minds have increasingly questioned whether federal and state actions to prevent and redress sexual harassment and assault—well-intentioned as they are—have also unintentionally resulted in some colleges’ failure to uphold due process for accused students."

Kudos to Gov. Scott Walker. Then again, ensuring laws don't infringe upon the Due Process clause in both the 5th and 14th amendments would seemingly be the proverbial layup for a conservative governor. After all, expelling a student for a crime which wasn't adequately adjudicated could unnecessarily and unjustly jeopardize the accused's future.

Wait, WHAT?!?!? You mean the governor in question is not Gov. Walker of Wisconsin???

“Depriving any student of higher education opportunities should not be done lightly, or out of fear of losing state or federal funding,” Gov. Jerry Brown (D-CA) said.

Huh. Whatta ya know.

Props to Gov. Moonbeam.

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