Just throw away the boys
published in the Boulder Daily Camera, 9/14/15
Every now and then, politicians say things that just knock the wind right out of you. I'm not talking about the stupid and generally amusing things like those that came out of The Donald's mouth this summer. That was entertainment. No, I'm talking about the serious comments made by politicians that make you wonder if the world has just shifted beneath your feet, and not in a good way.
On Sept. 10, our local congressional representative, Jared Polis, let out a whopper that dropped a lot of jaws, and it was not meant for entertainment. He was serious.
Rep. Polis's comments came during a congressional subcommittee hearing on higher education where they were discussing campus rape cases. At issue was the standard of proof that should be required before a student who has been accused of sexual assault is disciplined.
For those of you who haven't been following this lively debate over the past few years, the standard of proof of sexual assault now recommended by the U.S. Department of Education is "preponderance of the evidence," which means that, if you think it better than 50-50 that the assault happened, you punish the student. This standard is already substantially lower than the one used in our criminal justice system, which is "beyond a reasonable doubt." So, with today's Department of Education-endorsed policies, students who would never be convicted in a court of law can be disciplined by colleges whenever those sitting in judgment think, "Yeah, looks like he probably did it."
And, let's not pussyfoot around what this really means — virtually all accusations of sexual assault on college campuses involve women accusing men. Lowering this standard of proof for sexual assault has always been designed to induce bias against college men into the higher education justice system.
Apparently, Rep. Polis did not think the current level of bias against college boys was sufficient. So, during the congressional hearing, he suggested that the standard of proof be dropped even lower to a "reasonable likelihood" that a sexual assault took place. In Rep. Polis' words, "If there are 10 people who have been accused, and under a reasonable likelihood standard maybe one or two did it, it seems better to get rid of all 10 people."
I quickly did the math, and figured out that what Rep. Polis assumed was that lowering the standard of proof as he suggests will result in finding an innocent student guilty 80-90 percent of the time. So, according to Rep. Polis, if the 80 percent to 90 percent of innocent boys unjustly found guilty of rape on college campuses have a big red scarlet letter painted on their chests and get kicked out of school, it's worth it.
My jaw dropped. I thought he must have misspoken since no one would propose a justice system that knowingly punished innocent people over 80 percent of the time. However, that is exactly what he said and meant since he confirmed it in subsequent comments.
Apparently, the congressional staffer whose job it was to kick Jared under the table didn't move fast enough since Polis then went on to say, "We're not talking about depriving them of life or liberty, we're talking about them being transferred to another university, for crying out loud."
Hmmm... maybe I'm missing something, but it seems like kicking innocent boys out of college is depriving them of their life and liberty — their life at the college they had selected and their liberty to choose a college of their choice. It just appears that Rep. Polis doesn't think that these innocent boys' lives or liberties are worth protecting.
It also seems that Rep. Polis does not understand that not everyone can just transfer to another university. Not every student kicked out of college for something they didn't do will be able find a new school that can teach them what they want to learn at a cost they can afford and in a location that they can live in. His dismissiveness of the challenges that will be faced by these innocent boys sounded like the words of the privileged rich man that Rep. Polis is.
Since being taken to task for these comments, Rep. Polis has stuck to his guns. He really thinks this is a good idea, which is perhaps the most shocking thing of all.
Sexual assault on college campuses is a serious problem that deserves serious thought and action. Rep. Polis' suggestion that we just throw away a bunch of innocent boys to solve the problem is not serious. It's disgraceful.
Every now and then, politicians say things that just knock the wind right out of you. I'm not talking about the stupid and generally amusing things like those that came out of The Donald's mouth this summer. That was entertainment. No, I'm talking about the serious comments made by politicians that make you wonder if the world has just shifted beneath your feet, and not in a good way.
On Sept. 10, our local congressional representative, Jared Polis, let out a whopper that dropped a lot of jaws, and it was not meant for entertainment. He was serious.
Rep. Polis's comments came during a congressional subcommittee hearing on higher education where they were discussing campus rape cases. At issue was the standard of proof that should be required before a student who has been accused of sexual assault is disciplined.
For those of you who haven't been following this lively debate over the past few years, the standard of proof of sexual assault now recommended by the U.S. Department of Education is "preponderance of the evidence," which means that, if you think it better than 50-50 that the assault happened, you punish the student. This standard is already substantially lower than the one used in our criminal justice system, which is "beyond a reasonable doubt." So, with today's Department of Education-endorsed policies, students who would never be convicted in a court of law can be disciplined by colleges whenever those sitting in judgment think, "Yeah, looks like he probably did it."
And, let's not pussyfoot around what this really means — virtually all accusations of sexual assault on college campuses involve women accusing men. Lowering this standard of proof for sexual assault has always been designed to induce bias against college men into the higher education justice system.
Apparently, Rep. Polis did not think the current level of bias against college boys was sufficient. So, during the congressional hearing, he suggested that the standard of proof be dropped even lower to a "reasonable likelihood" that a sexual assault took place. In Rep. Polis' words, "If there are 10 people who have been accused, and under a reasonable likelihood standard maybe one or two did it, it seems better to get rid of all 10 people."
I quickly did the math, and figured out that what Rep. Polis assumed was that lowering the standard of proof as he suggests will result in finding an innocent student guilty 80-90 percent of the time. So, according to Rep. Polis, if the 80 percent to 90 percent of innocent boys unjustly found guilty of rape on college campuses have a big red scarlet letter painted on their chests and get kicked out of school, it's worth it.
My jaw dropped. I thought he must have misspoken since no one would propose a justice system that knowingly punished innocent people over 80 percent of the time. However, that is exactly what he said and meant since he confirmed it in subsequent comments.
Apparently, the congressional staffer whose job it was to kick Jared under the table didn't move fast enough since Polis then went on to say, "We're not talking about depriving them of life or liberty, we're talking about them being transferred to another university, for crying out loud."
Hmmm... maybe I'm missing something, but it seems like kicking innocent boys out of college is depriving them of their life and liberty — their life at the college they had selected and their liberty to choose a college of their choice. It just appears that Rep. Polis doesn't think that these innocent boys' lives or liberties are worth protecting.
It also seems that Rep. Polis does not understand that not everyone can just transfer to another university. Not every student kicked out of college for something they didn't do will be able find a new school that can teach them what they want to learn at a cost they can afford and in a location that they can live in. His dismissiveness of the challenges that will be faced by these innocent boys sounded like the words of the privileged rich man that Rep. Polis is.
Since being taken to task for these comments, Rep. Polis has stuck to his guns. He really thinks this is a good idea, which is perhaps the most shocking thing of all.
Sexual assault on college campuses is a serious problem that deserves serious thought and action. Rep. Polis' suggestion that we just throw away a bunch of innocent boys to solve the problem is not serious. It's disgraceful.
