Justin Dillon Quoted in The Free Press

April 23, 2024 -- Last Friday, the Biden administration followed through on a promise: to roll back civil rights for college students accused of sexual misconduct. The new regulations come under Title IX, the federal law that prohibits sex discrimination in education. Set to go into effect in August, they will restore some of the worst excesses introduced when Biden was vice president under Obama.

One of the most concerning is the return of the “single-investigator” model that was barred under Trump. This means “one administrator can act as detective, prosecutor, judge, and jury on a Title IX complaint.”

Justin Dillon, a D.C. attorney who has represented accused students for a decade, says of the rollback, “You arrive at truth by asking hard questions. But single investigators have no incentive to do that, which is why they are the worst possible model if you want to get to the truth. This is going to lead to more erroneous outcomes, and more lawsuits.” 

The new rules damage due process in more ways than one: 

• Accused students will lose the right to have access to all evidence gathered in the university’s Title IX investigation.
• They will lose the right to have a live hearing to adjudicate the claim against them;
• They will no longer be able to have an adviser or attorney cross-examine adverse witnesses;
• And the Biden administration has voided the basic requirement that any investigation open with a written complaint.
  

Read the full article at The Free Press >