Op-Ed: Why it’s unfair for colleges to use outside investigators in rape cases

By Justin Dillon and Matt Kaiser (September 15, 2015 at 5:00 AM PT) -- In recent months, public attention has focused on campus sexual assault like never before. As a result, the way that colleges and universities handle rape allegations is evolving rapidly.

Some of these reforms are good — students should have ready access to counseling and support services, and colleges should have conversations with their students about the norms of consent on campus. But as lawyers who have represented dozens of accused students nationwide, we believe that many of these changes are warping traditional ideas of due process. One especially worrisome development is the move by schools to use outside investigators to decide cases.

We’re sympathetic to school administrators, who are in a no-win situation. Finding a student responsible for sexual assault may ruin his life — most of the accused are men — and put the school at risk of a lawsuit. Finding a student not responsible can result in an expensive inquiry from the Department of Education — currently 124 schools and counting — a Title IX lawsuit, or public shaming along the lines of what happened to Columbia University when one of its hearing panels exonerated Emma Sulkowicz’s alleged assailant. Hers was the mattress seen ‘round the world.

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