The change De Vos has made is good, but to me it does not go far enough.
My view is that schools have no business adjudicating guilt and innocence on any charges about sexual conduct for which the law or the courts in the states have legal remedies.
A complainant can file a charge with local police or prosecutors for the government jurisdiction in which the school is located. Those officials, not the school can investigate the case, beginning the legal process of adjudicating any claims.
If a charge is not covered by local law, but is still considered some form of harassment, the complainant can go to the courts for two remedies. The immediate remedy is the complainant can seek a restraining order against someone, presenting evidence for it, and accepting the courts action. More seriously the complainant can enter a civil suit against someone, and again accepting the court result of that suit.
After, and only after, any of those processes the school will have the LEGAL and COURT decided results of any complaints. The government rules should ONLY require that waiting for those legal processes is what schools must do, taking no action against anyone until those processes have completed. The additional rule must be that schools cannot make administrative decisions against students that are contradictory towards the results of legal proceedings by the local authorities or the courts.
I cannot accept colleges acting as a “law” authority on their own. They reside in legal government jurisdictions fully capable of adjudicating matters of sexual harassment. THAT is where the matters belong, and that is where a defendant will receive all their rights.
Enjoyed reading your opinion. Right on the money.
Now that the Judge has ruled that the case will go to trial, Colgate will settle for a very big number.