A new report asserts that among the top 53 universities in the country, as ranked by U.S. News & World Report, 73% do not guarantee students they will be presumed to be innocent until they are found guilty.
The Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE) surveyed the universities, and found a shocking lack of respect for due process. Among their findings they found that almost half of the schools did not hold that fact-finders should be deemed impartial; 52.8% required that these fact-finders, who often act as the arbiters of the case at hand, be impartial.
Additionally, only 30.2% of the universities assured a hearing in which each party could witness the evidence presented by the opposing party. A whopping 47 of the 53 universities surveyed got a D or F grade from FIRE for at least one disciplinary policy; that meant they did not offer more than 4 of the 10 elements of a fair procedure that FIRE rated. FIRE added, “86.8% of rated universities receive a D or F for protecting the due process rights of students accused of sexual misconduct. Of the 104 policies rated at the 53 schools in the report, not a single policy receives an A grade.” – READ MORE