Thoughtful op-ed by Boulder CO District Attorney:
“Although universities adjudicate student discipline, it is a serious mistake to equate investigation and resolution of felony sex assault with cheating on a test or drinking or smoking in a dorm room or the other normal fodder of the university discipline process, where due process on some level is important, but of an entirely different quality than the criminal justice system provides.” http://www.dailycamera.com/guest-opinions/ci_28837636/stan-garnett-shadow-campus-system-is-no-solution
One of the reasons Stan Garnett believes that sexual assault accusations should be handled by the police and not colleges:
Does he think that police interviews of victims usually exhibit “skill, sensitivity and time”? In his imagination, maybe. In his office, maybe. In general? Hahahaha.
doesn’t matter what a (lowly) local DA thinks. The feds think differently. If they didn’t listen to a bunch of Harvard Law faculty members, so they sure don’t care about anything from flyover country. 
I think he is correct in that the system required of universities should require felonies and the investigation of felonies be turned over to the state judicial system immediately and not after the Title IX hearings take place. Universities would still be following federal law for Title IX, but the procedure would be to turn it over to the police. The school could then have a policy of what to do with the students during the investigation, if an arrest is made, pending trial, etc. And yes, I think police departments/DAs offices do a better job of interviewing witnesses and collecting evidence than the Title IX board which may be made up of a professor from the chemistry department or history department or ethics department with little training in law or forensics or counseling, or maybe have watch a few too many episodes of Law and Order. There was a murder on the CU campus, and the initial officers on scene were University cops. They did an excellent job of preserving evidence, keeping people out, recording who went into the scene, but did not handle the interviews or collecting evidence and the local police were immediately called for those duties. Working together for the best results.
This ed op was in response to something Jared Polis, the congressman for the District that includes Boulder and CU, wrote. Polis’ district also includes other colleges and universities that are outside the 20th Judicial District, so Polis might be concerned that other judicial districts might not handle things as well as Boulder/20th district (although that’s who ‘handled’ the Jonbenet Ramsey case - but a different DA). Polis is also considering his other constituents, like Colorado School of Mines and a number of community colleges that might not have the internal investigation power of CU and where the judicial district is not nearly as well trained.
I agree with the DA that Title IX, and the letter to the schools that everyone has been following since 1972, has been stretched much farther than was originally intended without the training or investigational resources required to handle these matters in 2015.
I think it’s a pretty well reasoned article in response to the outrageous statement the representative made. In the grand scheme of things probably more people than not agree with him and wonder why universities are being pressured to investigate and adjudicate what is technically a crime if the language being used is sexual assault and rape. If the government wants to turn it into a federal crime and use federal court system, then government could certainly do that and let the feds investigate and adjudicate.
Rep. Polis’ district does not include Mines, that is Rep. Perlmutter’s 7th district; Polis’ district includes CSU. Here is a link to his comments
http://www.dailycamera.com/guest-opinions/ci_28818663/jared-polis-colleges-should-handle-sex-assault-cases.
Sorry about mixing up the congressional districts - the 7th district was gerrymandered several years ago and one minute I was in it and the next (which I discovered at the polling place) I was out,and I lived on the east side, not anywhere near Golden.
Here’s what CU is doing. I think it is fine, but it is NOT a criminal investigation, no rights are protected, and it has a very good chance of screwing up evidence if the ‘crime’ is not reported M-F between 8-5. I find it ironic that CU doesn’t recognize the fraternities as student groups, but involves them in this Title IX matter as important enough to get their own bullet point. http://www.colorado.edu/news/features/valerie-simons-ocr-representatives-seeing-our-title-ix-progress-first-hand
I would have less problem with the university treating it as a crime, having the university police handle the investigation, take statements and evidence at the time, have some kind of prosecution/defense hearing set up. But most university police departments aren’t set up like that. They don’t have a ‘booking’ office, don’t have the ability to bring criminal charges in their own ‘courts,’ and don’t have any real power other than to expel (through the university) the student. I think the power to expel is a great power, but not as great as imprisonment. No one would question what to do if there was a manslaughter case on campus - call the police. The crime can be a lower grade felony than rape. Why should the campus police investigate one type of felony and not another? If a student treasurer embezzled funds, the school would call the police. Arson? Call the police.
I agree, @twoinanddone, and it seems like a college could protect itself from exposure to lawsuits for botching these “investigations” when an actual felony crime is at issue (such as assault or embezzlement or arson or whatever). I’m not familiar enough with Title IX… Do colleges have the power to refer all crimes to the police and wash their hands of any decisionmaking, or are they obligated/mandated to handle such things in house?
They are mandated to handle the cases in house.
Ah. Well, then they have no choice. That sure puts a college between a rock and a hard place.
Edit: And now I’m wondering, how much of our tuition dollars go to funding these types of proceedings at colleges? I’m talking about investigating/handling/adjudicating/fending off future lawsuits involving student v student FELONY accusations that, in the absence of the location of the crime (i.e. the campus), would normally be handled by the police?
Well you’re paying for at minimum a Title IX coordinator and now since the losing lawsuits many colleges are hiring ex-judges and investigators to “handle” these quasi-judicial issues… add to the list of administrative bloat. I would guess if the unis are “under investigation” they have “people” in administration and of course when sued they have legal fees. I’d love to know the answer to “what it’s costing” to mimic services we all pay taxes for.
They aren’t mandated to ‘handle’ the cases in house, but are required to have a system to provide a safe environment. They can’t just ‘let the courts handle it’ as the court system may not have enough evidence to bring charges. The school still has to deal with the interactions between the two students, student/faculty, solo student accused of a crime, etc., and often does so much faster than the ‘system’ can handle it. Accused students have fought back and are now demanding that the process use by the schools has some civil rights protections, that evidence meets a standard, that an accused student has the right to representation and that the finder of fact/deciding body has some sort of training in the rules of evidence.
“I’m wondering, how much of our tuition dollars go to funding these types of proceedings at colleges?”
Not enough, if we want them to do a decent job. At a bare minimum, both students need counsel, and most of the time that is only possible if the school pays for it.
I am not ok with developing an entirely new system within a college for dealing with FELONY accusations outside of the criminal justice system already in place in every jurisdiction.
Number one, we have a perfectly good criminal justice system that has its flaws but any system would; colleges are not going to improve on this.
Number two, college tuition is already soaring without having to also duplicate a criminal justice system.
Number three, if there isn’t enough evidence to prosecute a crime, then the college has no business prosecuting it either.
And those are just the first things that come to mind.