WHEREAS, protecting students from sexual misconduct is of high importance, and;

WHEREAS, the need to protect the right of those accused of such violations to a fair and impartial investigation is of equally high importance, and;

WHEREAS, the procedures currently implemented by Title IX offices across the United States for investigating and adjudicating sexual misconduct allegations have been widely criticized for lacking basic fairness and due process protections for the accused by lawyers, journalists, civil rights groups, and individuals across the political spectrum [1,2,3,6,7], and;

WHEREAS, these processes have resulted in a number of decisions based on dubious evidence [1,4], resulting in a growing number of lawsuits filed against universities in court [4], and;

WHEREAS, UCI policy contains many such procedural deficiencies including: use of the lowest possible burden of proof, significant restrictions on cross-examination, denying the accused access to evidence and knowledge of full scope of accusations, failure to provide the accused proper time to prepare a defense, failure to provide representation for either party, centralization of entire investigation power and nearly complete decision making power in the hands of a single individual [5] without properly guarding against conflicts of interest [6], and;

WHEREAS, the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education’s recent analysis of due process on university campuses gave UCI policy on handling sexual misconduct allegations a 6/20(D) grade [6], and;

WHEREAS, UCI Title IX office publicly claims to conduct “fair and thorough” investigations [5], yet has previously refused to defend this claim in a public forum or to release any of its investigator training materials, and;

WHEREAS, portions of Title IX were cancelled by United States Secretary of Education (USSE) Betsy DeVos because:

1.      “Because the guidelines don’t require that those accused of sexual assault be proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt, they lack due process, as required by U.S. law. “The accused must know that guilt is not predetermined,” DeVos said.

2.      School administrators, who often play the roles of juries and judges when it comes to determining whether sexual assault took place, are ill-equipped to do so: “There’s a competency gap here.”

3.      Schools are spending more time on data collection for sexual cases than on creating policies to stop them. “The Office for Civil Rights [a sub-branch of the DOE that enforces Title IX regulations] has terrified schools,” she said, suggesting that as a result, schools are “overreaching.”[8], and;

WHEREAS, the Department of Education has released a Dear Colleague letter, endorsed by USSE Besty DeVos, addressing the changes and the reason for changing the Obama-era Title IX to:

  “…inform you that the Department of Education is withdrawing the statements of policy and guidance reflected in the following documents:

• Dear Colleague Letter on Sexual Violence, issued by the Office for Civil Rights at the U.S. Department of Education, dated April 4, 2011.

• Questions and Answers on Title IX and Sexual Violence, issued by the Office for Civil Rights at the U.S. Department of Education, dated April 29, 2014. [9]”, and;

WHEREAS, the “letter correctly notes that the Obama-era interpretation of Title IX was never subjected to public notice and comment—an inappropriate course of action, given that the guidance was essentially a new rule rather than a clarification of an existing rule.”[10], and;

WHEREAS, 29 United States Senators have petitioned USSE Betsy DeVos not to rescind these portions of Title IX [11]”, and;

WHEREAS, Rep. Speier, Jackie [D-CA-14] has introduced a bill, H.R. 4030 to Congress with the intention of codifying the previous unjust federally mandated regulations that deny the accused of basic civil rights, [12], and;

WHEREAS, the 12 members of the Government Relations committee for UCSA voted in support of the ironically titled “Title IX Protection Act” on November 5^th, 2017, ignoring any discussion about supporting the loss of civil rights for all UC students when it’s the job of student representatives is to ensure that students rights are protected, not removed, [13] and;

WHEREAS, as elected student government representatives whose job it is to advocate for and protect all undergraduate students, it’s the obligation of Senate to work for and protect UC Irvine undergraduate students first, not outside associations such as UCSA, and;

WHERAS, UC Irvine students have sought opportunities with the Title IX office to debate these policies and have been repeatedly turned down, and;

WHEREAS, the support of H.R. 1040 by UCSA has direct implications at UC Irvine, creating an unsafe environment for ALL UCI students, graduate and undergraduate students, by denying due process that the Bill of Rights was intended to secure, [14]; and,

WHEREAS transparency and open dialogue are core values of the UC Irvine community, necessary for the discovery of truth and formulating solutions to complex and serious problems including responding to allegations of sexual misconduct in a manner that is fair and just and produces results in which the student body and general public can have confidence in.

THEREFORE LET IT BE RESOLVED that ASUCI Senate and Executives request the UCI Title IX director, the UC Systemwide Title IX coordinator, and a representative from the UCI Office of Student Conduct present themselves before the ASUCI and AGS student body for public questioning regarding UC and UCI’s stated policies and practices on or before November 29th, 2017, and;

LET IT BE FURTHER RESOLVED that ASUCI and AGS will organize this event together, cover all relevant costs, inform the student body of its time and date via email, allow up to 2 hours of questioning from AGS and ASUCI representatives and equal time for questioning from the public, and;

LET IT BE FURTHER RESOLVED that following the event AGS and ASUCI representatives will be afforded 30 days to discuss and debate UCI and UC-wide procedures amongst themselves and their constituents, after which ASUCI representatives will hold a vote on their confidence that these procedures are in fact “fair and thorough”, issue a public statement explaining the rationale for the vote, and, if necessary, instruct relevant UC and UCI employees to correct specific structural deficiencies in these procedures.

____

[1] KC Johnson, How American College Campuses Have Become Anti–Due Process.  http://www.heritage.org/education/report/how-american-college-campuses-have-become-anti-due-process

[2] Christina Hoff Sommers & Stuart Taylor: College rape culture & the death of due process | VIEWPOINT, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rtO8wUJRNIY

[3] The Uncomfortable Truth About Campus Rape Policy https://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2017/09/the-uncomfortable-truth-about-campus-rape-policy/538974/

[4] Jake New, Several Students Win Recent Lawsuits Against Colleges that Punished Them for Sexual Assault,

several-students-win-recent-lawsuits-against-colleges-punished-them-sexual-assault https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2016/04/14/several-students-win-recent-lawsuits-against-Colleges-punished-them-sexual-assault

[5] UCI Sexual Violence and Sexual Harassment Policy http://policy.ucop.edu/doc/4000385/SVSH

[6] Spotlight on Due Process 2017, https://www.thefire.org/due-process-report-2017/

[7] Open letter from 16 Penn Law School professors about Title IX and sexual assault complaints, https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/volokh-conspiracy/wp/2015/02/19/open-letter-from-16-penn-law-school-professors-about-title-ix-and-sexual-assault-complaints

[8] Valentina Zarya. Betsy DeVos Wants to Rescind Title IX Protection for Sexual Assault Survivors. Here's What That Means. Fortune (web), http://fortune.com/2017/09/07/betsy-devos-title-ix-sexual-assault/

[9] Candice Jackson, Dear Colleague, September 22^nd 2017, Acting Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights, U.S. Department of Education, https://www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ocr/letters/colleague-title-ix-201709.pdf

[10] Robby Soave, “Betsy DeVos Withdraws 'Dear Colleague' Letter That Weaponized Title IX Against Due Process, ‘These documents have led to the deprivation of rights for many students.’” Reason.com, Sep. 22, 2017,

http://reason.com/blog/2017/09/22/breaking-betsy-devos-withdraws-dear-coll

[11] Alana Vagianos, 29 Senators Sign Letter Urging DeVos To Maintain Title IX Guidelines

The education secretary has said she plans to rescind the current guidance on campus sexual assault, Huffpost, https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/29-senators-sign-letter-devos-title-ix-guidelines_us_59bb1be7e4b02da0e1409bab

[12] Rep. Speier, Jackie [D-CA-14], H.R. 4010, https://www.congress.gov/bill/115th-congress/house-bill/4030/text

[13] https://docs.google.com/document/d/1bUxnZT_JBa0TbC12YG7Js3ItKYEEJqP0zK-c1xmN0Wo/edit

Government Relations Updates                                                                      (5 minutes)                                                     

Discussion: UCSA Legislative Stances                                                                      (20 minutes)

Bills without a recommended position below are simply information items.

Budget Asks: n/a

Bills:   

A.        Title IX Protection Act - Support

B.        College Transparency Act - Support

Citizens Take Action- Restore Democracy Amendment

[14] https://www.billofrightsinstitute.org/founding-documents/bill-of-rights/