Last week, an opinion piece discussing the new University System of Georgia Sexual Misconduct Policy posited that the U.S. Department of Education must protect the respondent's due process rights in any “university-initiated Title IX investigation” of sexual misconduct allegations by “tweak[ing] past policies” to require, for example, that “the appropriate law enforcement and prosecutor's office investigate and adjudicate the complaint”; and that school disciplinary policies impose the beyond a reasonable doubt standard of proof in a way “consistent with constitutional norms in a criminal case.”

Make no mistake, I oppose all unjustly weighted sexual misconduct grievance procedures. It is for that reason that I object to any suggestion that DOE should, or can, act with unconstitutional caprice to discard statutes such as Title IX and the Clery Act. Indeed, Title IX's purpose is to ensure that parties are treated equitably in all aspects of their educations. The problem is that schools fail to comply.

The article supports its proposal with striking inaccuracies concerning not only the new policy, but also the laws that it violates. For example, the piece asserts that it was not until DOE released guidance materials in 2011 and 2014 that schools were required to address sexual misconduct complaints with “swift investigation and adjudication” using the preponderance of the evidence standard of proof.