“They panicked, with a capital ‘P,’ ” said Brett Sokolow, an
attorney who has advised hundreds of colleges on how to deal with sexual
misconduct. “In panicking in response to this strong enforcement, campuses
overcorrected.”
And that “overcorrection” led to cases where the accused had
the deck stacked against them — they were in effect guilty unless they could
prove their innocence.
That, in turn, led to cases like this one involving Amherst
where the accused predator would file suit against the university for espousing
an unfair process.
Now that kind of litigation is forcing schools to rethink
and readjust again. The pendulum continues to swing, and observers, including
the parents of college kids, are waiting for it to find a comfortable medium.
“I think it’s going in the right direction,” Sokolow said.
“I don’t want a process that protects the rights of the accused more than the
victim, and I don’t want a process that protects the rights of the accused. You
have zero margin for error here.”
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