Bill aims for due process in college sexual assault cases

A Scott County lawmaker is backing legislation aimed at ensuring those accused of sexual assault and sexual misconduct in college are treated fairly.

State Rep. Holly Rehder is a co-sponsor of legislation in the House that would reform how colleges and universities deal with alleged violations of student codes of conduct.

A similar measure has been filed in the Missouri Senate.

The legislation addresses complaints filed under the federal Title IX law, which bans sex-based discrimination in education.

Rehder backed the legislative effort in an opinion piece published earlier this week in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

The Scott County Republican wrote, "Under current campus policies, students accused of sexual assault are brought into Title IX investigations, supposedly designed to determine the truth in such highly sensitive matters.

"With that being said, the process is woefully lacking, dangerously biased and, quite simply, unconstitutional."

Rehder, who was sexually assaulted at age 11, wrote that she recognizes "our colleges' interest in believing women, protecting victims and keeping our campuses safe."

But, according to Rehder, campus investigations fail to preserve due-process protections for both the accused and the accuser.

"Sexual assault should be dealt with through our judicial system. not through a partial process that only seeks to find if the accused is seemingly guilty," she wrote.

"We do not live in a perfect world and I've known both men and women who have lied," Rehder wrote. She added that she has a son who is attending a Missouri college and she fears "what this process could do to the life of an innocent student."

"We must preserve the rights of all Missourians. It's time to preserve due process on our campuses," she concluded.

A divided House Judiciary Committee voted to approve the bill on Tuesday, moving the legislation forward, but only after committee members made major revisions.

Rehder told the Southeast Missourian on Wednesday that she is "OK" with the changes to the bill.

The House committee changes followed pushback from colleges and victims-rights advocates who warned the measure could lead fewer victims to report abuse, according to The Associated Press.

Lawmakers cut a provision that have would have allowed students who were previously disciplined to appeal their cases to the state Administrative Hearing Commission, even if that discipline occurs before the proposed policy takes effect.

The revised bill would allow either party to appeal cases to the commission, but it would only apply to cases that occur after the measure is enacted.

Republican Rep. Dean Dohrman's original proposal would have allowed people who report abuse to be sued for filing false complaints, and it also would have allowed university staffers who handle those complaints to be sued.

Committee members cut those provisions from the bill.

The legislation, which would apply to public and private colleges, requires that students be guaranteed the right to be represented by an attorney.

The bill would allow for cross-examination of witnesses, which Rehder said currently is not allowed at disciplinary hearings on Missouri's college campuses.

Under the revised measure, however, a complainant's past sexual history could not be discussed.

The measure provides that all Title IX appeals heard by the Administrative Hearing Commission would be handled behind closed doors. The original version would have allowed such proceedings to be public.

Sonia Rucker, assistant to the president for equity and diversity at Southeast Missouri State University, said that she is glad the House committee revised the measure.

Rucker, who serves as Southeast's Title IX coordinator, said a public appeals process would have been a major concern as colleges and universities must comply with the federal student privacy law.

Rucker said Southeast and other colleges have disciplinary procedures. At Southeast, complaints are heard by a judicial board of faculty, staff and students.

"It's not a criminal court," she said.

Most of Southeast's judicial board, Title IX cases are "not your typical rape cases," Rucker said.

In most cases, the students know each other, and 60 to 80 percent of the cases involve alcohol, she said. Often, there are no witnesses beyond the parties involved, Rucker said.

Cases typically don't lead to criminal prosecution. Rucker remembered only one case at Southeast since 2015 that led to a criminal charge being filed by a county prosecutor.

Rucker said the state legislative effort seems geared more toward protecting the rights of the accused than the accuser, she said.

But Rehder, the Scott County lawmaker, said there have been incidents across the nation where students have been wrongly accused.

Tennessee recently passed legislation similar to what has been proposed in Missouri, Rehder said. She predicted more states will enact due-process laws in the near future.

mbliss@semissourian.com

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