FISHER: Unclear standards
By Ronald Fisher | October 10, 2013The point here is that the University could set up a system which applies a higher evidentiary burden and imposes harsher punishments on sexual offenders. That is to say, it is not clear that such a system is illegal, and there are good reasons to believe that a court might actually uphold it. But by doing so, the University might have to fight the Department of Education in court; and if the University won, it would probably mean that the Sexual Misconduct Board and its analogues at universities across the country would have to apply a higher evidentiary standard than a preponderance of the evidence.
