Under pressure from federal Title IX enforcers, universities have been weakening the procedural protections for accused students who seek a chance to respond to the charges against them. As a result, cases like that of Yale athlete Patrick Witt will become more frequent. [Boston Globe; my Commentary piece a year and a half ago] A contrasting view: Christina Stoneburner.
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I couldn’t help but be disappointed in many of the comments that the Globe article generated. Despite the fact that sports reports at the time stated explicitly that these accusations would prevent him from being drafted despite the great potential he had, folks seem to think he had no hope in the draft.
And also seem to assume he was guilty of whatever unknown charge he was accused of.
Modern justice at work.
I agree with OB about many of the comments in the “Globe.”
On a different note, however, I praise the new editorial direction of the “Boston Globe,” supportive of justice for the first time in decades. In addition to Patrick Witt’s Op-Ed, they ran the letter by 28 Harvard Law professors condemning Harvard’s new presumption of guilt in sex accusations.
Perhaps decisively for Martha Coakley’s near-miss as gubernatorial candidate, the “Globe” gave prominent coverage to the early death last month of Bernard Baran, the “Matthew Shepard of Massachusetts,” a 19-year-old day-care worker hustled off to life in prison by a viciously homophobic and dishonest DA. After 21 years, Baran was released six years ago and exonerated, but with permanently impaired health. As Massachusetts Attorney General, Coakley worked behind the scenes to block a formal apology (“expungement”) and reduce compensation.