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Colorado Representative Says That If One Out of 10 Students May Have Committed Sexual Assault, It’s ‘Better to Get Rid of All Ten People’ Just In Case
Yesterday FIRE’s Legislative and Policy Director, Joe Cohn, testified before the House Education and Workforce Committee’s Subcommittee on Higher Education and Workforce Training during its hearing on “Preventing and Responding to Sexual Assault on College Campuses.” When delivering his testimony, Joe elaborated on the importance of preserving the due process rights of accused students during investigations of campus sexual assault. But one moment from the hearing stood out in particular.
As you can see from the video below, Rep. Jared Polis (D-Colo.) suggested that the “preponderance of the evidence” standard — which requires only that fact-finders be 50.01 percent certain in order to find an accused student guilty — may be too high of a bar for campus sexual assault cases:
“It certainly seems reasonable that a school for its own purposes might want to use a preponderance of evidence standard, or even a lower standard. Perhaps a likelihood standard. I mean, we’re talking about a private institution, and if I was running one I might say, well, you know, even if there is only a 20 or 30 percent chance that it happened, I would want to remove this individual.”[Emphasis added.]
Polis went on to say:
“It seems like we ought to provide more of a legal framework, then, that allows a reasonable likelihood standard or a preponderance of evidence standard. If there are 10 people who have been accused, and under a reasonable likelihood standard maybe one or two did it, it seems better to get rid of all 10 people. We’re not talking about depriving them of life or liberty, we’re talking about them being transferred to another university, for crying out loud.” [Emphasis added.]
Polis’ last line drew enthusiastic applause from the crowd, which mostly consisted of college students, college-aged interns, rape survivor advocacy organizations, and Capitol Hill staffers. Throughout the hearing, Stanford University students held up signs protesting Joe’s remarks.
Check out the video of Polis’ statements below or over at the Subcommittee’s YouTube channel, which has the full hearing.
Published in General
A good rule to apply to Politicians, good luck there. Would violate their rights, Ya know.
I suggest we implement this line of “reasoning” post-haste. Then, when these institutions experience the financial bankruptcy to match their moral bankruptcy, perhaps new, sane institutions will gain a foothold.
Yep, because clearing your name of accusations of sexual assault really has no value to any man. It’s not like it’s the kind of thing that follows you around for the rest of your life.
[In interview]
“Listen, that was not a criminal indictment, merely an administrative accusation of rape.”
Polis is astonishingly stupid. As far as I’m aware, no judicial or quasi-judicial body in the entire western world convicts or finds a defendant liable for anything, even the most trivial charge, if the evidence shows that the defendant most likely did not commit the offense.
How on earth could a system to the contrary be justified–it breaks every elementary rule of fairness. You’re pretty sure that someone didn’t do something, but you convict anyway because you find that the charge so heinous? This is a complete perversion of our entire justice system.
And, then Polis cuts off the witness when he was about to correct Polis’ profoundly idiotic statement that when a student is expelled from a university on rape charges, it’s no BFD* because the expelled student will just transfer colleges. Really? Isn’t there some public record of the reason for the expulsion? What other college would have such a student? Who would hire him? In reality, it would ruin his life. Unbelievable.
*Apologies in advance for the CoC infraction, but Polis’ cavalier attitude set me on FIRE here.
Ok then. So lets have a show of hands as to how many of you think Mr Polis is too stupid to make these kinds of decisions. Hmm, a little less than a third of you? By his own standard I suppose we should get rid of him just in case…
I hope for Colorado’s sake this gets played to his constituents a few thousand times when the next election rolls around.
From Art XIII, Sect 2 of the Colorado State Constitution: …shall be liable to impeachment for high crimes or misdemeanors or malfeasance in office….
Applying Polis’ Likelihood Standard to himself, keeping in mind he’s a Democrat, and understanding that Democrats are prone to limit individual liberty on the grounds that (their) Big Government Knows Better, there’s a likelihood that the Democrats in the Colorado legislature will apply limits to individual liberty.
Thus, there is sufficient evidence on which to impeach and convict Polis for the likelihood of his malfeasance. Pour l’encouragement des autres.
Eric Hines
I rather hope his constituents are not the “enthusiastic applause” types seen in that crowd/mob.
I have a deep dark secret. Some years ago I was a page in the House of Representatives. I was in the member’s cloakroom while 10 congressmen were present in the chamber, one of whom was Jared Polis. One of these congressmen sexually assaulted me. I don’t know which one it was, but all ten should be removed from the House.
How do you like your stupid standard now, Polis?
To the dishonorable Congressman Polis:
Supposed while in school you were administratively accused of rape, and transferred schools. You somehow get a job or start your own business, and then run for Congress when you’re 40 years old. Your opponent finds this out, so how would you respond to the press inquiries? Even if your district is 80% Democrat, do you think you would win?
Sounds like the old Twilight Zone show The Obsolete Man, where the Chancellor is ruled obsolete!
The problem with these kangaroo court inquests is that whether a sexual assault occurs at a state or a private college campus the allegation should be investigated by the police, the real police, not campus police. The disaster at Penn State could have been avoided if the real police had been called in to investigate the allegations of sexual abuse as soon as the allegations were made. Campus police, professors, administrators, and students do not have the expertise to investigate a sexual abuse or rape case in a manner that protects the rights of the victim or the rights of those who have been falsely accused.
Anyone else here reminded of Alec d’Urberville?
I think we need to find some woman willing to accuse Representative Polis of rape. She needs to describe the assault by saying Polis pummeled her, threw her on a glass coffee table so hard it broke, and then raped her on the broken glass. Then carry around a mattress everywhere to remind people of what he did to her. And repeated state women do not lie about rape.
He would not get it. Guaranteed.
Seawriter
Well it all depends on what the meaning of is is, doesn’t it?
Methinks Mr. Polis doth protest too much. It makes me think this is the kind of guy one finds out later is a serial murderer of prostitutes.
If so, by his own logic, we should throw him in jail. Just in case, that is.
Seawriter
Well, according to this map Rep. Polis district includes Boulder, so unfortunately I suspect many of his constituents will be just fine with his comments.
It seems to me that a place such as these colleges that supports a 25% rape rate should be shutdown. If a business had a 25% rape rate of their employees or patrons that place would be closed down immediately. If it was a church, the libs would burn it to the ground. Why do colleges get a pass?
I guarantee sight unseen that the military has an excellent track record compared to universities. I would like to see a study, controlled for age, race, sex, and so forth, comparing military to college life for rape, assault, and harassment incidents.
One problem is pressure to “up report” incidents, so that molehills are mountains, and another is translating between sets of differing, flexible “standards”.
Still, perfection is only the enemy when there’s a closer bad guy to hide.
I think that the worst problem here is an appalling innumeracy particularly with regard to probability and statistics.
Several supposedly quantitative statements in the article set off my spider-sense.
I’ll never forget when one girl whom I used to run around with told me that her very close friend (also a cutie) worried that I was “a potential abuser”.
It was only the mid-nineties, but right away I felt the icy Orwellian grip on my bowels. Everybody is “a potential abuser”. It sounds specific, as if there would have to be some justifying rationale. Unfortunately the accusation is true for 100% of humanity.
I objected gently and casually changed the subject for dear life.
My recollection is that the actual incidence of rape according to US govt. statistics is about 600/100,000, or about .6%. The “college stat” we hear is about 33 times higher than the actual.
Ball Diamond Ball:
Changed the subject!!?? I would have changed girlfriends…IMMEDIATELY!
It was her friend.
Why only women? Lets get inclusive!
It’s not just a question of expertise. It’s also a question of motivation and ideology.
Under no circumstances should any major charge be allowed by these Kangaroo Courts.
How about a mandatory warning on all college communication, like the health warnings on cigarettes so beloved of Progressives….
“Women attending X University have a 25% chance of being raped while attending this University”.
I suspect the universities would take a whole different view on this issue if that were the case.
This is one of the most disturbing posts I have read in quite a while. Who is this Polis character and why is he not being ridiculed by everyone (mothers and fathers with college-aged sons in particular) ? These are some of the most stupid (stupidest?) comments ever uttered by a public official. If this is what passes for reasoned political discourse in D.C., we’re all in big trouble. And yes, I have two college-aged sons…..
Okay, I feel better now…. :-)
See, this is where numbers get fun. If there is a 10% chance that each guy is a rapist, and a 25% chance the a female will be raped, and a nominal parity of males/females on campus, then each rapist should display 2.5 rapes, which means a timely sexual assault resolution rate of 40% by the campus police.
How does the campus police like this characterization? Oh, and the whole approach is loathsome. Just playing with numbers on the side.
There is an old joke about the prostitute, who, realizing that she had been paid in counterfeit bills, cried, “Rape.”
What appears to be going on on campuses these days is almost as ludicrous, with young women crying rape days, weeks, and even months after what seemed to be consensual sexual encounters when the boy doesn’t call her after their hookup, or she realizes that she has feelings of guilt about what happened, or after their relationship turns sour, or who knows why.
I’d feel a little better about these charges of rape if they went both ways. I’d like to see some of these college women charged with raping men who had had a bit too much to drink, for example. And I’d like to see the same standard of proof applied. Too many sexually aggressive women are getting away with murder, so to speak, and this might be the true epidemic of sexual assault that no one wants to talk about.