Dear Editor,
Last week, the Star published an article concerning oncoming changes to Title IX legislation and guidance at a federal level. The Secretary of Education, Betsy DeVos, raised an important point recently which last week’s article quoted: “The sad reality is that Lady Justice is not blind on campuses today.” Currently, almost all private and public colleges have internal disciplinary and justice systems. However, while these systems often handle severe cases, sometimes of a criminal scale, they are not held to the same standards as the legal system. Houghton is a prime example of this problem. Houghton’s current disciplinary evidence standard is “preponderance of evidence.” This means that if investigators think there is a greater chance that the accused is guilty than innocent, even if only by a margin of 1%, they can dispense punishment of various forms. This is, frankly, a slap in the face to the justice that should be inherent to our Christian identity. All things considered, I find Nancy Murphy’s statements of apprehension to be disconcerting. The purpose of any justice system is the protection of the innocent. The presumption of innocence is the very foundation of this goal, and to ignore this principle, no matter how grave the accusations, is fundamentally irresponsible. Students here are held to a standard of excellence and honesty; we should expect the same from our administrative faculty. The adoption of a “clear and convincing” standard of evidence would be an important step in the right direction, if only those in positions of authority could be convinced to place justice in its rightful place above both ease and subjectivism.
Hendrick de Smidt ’19
