| Blog and Media Roundup - Friday, January 5, 2018; News Roundup | |
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| Tweet Topic Started: Jan 5 2018, 05:02 AM (98 Views) | |
| abb | Jan 5 2018, 05:02 AM Post #1 |
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https://www.freep.com/story/opinion/columnists/nancy-kaffer/2018/01/04/msu-taxpayers-nassar-crimes/1001199001/ Pay now, pay later: Michigan State, Michigan taxpayers on the hook for Nassar's crimes Nancy Kaffer, Detroit Free Press Columnist Published 6:00 a.m. ET Jan. 4, 2018 It's hard to overstate the hideousness of the trainwreck unfolding in the wake of Michigan State University's sexual assault crisis -- or the unseemliness of state Rep. Klint Kesto's attempt to exploit that crisis for his own political advantage. More than 150 women and girls have accused former MSU physician Larry Nassar of sexual assault, crimes that span decades. Nassar has pleaded guilty to charges of criminal sexual assault, and will certainly spend decades imprisoned. It's unclear what the university knew and when the university knew it; MSU says that an internal investigation (for which the school has said it can produce no written documentation) found no criminal misconduct on the part of any other university officials. But Nassar's former patients have filed a slew of lawsuits against MSU, exposing the university to damages that could exceed even the $100 million Penn State University paid to those abused by former assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky. How the university settles those claims is the subject, rightly, of much concern. Enter Kesto, a Commerce Township Republican with ambitions to succeed U.S. Rep. David Trott, who has announced his intention to relinquish his seat in Michigan's 11th Congressional District seat when his current term expires in December. Kesto will join a crowded primary contest that already includes Vesco oil executive Lena Epstein, former state legislators Kurt Heise and Rocky Raczkowski, and former U.S. Congressman-cum-reindeer farmer Kerry Bentivolio. This week, hot on the heels of Nassar's guilty plea, Kesto announced plans to introduce legislation that would bar MSU and other public universities from using taxpayer or tuition dollars to settle claims arising from sexual misconduct by university employees. Kesto says taxpayers and students shouldn't be on the hook for crimes the university failed to prevent. "I looked at who is going to be paying money to these victims -- and they deserve it, they deserve compensation ... I looked at what Penn State did ... they did not use any tuition dollars, they did not use any taxpayer money," he said. "They had an insurance policy and whatever was not covered by the insurance company was expected to be financed from interest revenue ..." Kesto thinks requiring the university to pay sexual misconduct claims with endowment money will incentivize other school administrators to get serious about keeping students safe. "They should maybe start putting in place policies to prevent this kind of stuff. Those are the things they should be investing in, policies and procedures, making sure that young boys, young girls are never subject to these heinous crimes," he said. But despite its populist appeal, Kesto's initiative would likely penalize Nassar's victims more than it would protect taxpayers and students. For starters, it's not clear whether the Legislature can lawfully direct a university's spending with that kind of specificity. MSU and other state universities receive tax dollars via the legislative process, so lawmakers have leverage. But Michigan's constitution also endows the state's three largest public universities a significant amount of autonomy and independence. MSU (and University of Michigan and Wayne State University) would likely contest any legislative attempts to control their budgets. And who'd foot the bill for that legal battle? Taxpayers, natch. And while MSU's insurers might well end up paying much of any damages arising from Nassar's abuse, imposing restrictions that limit victims' compensation after the fact would be an abdication of the state's moral responsibility. (In the end, Penn State took its insurers to court. Guess who would bankroll that sort of legal sideshow here?) The potential effects of Kesto's proposed legislation? Make it harder for victims to receive compensation by limiting the pool of funds; set up multiple costly legal battles; not much, other than grab headlines. It's election year sturm und drang, a solution that appeases angry taxpayers at the expense of blameless victims. There are no good outcomes: Not for the women and girls Nassar assaulted, regardless of legal settlements. And not for Michigan's taxpayers, who will pay, one way or the other. |
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| abb | Jan 5 2018, 05:13 AM Post #2 |
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http://www.startribune.com/u-panel-finds-reggie-lynch-responsible-in-sexual-assault-claim/468108993/ U panel finds Reggie Lynch 'responsible' in sexual misconduct claim A University of Minnesota office investigated after an incident on April 28, 2016, in Roy Wilkins Hall, a student dorm. By Rochelle Olson and Brandon Stahl Star Tribune January 5, 2018 — 12:36am University of Minnesota men’s basketball star Reggie Lynch faces suspension and a complete ban from campus until at least 2020 after a school investigation found him responsible in a sexual misconduct incident. The school’s Equal Opportunity and Affirmative Action (EOAA) office began investigating Lynch last fall after a woman filed a complaint saying that he assaulted her in his dorm room in Roy Wilkins Hall on April 28, 2016. The U told both Lynch and his accuser that Lynch’s suspension will begin Tuesday unless he appeals, according to records obtained by the Star Tribune. Lynch can request a hearing by the Student Sexual Misconduct Subcommittee (SSMS) if he disagrees with the finding. The SSMS would issue its own decision. Thursday’s finding will not take effect if Lynch requests an SSMS hearing. If Lynch doesn’t file an appeal, then Thursday’s decision stands. Last year’s Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year is playing in his final year of college eligibility. The woman who filed the complaint against Lynch declined to comment late Thursday. Lynch transferred to Minnesota after playing two seasons at Illinois State. He sat out the 2015-16 season and immediately became the Gophers’ starting center last season. This season, Lynch, 23, has been averaging career highs of 10 points, eight rebounds and a Big Ten-leading four blocks in 15 starts. The 6-feet-10 Edina native set a single-season record at the U with 114 blocks. But he’s also seen trouble. In May 2016, Lynch was arrested on suspicion of sexually assaulting a 19-year-old woman at a campus apartment. The Hennepin County attorney declined to press charges, citing insufficient evidence. He was suspended from the team at that time. The university also investigated the May 2016 incident and cleared him in that case. The new suspension focuses on an incident the month before the already investigated May incident. The April incident occurred in Lynch’s dorm room, the woman said. Lynch is a former all-state player at Edina High School. He has been discussed as an NBA prospect. Lynch’s lawyer and family didn’t return calls seeking comment nor did Gophers coach Richard Pitino. The Gophers play host to Indiana on Saturday. Staff writer Marcus Fuller contributed to this report. |
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| abb | Jan 5 2018, 05:16 AM Post #3 |
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https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2018/jan/4/oberlin-college-sex-assault-conviction-rate-100/ Oberlin College’s 100% sexual assault conviction rate prompts lawsuit, due process concerns By Bradford Richardson - The Washington Times - Thursday, January 4, 2018 Ohio’s Oberlin College boasts a conviction rate for students accused of sexual assault that would make Vladimir Putin blush. A lawsuit filed last year by a student expelled from Oberlin reveals that every student who went through the college’s formal sexual assault adjudication process was found responsible on at least one count. William A. Jacobson, a professor at Cornell Law School who runs the Legal Insurrection blog, said the conviction rate “calls into question whether Oberlin’s sexual assault hearings amounted to nothing more than show trials in which the accused were presumed guilty.” “At least Oberlin afforded the accused an opportunity to present a defense, which is not always the case,” Mr. Jacobson said in a statement. “But whether that was a meaningful opportunity, or just a procedural formality, is another matter in light of campus pressures to always believe an accuser and to fight ‘rape culture.’” Oberlin officials declined to comment. In response to Title IX guidelines issued by the Obama administration, colleges and universities implemented disciplinary proceedings curtailing due process protections — such as the presumption of innocence, access to exculpatory evidence and the right to cross-examine one’s accuser — for students accused of sexual misconduct. Since 2011, the regulation has provoked more than 200 lawsuits from mostly male students who say they were not given fair hearings because of their sex, according to the group Title IX For All. The Trump administration repealed the rule in September. Filed in June, the Oberlin lawsuit details a sexual encounter on the morning of Feb. 28, 2016, between two students who are identified only as John Doe and Jane Roe. According to the lawsuit, Jane Roe had been smoking marijuana and drinking when she texted John Doe and arranged to meet in his room. They engaged in 45 minutes of talking, kissing and sexual intercourse before Jane Roe asked John Doe to stop when she became physically uncomfortable, attributing her discomfort to being “not sober.” John Doe then asked Jane Roe to perform a sex act, and she did, the lawsuit claims. The couple made friendly small talk before she left his room. Oberlin expelled John Doe on Oct. 11, 2016, after a hearing panel found him responsible for sexual assault. The college said John Doe should have known that Jane Roe was too intoxicated to consent to sex, based on her remark of being “not sober.” Oberlin’s sexual misconduct policy holds that someone who is intoxicated to the point of “incapacitation” cannot consent to a sexual encounter. Attorneys for John Doe said Jane Roe had not reached that level of intoxication at the time of their encounter. According to the school’s Spring 2016 Campus Climate Report, Oberlin’s Title IX team investigated more than 100 reports of “potential sex-based discrimination and harassment” that academic year. The most common reports concerned sexual harassment, sexual assault and domestic violence. About 20 percent of complaints were referred for full investigation, the report said, and the threshold for the formal adjudication process was met in about half of those investigations. In the cases that went through the formal resolution process, the accused party was found responsible for all charges 70 percent of the time. In the remaining cases, the accused party “was found responsible for some but not all of the conduct charges,” the report says. Attorneys for John Doe said the conviction rate is evidence that Oberlin’s sexual misconduct adjudication process is “rife with gender bias.” “The Oberlin employees who preside over hearings, and who judge appeals, have quite literally credited, at least partially, the allegations of every single student who came before them in the 2015-16 academic year, as of the date of this report,” the lawsuit says. The lawsuit also details how the Obama administration’s Department of Education influenced the sexual misconduct adjudication process at Oberlin. On Nov. 24, 2015 — three months before the encounter in question — the department’s office for civil rights notified Oberlin that it was under investigation to see if the school had violated Title IX in its disciplinary proceedings. Title IX is the federal law that bars sex discrimination in education. In response to the investigation, Oberlin overhauled its sexual misconduct policy, the lawsuit says, to create a “complaint-centered process designed to combat ‘rape culture.’” “Oberlin knew that failing to appear to OCR during this investigation to be tough on sexual assault alleged by women against men risked substantial negative publicity and a loss of federal funding,” the lawsuit says. Oberlin filed a motion to dismiss the lawsuit, saying the climate regarding sexual assault on campus is not sufficient to prove John Doe’s legal claim of discrimination on the basis of sex. “Plaintiff offers no allegations that, if believed, would demonstrate that Oberlin would have approached the sexual assault report at issue any differently if a female student, rather than Plaintiff, had been accused of sexual misconduct,” the motion reads. Mr. Jacobson said the Oberlin case is just another example of “how destructive the Obama administration policies were to due process rights on campus.” The John Doe lawsuit was the second high-profile legal claim brought last year against Oberlin that has further cemented the school’s reputation as a bastion of progressivism. In November, Gibson’s Bakery in Oberlin, Ohio, filed a lawsuit against the school after it caught a black Oberlin student shoplifting. In the wake of the incident, students, faculty and staff at Oberlin accused the bakery of racial profiling and called for a boycott. The bakery said in its lawsuit that Oberlin engaged in a campaign to “bully and financially strangle a century-old local business for refusing to succumb to the College’s demand that Gibson’s ignore student shoplifting.” Three students involved in the incident later pleaded guilty to misdemeanors and, as a part of the plea deal, acknowledged that the bakery had not engaged in racial profiling. |
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| abb | Jan 5 2018, 05:18 AM Post #4 |
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https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/abc-scraps-rolling-stone-50th-anniversary-special-1071391 January 03, 2018 2:11pm PT by Lesley Goldberg ABC Scraps Rolling Stone 50th Anniversary Special (Exclusive) The three-hour live broadcast was set to air Feb. 7. ABC is reversing course on its planned Rolling Stone special. The Disney-owned network has scrapped its Rolling Stone 50 three-hour live broadcast that was slated to air Feb. 7. Announced in May as part of its upfront presentation, the broadcast was scheduled to showcase live performances, short films, iconic onstage moments, never-before-seen musical pairings and stars who have helped to shape pop culture, music and politics over 50 years of the magazine. Done + Dusted was set to produce the special. Rolling Stone's parent company Wenner Media was also set to produce, with Jann Wenner, Gus Wenner, Ian Stewart, David Jammy and Katy Mullan set to executive produce. The news comes after Penske Media bought a controlling interest in Wenner Media. Jann Wenner was also accused by a journalist in November of offering a writing deal in exchange for sex. He has denied the allegation. A new sexual harassment claim surfaced in late December against Wenner. ABC announced the Rolling Stone special at the same time that it picked up a Little Mermaid live musical. The latter has since been postponed, and it's unclear if it will still happen. |
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