U.S. Rep. Jared Polis is sorry he was hit by a barrage of bad press because of his campus rape comments, but he doesn’t appear at all sorry that he said it.
The Boulder Daily Camera reports that Polis called his remarks “a major gaffe” that “went to far,” but in the very next graph explains that he meant what he said.
But he did not apologize for arguing last week that colleges may be wise to use a “preponderance of evidence” standard — a lower threshold than criminal courts would use — in deciding whether to punish or expel a student.
For one, that practice is already in place. As Polis notes in his column, the Department of Education required four years ago that schools use a standard based on preponderance of evidence to rid campuses of alleged sexual assailants.
That lowered standard Polis demanded: “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.”
Expulsion is a fitting punishment for a student caught cheating. However, campus administrators are not the judicial system and should not be in the business of acting as judge and jury over sexual assault cases and rendering punishment. Which by the way, should be jail, not dorm room relocation.