Appeals Court Finally Determines That Bias Against Accused Might Really Bias Against Males

Two appeals courts have found that the excuse used by colleges and universities that they aren’t biased against male students, but biased against accused students, who just so happen to be almost exclusively male, is a farce.

Earlier this month, the Eight Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that black male football players at the University of Minnesota were victims of discrimination due to their gender. The university argued it was merely biased in favor of accusers, not any particular gender. The Eighth Circuit rejected the university’s argument, writing (emphasis added):

Considering as we must the totality of the allegations in the Amended Complaint, we conclude the Does stated plausible claims that the University discriminated against them on the basis of sex during the misconduct investigation and disciplinary proceedings. The district court concluded that a university’s bias in favor of the victims of sexual assault does not establish a reasonable inference of bias against male students, citing Doe v. University of St. Thomas, 240 F. Supp. 3d 984, 991 (D. Minn. 2017). While the circumstances here also give rise to a plausible inference of bias in favor of sexual assault victims rather than against males, “[s]ex discrimination need not be the only plausible explanation or even the most plausible explanation for a Title IX claim to proceed.” Schwake, 967 F.3d at 948; see Columbia Univ., 831 F.3d at 57. Thus, we reverse the district court’s dismissal of the Does’ Title IX discrimination claims.

This week, the Tenth Circuit also determined that bias against accused students can constitute bias against a particular gender.

“While a one-sided investigation, standing alone, might only raise a reasonable inference of anti-complainant bias,” Chief Judge Timothy M. Tymkovich wrote in the court’s opinion, “where there is a one-sided investigation plus some evidence that sex may have played a role in a school’s disciplinary decision, it should be up to a jury to determine whether the school’s bias was based on a protected trait.”

As defense attorney Scott Greenfield wrote, the massive amount of pressure directed at colleges to find students responsible has made it impossible to ignore how unfairly the Title IX inquisitions have become:

The combination of public pressure, from Joe Biden who was disingenuously the main cheerleader in the federal “It’s On Us” campaign, on down to the Take Back The Night marches, the trauma-informed investigations that provided a ready excuse for every evidentiary failing of an accuser, the false statistics about false accusations and even the ubiquitous use of the word “survivor” to describe an accuser before any determination was made that misconduct occurred, has served to destroy a great many lives. Courts resisted and deferred to campus excuses, but as the number of students harmed as grown, the railroading is no longer being ignored or rationalized away.

Schools have, for the past decade, argued that they aren’t biased against male students, just accused students. But the whole point of using Title IX to force colleges to adjudicate allegations of sexual assault was that, by not punished the accused, schools were creating a hostile environment for women, who are the vast majority of accusers. Many of the services and support offered to accusers is provided through campus women’s centers, making any notion that this is about anyone other than women impossible to accept.

The accused, meanwhile, are mostly men, demonized by those who claim sexual assault is rampant on campus and that accusers must be believed no matter what.

If not punishing the accused is sex discrimination against women, then refusing to allow the accused to defend themselves from even obviously spurious allegations should be considered sex discrimination against men.

These two circuit courts have essentially agreed.

The views expressed in this piece are the author’s own and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.

The Daily Wire is one of America’s fastest-growing conservative media companies and counter-cultural outlets for news, opinion, and entertainment. Get inside access to The Daily Wire by becoming a member.