JIM TREACHER: Rik Mayall, R.I.P.

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IT’S ANNOYINGLY UN-LINKABLE, but this emailed press release from George Washington University Law Prof. John Banzhaf summarizes the state of the campus sexual assault litigation crisis:

WASHINGTON, D.C. (June 9, 2014): Colleges being asked by U.S. Senator Claire McCaskil how they deal with allegations of rape and sexual assault are being advised by attorneys to “lawyer up,” while more male students found guilty of rape or sexual assault by their universities are bringing law suits – almost a dozen of which have already been successful – charging that the institutions badly “screwed up” both the investigations and the campus hearings, notes public interest law professor John Banzhaf.

In a slide show of legal advice prepared by lawyers for member universities of the American Council on Education [ACE] which received the inquiries, universities were warned about responding to the survey about rape and sexual assault because it could lead to “reputational harm,” “additional investigations” and “litigation,” and also cause “public relations risks.”

Lawyers reminded the universities, as they do large corporations accused of wrongdoing, that a congressional request for information “is not a subpoena”; that they can often duck by looking for an “opportunity to recast the questions”; and should be mindful of “what will play well on TV.”

ACE originally even refused McCaskil’s request for copies of slides used in a legal slide show to warn representatives of universities how to make their answers “bulletproof,” and provided the slides only once it became clear that copies had surfaced and were about to be published.

Reportedly, ACE is still refusing to tell the senator which institutions attended the “lawyer up” slide show. Meanwhile, colleges are facing a possibly more serious challenge as many male students found guilty of rape or sexual assault by their institutions are taking them to court and winning:

BROWN I – she didn’t remember the event, he said the sex was consensual, but was found guilty; was reported on TV as case of “When Yes Means No”; case settled by university

BROWN II – student charged the school interfered with his efforts to clear his name because of pressure from accuser’s father, an influential alum and a major donor; lawsuit settled by university

DENISON – accused passed lie detector test, was found guilty anyway by university, sued on ten different legal grounds including violation of rights; case settled by university

DUKE I – famous case involving lacrosse players, law suit charged conspiracy to fame players, and was settled by the university for an undisclosed amount

DUKE II – judge very recently prohibited university from expelling a student convicted of rape, because of alleged pressure on the campus tribunal to get tough on rapists

GEORGE WASHINGTON – was forced to settle a case where a former student sued the school for allegedly unfairly convicting him of sexual assault

HOLY CROSS – school policy held male responsible if both parties were drunk; university’s “responsible” finding was overturned; he was returned to school with no adverse mark on transcript

OCCIDENTAL – order of stay granted by the court when the student complained about improper procedures and definitions used in the campus proceeding which convicted him

SAINT JOSEPH – federal judge upheld lawsuit brought by male student against university, a university employee, and even the female complainant, under several novel legal theories

UNIVERSITY OF THE SOUTH – jury ruled university was negligent in a case that found a student guilty of sexual assault, saying that it did not follow its own published procedures

XAVIER – judge upheld a law suit, based upon many different legal theories, by a male student against his university which had earlier found him guilty of rape; university then settled

Also, late last week, in a case with some striking parallels, a military appeals court overturned a Marine’s rape and sexual assault convictions because of the unfairness of pressure to convict from higher ups; an allegation common to several students’ complaints

Meanwhile, law suits filed by students convicted by their universities of rape and/or sexual assault are pending against Bucknell, Cincinnati, Columbia, Delaware State, Depauw, Drew, Kenyon, U of Michigan, Philadelphia U, Swarthmore, Vassar, Williams, and perhaps others.

More such legal challenges are likely to be brought as pressure from the President, several federal agencies, women’s rights organizations, and individual women and groups on campus result in more findings of guilt where they may not be warranted by the facts and/or because the procedures used did not protect the accused student’s rights, says Banzhaf.

This may be especially true as the federal government pressures schools to convict, not where the evidence establishes proof beyond a reasonable doubt (the usual standard in rape cases) or even by clear and convincing evidence, but rather where the conclusion is based upon a mere preponderance of evidence.

This means that, in many “he said, she said” cases where there is no other corroborating evidence and the two students’ stories conflict, the campus tribunal just has to find her story a little bit more convincing than his to expel the male student and scar him for life, says Banzhaf, who has brought more than 100 successful legal proceedings charging sex discrimination against women.

Finding sexual assault by a mere preponderance of evidence may be appropriate where the consequence is a campus-wide restraining order, or a mandated move to another dorm or class to avoid facing the female complainant, but some higher standard may be required by law when the penalty, as in the Duke case, is expulsion plus loss of a diploma which he earned and is needed for his new job, says Banzhaf.

One major problem confronting prosecutions for date rape is that among the 50 states and the District of Columbia, only 17 explicitly prohibit rape involving penetration without consent. For example, in North Carolina, the home of Duke, a man is not guilty of rape when he simply sexually penetrates a female without her consent, providing that no force is used or threatened.

More specifically, in North Carolina, a male is guilty of first degree rape only if the intercourse is inflicted by “force and against the will of the other person,” whereas to constitute second degree rape, the defendant must have vaginal intercourse with someone who is “physically helpless.”

But North Carolina’s narrow definition of “physically helpless” – unconscious or unable to resist or communicate – may not include the all-too-familiar situation of a female university student whose ability to meaningfully consent may have been significantly impaired by alcohol, although she can still move, speak, and sometimes even exchange email or text messages, says Banzhaf.

Since so many date rape complaints allege that sex occurred without the female student’s consent, but without the use of force or the threat of force, prosecutions may not be successful, or are likely to be overturned on appeal, even if the victim’s testimony of the events which occurred is believed, says Banzhaf, who is working on new procedures to improve date rape proceedings.

As I’ve said before, if I were a plaintiff’s lawyer in a college town, I’d be running ads saying “Falsely accused of sexual assault on campus? Sue the b*st*rds!”

UPDATE: From the comments: “It is interesting that the list of colleges are mostly private, very expensive schools.” Yeah. Why would anyone pay top dollar to an institution that shows such disregard to its six-figure customers. The male ones, anyway.

Also: “Wow. Put together like that, it is a stunning list of misconduct by universities.” Yes, yes it is.

I THINK HE JUST MIGHT BE CORRECT: Marco Rubio: Whoever runs against Hillary has ample space to criticize her on foreign policy.

UPDATE: In Benghazi Chapter, Clinton Book Says Marines Were In Tripoli. The truth: “there was no Marine security detachment in Tripoli.”

NEW THERAPIES for bowel disease. “Inflammatory bowel diseases afflict 1.4 million Americans, typically starting in the teenage years and lasting a lifetime. But treatments for these chronic conditions are being transformed, spurred by the decoding of the human genome and a growing understanding of the balance of microbes in the gut and why it goes awry in some people.” I think this microbiome stuff is the next big thing.

HIGHER EDUCATION BUBBLE UPDATE: Young and in Debt in New York City: Student Loans Make it Hard to Rent or Buy a Home.

MY USA TODAY COLUMN: Regulation: Uber’s Problem Is That It Offers Insufficient Opportunities For Graft.

PHILIP KLEIN: Why ‘Ghostbusters’ is the most libertarian Hollywood blockbuster of all time.

VIRGINIA POSTREL: The Glamour of Getting Away: No matter how unpleasant the real journeys, travel still has a way of seducing us.

Her book is The Power of Glamour: Longing And The Art of Visual Persuasion.

WHY ALL-NIGHTERS ARE GENERALLY A BAD IDEA: Your Brain Builds Memories As You Sleep.

I REMAIN SKEPTICAL OF THE “INTERNET OF THINGS:” Millions of Smart TVs Vulnerable To ‘Red Button’ Attack.

AT AMAZON, deals and savings in TV & Video.

Plus, bestsellers in Mysteries, Thriller & Suspense.

I WAS KINDA EXPECTING ANOTHER POST-OBAMACARE DON’T-WORRY-BE-HAPPY RESULT. Study: Colon Cancer Screening Saves Lives. “Colorectal screening is an important public health intervention that has prevented half a million people from the trauma of cancer. . . .I think that’s a big deal.”

650 HP, 650 LB-FT. The 2015 Corvette Z06 is the most powerful GM car ever. You had me until “GM car.” Also, I have to say, the new Corvette doesn’t look bad, but the previous generation was much prettier.

ALVIN! 50 years of discovery on the other final frontier—the deep sea.

THE EARLY PC WARS COME TO TV: The show that AMC hopes to be its post-Mad Men hit transports viewers to the dawn of the PC era. That’s personal computers, not political correctness.

#WARONMEN: Exclusive: Brown University Student Speaks Out on What It’s Like to Be Falsely Accused of Rape. “Brown’s justice system bears little resemblance to a traditional court. Kopin’s advisor during the investigation and the hearing was the campus director of dining services, who he says had little knowledge of the disciplinary process. Criminal defense and civil rights attorney Harvey Silverglate, who was retained by the Kopins but was barred from any role in the campus disciplinary process, says in an email, ‘Dan, because factually innocent of everything except some bad judgment, was suspended for “only” one year, which quite often in today’s academic environment is the penalty for the innocent.'”

Why would anyone pay top dollar to attend such an institution?

SOUNDS TOTALLY QUALIFIED TO BE IN CHARGE OF THE FEDERAL BUDGET: Hillary Clinton: We Were Dead Broke; ‘We Gave Speeches to Pay Off Debt, Numerous Homes.’

RON FOURNIER: ‘I’ve Had Enough:’ When Democrats Quit on Obama: Bergdahl swap is latest last straw for top Democrats frustrated with president’s leadership. Who knew so many Dems would turn racist in 2014?

THERE CERTAINLY IS: There’s An Intelligence Crisis At The White House.

TAXPROF ROUNDUP: The IRS Scandal, Day 396.

HOW’S THAT “RECOVERY” GOING? McDonalds Has Longest Stretch Without Rising US Sales In History.

HANS VAN SPAKOVSKY: The Biggest Non-Story in Tuesday’s Elections? Mississippi Voter ID Implemented With No Problems.

HIGHER EDUCATION BUBBLE UPDATE: Georgia Tech’s Online Master’s After A Year:

Administrators at the Georgia Institute of Technology are optimistic but “not declaring victory” after one semester of its affordable online master’s degree program in computer science. While the program has been well-received by students, administrators are still striving to solve an equation that balances cost, academic quality and support services.

“We’re not all the way there yet, but I couldn’t ask for a much better start,” Zvi Galil, dean of the College of Computing, wrote last month in an email to Georgia Tech faculty on the one-year anniversary of the program’s announcement.

The initiative has been closely watched since last spring’s announcement — and not just because of the dramatic savings it offers compared to the university’s on-campus program. A three-credit-hour online course costs less than a single credit hour of face-to-face education — $402 versus $472, based on spring 2013 tuition rates. The goal is to get much larger than a traditional program could sustain, but also much smaller than the average MOOC.

Stay tuned. But so far, all is proceeding as I have foreseen.