Proving a sexual-assault case

I was happy to read in the Nov. 16 issue (Campus Notebook) that despite the statement of a law-school professor that “preponderance of the evidence is a nonnegotiable standard of proof for all harassment based on sex — including sexual assault,” the University has adopted rules requiring “a clear and persuasive case.”

When I was a young lawyer serving for a short time as a Voluntary Defender of destitute people who had been accused of committing crimes, it was the settled law that sexual assault was a crime and that the degree of proof be “beyond a reasonable doubt.” It is beyond the scope of this letter to discuss what the University should do in such cases, especially in view of the recent events at Penn State, and what right the federal government has to dictate how a university should conduct its disciplinary proceedings, but I am glad that Princeton is at least to some degree standing up for basic rights.

I should add that my wife (magna cum laude, Bryn Mawr) agrees with this letter.