What an incredible privilege it's been advocating for falsely accused men!
Written by Gregory Josefchuk, President of NCFM Carolinas (NCFMC)
What an incredible privilege it's been advocating for falsely accused college men in my capacity as president of the Carolinas chapter of the National Coalition For Men (NCFM) a non-partisan nonprofit human rights organization promoting the fair treatment and fundamental due process safeguards for college students.
Our journey into the Title IX nightmare happening on college campuses began in early 2012 when a family member was falsely accused of sexual assault shortly after his three-year dating relationship with his girlfriend ended. Communication with the administration exposed the blatant and pervasive presumption of guilt that was present throughout our dealing with the university. We soon learned ,as other parents in a similar situation have likewise learned, that we would require hiring not one but two attorneys to advise us on how to deal with the university's Title IX process (one attorney from a civil law perspective and the other from a criminal defense perspective). An outrageously expensive proposition to be sure.
Seeing firsthand how easy it was and still is for a female student to allege any kind of sexual misconduct regardless of the actual facts made my decision to help defend falsely accused male students a relatively easy one. While higher education faces many challenges today, the issue of how to handle sexual misconduct on college campuses has been firmly planted in the national spotlight. No one denies that sexual assault on college campuses is a serious matter yet the prescribed cure by the Department of Education under the previous Obama and now Biden administration is worse than the disease inasmuch as it has done violence to the concept of the presumption of innocence, fair and equal treatment and eviscerates due process for any student facing a Title IX university disciplinary hearing.
Deeply flawed policies inflicted by the Education Department’ Office of Civil Rights (OCR) through the issuance of the 2011 Dear Colleague Letter directive promulgated policies that cost universities millions of dollars at taxpayers’ expense while doing absolutely nothing to make college campuses safe, secure or productive.
It seems inconceivable that our nation has forgotten the painful lessons learned at the expense of so many college men falsely accused of rape. Perhaps the following examples can serve as a brief yet vital reminder of Title IX related injustices faced by college students today:
• Duke Lacrosse case – gang rape hoax; college men ultimately were declared innocent by the Attorney General but not until well after their young lives were irreparably destroyed
• Hofstra Five case – five young men arrested, their names and photos splashed across the media & days later released from jail after the accuser woman admitted to making a gang rape story up
• UVa case – the recent infamous Rolling Stone gang rape hoax story that resulted in vandalism and threats of violence made against fraternity members.
These cases represent just a small sampling of the approximately 840+ lawsuits filed against universities in which student plaintiffs allege being denied due process, subjected to what can only be described as a kangaroo court process and summarily expelled as a direct result of flawed directives issued and enforced by the Office of Civil Rights (OCR) within the Department of Education.
Universities are not the proper institution to prosecute a rape case. In that regard, I would echo testimony provided to Congress earlier by Molly Corbett Broad, President of the American Council on Education, who stated:
“Conducting education and providing information is an area where college officials have vast experience. We must redouble our education efforts on sexual assault, and as I noted earlier, institutions are moving aggressively to do this. But performing investigations and adjudicating cases is a far more difficult challenge. We lack the authority to subpoena witnesses, control evidence and impose legal standards. Our disciplinary and grievance procedures were designed to provide appropriate resolution of institutional standards for student conduct, especially with respect to academic matters. They were never meant for misdemeanors, let alone felonies. While we take our obligations to the victims/survivors of sexual assault very seriously and are fully aware of our responsibilities with respect to sexual assaults, our on-campus disciplinary processes are not proxies for the criminal justice system, nor should they be.”
As a father to a child that has been falsely accused of sexual misconduct and who has witnessed firsthand the destructive elements that the current Title IX campus witch hunt against male students has spawned, I purposely volunteered my service, experience and subject matter expertise to help other families. That journey over this past decade resulted in my meeting some amazing families and hundreds of devoted, selfless citizens who were enraged by the injustice that males faced and resolved to do something about it even at the risk of their reputation.
When I think of Title IX heroes I think of people like: Joe Cheshire, K.C. Johnson, Stuart Taylor Jr., Stephen Henrick, John Gresham, Christina Hoff Sommers, Ashe Schow, Wendy McElroy, Andrew Miltenberg, Kimberly Lau, Joe Cohn, Patricia Hamill, Eric Rosenberg, Betsy DeVos, Candice Jackson and too many others to name.
My time in leading the fight has ended as I am stepping down from my role as President of NCFM Carolinas. In leaving I want to express my gratitude and heartfelt appreciation for the work so many have done to help falsely accused men. That the only evidence needed to warrant a student’s permanent removal from a college campus today, thereby ending their educational attainment while forever branding them a rapist for life, is an unsubstantiated accusation is unconscionable. I pray that the work we started is moved forward by the next generation of human rights activists.
God bless all and thank you for the privilege to serve.
