Harvard University: Due Process Debate

In an extremely important victory for fundamental fairness on our nation's private as well as public campuses, the United States Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights (OCR) dismissed a complaint against Harvard University. Wendy Murphy, a Boston lawyer, had alleged that revisions to Harvard's disciplinary procedures—changes devised to eliminate baseless charges of misconduct between students—violated federal anti-discrimination laws. The OCR pointedly observed that Harvard's new procedures are not unlawful, since the law "does not prohibit the use of due process." FIRE actively advised various critics of the old policy on what kinds of changes were needed, and it vigorously supports Harvard's policy change.