McCAUGHEY: Time to end Democrats’ lynch-law justice for college boys

At many colleges, the female accuser is shielded with anonymity, but the accused young men are unfairly named.

Published Oct 09, 2026  •  Last updated 26 minutes ago  •  4 minute read

Students walk the campus grounds at Cornell University, on October 8, 2026, in Ithaca, New York. The University is facing backlash for its handling of a sexual assault case where a student alleged she was gang-raped inside the Chi Phi fraternity house in 2024. Photo by Ryan Murphy /Getty Images

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If the investigation of the Cornell Seven results in indictments, they will be tried in a court of law, where they are entitled to a fair trial. Sadly, that’s not true for the hundreds of college students each year accused of sexual assault who fall into the clutches of college disciplinary panels. Students and their parents need to know these campus proceedings generally are rigged for the female accuser. They are kangaroo courts dispensing lynch law to college boys.

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On Sept. 26, coincidentally the same day prosecutors reopened the Cornell case, President Donald Trump’s Department of Education announced new rules — long in the works before Cornell hit the headlines — that colleges must follow in responding to sexual assault charges or lose their federal funding.

Not a day too soon. Cleaning up this anti-male unfairness, which originated on orders from former president Barack Obama in 2011, is urgently needed.

At many colleges, the female accuser is shielded with anonymity, like Jane Doe in the Cornell case, but the accused young men are unfairly named, ruining their reputations and futures no matter what the truth is.

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On most campuses, the female accuser is called a “survivor,” as if there’s no question the assault happened. She should be called the complaining witness. Invariably, she is backed up by a phalanx of campus administrators ready to help. She is often allowed to present more evidence than the accused and sometimes is even spared cross-examination, violating the most fundamental right in our legal system: To know and confront your accuser.

Zoey Brewer, a coordinator with the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network advocacy group for victims, insists that “the live cross-examination” can be “so retraumatizing.” As if being dragged into a disciplinary proceeding isn’t traumatizing for the young men. Since 2011, when Obama issued a letter urging colleges to adopt procedures stacked against men, at least 800 lawsuits have been filed by victims of these rigged proceedings, according to databases kept by Families Advocating for Campus Equality and another advocacy group, Title IX for All.

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In one of these lawsuits, Amy Coney Barrett, then a federal appeals court judge, ruled against Purdue University for violating Title IX and the 14th Amendment’s guarantee of due process. Barrett described how male students were literally framed by the university.

Purdue hosted dozens of events to promote the reporting of sexual assaults. Five male students were accused by female students during Purdue’s Sexual Assault Awareness Month in 2015 and hauled before Purdue’s disciplinary system.

One of these young men, found guilty by Purdue, sued in federal court to overturn his suspension and his ROTC scholarship and get his reputation back.

Barrett pointed out that the female accuser didn’t even appear at the hearing or submit a sworn statement to back up her accusation, yet the hearing panellists claimed she was the more credible party. Two of the three panellists admitted they didn’t even read the investigation report before deciding in her favour. It was a farcical version of justice.

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But not every unfairly treated student has the means to go to court. That’s where Trump’s Department of Education comes in. It started going after these kangaroo courts in his first term. Trump bemoaned that “it’s a very scary time for young men in America,” who are now presumed guilty until proven innocent. In 2024, former president Joe Biden attempted to undo Trump’s reforms, even as he insisted he be presumed innocent when Tara Reade accused him of sexual assault.

Biden’s efforts to restore the Obama-era anti-male initiatives were slapped down by a federal court. Since returning to the presidency, Trump has moved ahead full steam to restore fairness on campuses, relying on Title IX, which empowers him to strip colleges of federal funding if they do not comply. The rules announced Sept. 26 codify what Trump’s Department of Education has been demanding of individual colleges under investigation.

During Trump’s first term, the Office for Civil Rights found that the University of Notre Dame had violated Title IX by failing to treat an accused male student and his female accuser equally during the investigation and campus hearing. The male wasn’t shown the specific allegations, was given less assistance than the accuser, and was not permitted to have character witnesses, though the female accuser was. The Trump administration also found that Ithaca College in New York had treated a male student accused of sexual assault “as though he was presumed guilty” and ordered the college to revise its disciplinary methods or lose federal funding.

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The rules announced Sept. 26 should send a clear message to every college that male and female students will be treated impartially, or federal funding will be pulled. The accuser and the accused will be provided with equal resources before the hearing; both sides will see all the evidence ahead of time, the accuser will be cross-examined and the same standard of proof will be applied in all cases, whether the accused is male or female.

Journalist Melinda Henneberger calls Trump’s rules “a sneak attack on women.” Wrong. It’s the American way — equality under the law. And every woman who has a son, brother or husband in college can breathe a sigh of relief.

Now Congress must act to make these reforms permanent, because otherwise a future president can revoke them, as Biden tried to do, and push us back to the disgraceful era of lynch-law justice for college boys.

Betsy McCaughey is a former lieutenant-governor of New York State

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