It isn't always necessary to open a can of worms. Sometimes, the dish is simply placed in front of you, warm and wriggling.
The only decision is whether to dig in. And Earl Ehrhart has picked up his fork.
The Cobb County state lawmaker is about to take on new policies for dealing with rape and sexual assault that Georgia’s universities are now in the process of adopting, at the insistence of the federal government.
"I'm not comfortable at all with universities being in the crime-and-punishment business," said Ehrhart, a 13-term House veteran.
The lawmaker said his inspiration is a series of articles written by the Journal-Constitution's Janel Davis and Shannon McCaffrey. The two found that, over a five-year period, Georgia's five largest public universities recorded 90 reports of rape and sodomy. None resulted in a criminal prosecution.
Over that same period, the five universities processed 43 sexual misconduct complaints. They held the accused responsible about half the time, through highly secretive, quasi-judicial proceedings that vary from school to school, but uniformly require lower standards of proof. Most of the punished were suspended. Fewer than 10 were expelled.
Advocates say the looser rules allow universities to police activity that is often so clouded by alcohol that prosecutors won’t touch it.
The confidentiality, they say, encourages victims — usually women — to report behavior that has remained under wraps in the past. Consider the Georgia Tech frat member whose how-to email to his colleagues was entitled "Luring your Rapebait."
This spring, the White House urged universities across the country to “step up” their efforts to combat sexual assaults on campus – hence last month’s Board of Regents action. New requirements fall under the auspices of Title IX, the section of federal law that outlaws sexual discrimination and violence. Theoretically, millions in federal funds are at stake.
But advocates for those accused in campus sexual assault cases, usually men, say a closed-door system already short on constitutional protections – including the right to face and question one’s accuser – is about to become more so. Already, lawsuits have underlined their objections.
Enter Earl Ehrhart, who says he’s operating under no pre-conceived notions and expresses empathy for victims of sexual assault. “Nobody wants to add to their problems,” he said in an interview.
But he doesn’t think universities should be prosecuting sexual assaults in a way separate and apart from the way they deal with armed robbery or child molestation. Crime is crime.
“I guess those who advocate this are saying you have to provide a special type of things, because these victims do not want to come forward,” Ehrhart said. “Victims of other crimes don’t want to come forward, either. But if you’re going to adjudicate, you can’t create a separate system of justice. It’s not comfortable, but if you want that individual punished, then there has to be witness testimony.”
“The idea that a 19-year-old who’s subjected to a star chamber proceeding without their attorneys present — it’s something that could affect their entire life. It’s almost a taking without constitutional protection,” he said.
Ehrhart intends to proceed with a series of House committee hearings on the topic this fall. “I want to give these universities a safe space to talk to me about it – to talk to the public about it, without the coercion of these federal agencies,” the lawmaker said.
Ehrhart said he has already had some conversations with university leaders. “When they talk to me, they’re very uncomfortable with the process. It’s being driven by the federal side of this equation. It’s Title IX. It’s federal dollars. That’s what’s making the university presidents real skittish on this,” he said. “They’ve been told if you don’t do these types of proceedings, you could lose federal education dollars.”
Yet early this year, state Sen. Ron Ramsey of Lithonia introduced legislation to require campus law enforcement officials to report all allegations of sexual assault to local district attorneys for prosecution. Lobbying by the university system and advocates for sexual assault victims quickly deep-sixed the bill.
But Ramsey is a Democrat. Ehrhart is not only a Republican, but chairman of a House Appropriations subcommittee that oversees spending at Georgia’s public universities.
Any legislation introduced by Ehrhart would be far harder to kill. Remember, this is the fellow who, earlier this year, successfully deprived Delta Air Lines of a multi-million dollar tax break on jet fuel. Whether he sponsors a bill will depend on what he hears this fall. “I may,” he said. “If universities are going to go down the road of continuing these panels, of determining guilt or innocence for criminal acts, then I will propose legislation.”
The idea, Ehrhart said, would be to provide a counterweight to the federal mandates now driving the issue. If Georgia universities are punished by the loss of federal funds, a state insistence on the right to trial by jury is a good place to begin a court fight, the lawmaker said.
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