12,399 views

Rob Knudsen

@rnkknu

, 28 tweets, 14 min read

My Authors

I had a follower DM me asking why I was excited and “Celebrating” having the Elite Title IX attorney’s following my story. Not wanting to get in an argument, I thanked her and said I would spend some time thinking about her question & send a message out in the group sharing my

perspective. My reasons are fairly simple! First, this group of attorneys, accused student warriors and their supportive family members following my #twitterfeed are amazing. This group together BLAZED a TRAIL & SHINED a LIGHT on #Colleges & #Universities denial of #DueProcess &

#UnFairHearings. #HigherEd Schools have been denying students #fundamentalfairness for years. So without these attorney’s, brave student warriors & supportive families determined to prove their #innocence there would be very little protections for me now as I take the next step

they were also forced to due.
STUDENTS SHOULD NOT HAVE TO FILE A #LAWSUIT IN ORDER TO RECEIVE #DUEPROCESS, #FAIRHEARING, & #FUNDAMENTALFAIRNESS THROUGHOUT THE PROCESS. Their LEADERSHIP & MENTALTOUGHNESS taking the lead and standing up to the school in State/Federal Court puts

all of us in a much better place today.

My second reason is also easy & straightforward. I believe anyone accused of misconduct by a College or University should be entitled to a lawyer and a defense. Period end of sentence! Throw all the shade you want but the schools reasoning

of not allowing this is because they do not want to turn a Misconduct Hearing into a court room is a smokescreen. MAYBE IT SHOULD BE LIKE A COURT ROOM SO YOU QUIT EXPELLING INNOCENT STUDENTS! Title IX cases are required to provide protections of 14th Amendment whether the School

@DrakeUniversity

@DrakeUniversity

is a public or private institution. However, when a student attends a Private University like @DrakeUniversity it seems to be proud stating since we are PRIVATE we ARE NOT REQUIRED TO PROVIDE OUR STUDENTS THEIR CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHTS. That in my humble opinion is complete and

utter BULLSHIT. Any institution that takes FEDERAL FUNDS should have to provide students federally protected rights. THIS MUST BE CHANGED IN AMERICA NOW! It’s not like they can just ignore the ADA because they are private. ACTUALLY DRAKE DID IGNORE THE ADA LAWS IN MY CASE SO

SCRATCH THAT STATEMENT.
I find it absolutely wrong to a ask anyone much less an 18-22 year old to
act as their own attorney. This is done purely to stack the deck in the institution’s favor. We do Not allow individuals this age too buy alcohol & now tobacco, but somehow they are

ready to defend themselves against this horrific allegation?!? From any logical and rational perspective NO argument makes sense or holds up.

Third, I have personally been through the Educational Kangaroo Hearing Process twice now. The first time was with one of my children and

was appalled at the process. My sons future had been decided before we walked in the door & nothing was going to change it. Not the fact he came to the hearing when I could have just handled with our attorney myself, his sincere & honest denial looking at the members answering

any & all questions at the instructions from his father to be honest, multiple pieces of evidence provided to the School Board that were in direct conflict with written statements, & the fact three girls written statements who were best friends of the girl who changed her

original story now blaming my son once she heard the severity of the punishment were allowed in as evidence without any opportunity to cross-examine the students is madness.

So in both my sons & my case while attorneys were present I witnessed #dueprocess, #fundamentalfairness,

rules and/or procedures blantanly ignored. I can only assume it would be much worse if an attorney was not in the room. This situation was one of several that served as the impetus for me to head to law school.

Last, when you are talking about #academicmisconduct, #TitleIX or

anything resulting in #expulsion having the best attorney with you is so important. We are talking about denying someone a constitutional right of Property (Education) and Liberty (Reputation). #Proceduraldueprocess is the guarantee of a #fair legal process when a person's

protected interests in life, liberty, or property are to be infringed. Worded differently the Due Process Clause prohibits depriving persons of life, liberty, or property without a #fairprocedure. Not willing to get into an argument on whether #HigherEducation is a #PropertyRight

or whether #Liberty covers someone’s good name and reputation for these purposes it does.

The #DueProcessClause of the #FourteenthAmendment encompasses the doctrines of procedural due process and substantive due process.
The Due Process Clause is also the foundation of a

constitutional right to privacy. The Court has also ruled that the Due Process Clause requires judges to recuse themselves in cases where the judge has a conflict of interest.

I WAS DENIED THESE RIGHTS IN MY CASE:
1. Even though I had previously filed a complaint against the

Associate Dean he refused to recuse himself from the role of investigator, judge (determining guilt), jury (deciding punishment), & prosector seeing no conflict of interest.
2. The Chair of the Honor Board for 20+ years who was a Student Advocate sparring on many occasions was

removed from the Honor Board prior to the accused student hearing being replaced by a previous Dean of the law School.
3. A student member of the Honor Board who’s mother was promoted to the Dean’s Assistant the previous month and who the accused student had not provided a

positive job reference was allowed to sit as trier of fact.
4. The Associate Dean violated the accused student’s right to privacy by introducing his grade transcript, disclosing his hidden disability, ADA accommodations and disability related absences to his classmates.
These

@DrakeLawSchool

@DrakeLawSchool

are all clear #SubstantiveDueProcess violations.

In my opinion the problem with @DrakeLawSchool and many HigherEd Hearing Disciplinary Processes is they are flawed from the beginning. Everyone pretends they actually protect students rights. The Student Code of Conducts are

written by those who enforce it. It is actually a difficult task and dubious skill to draft a document at his face appearing to protect rights but upon application is so vague it allows a prosector to basically do whatever the hell they desire. Then throw in a low standard of

proof like preponderance of the evidence along with a pro-accuser mindset and you have yourself a recipe for disaster that so many people have and are currently living.

So yes, I view Title IX advocates as mighty warriors who are protecting the basic freedoms afforded to each

of us by the constitution. They are taking on one the most vital & important roles possible by protecting innocent young adults safeguarding their futures in a jaded one-sides process against the accused who already has a target on their back. So with a huge ❤️ and so much

#RESPECT I thank each of the trailblazing attorney’s, all of the brave accused innocent students for choosing to fight and to all of their supportive family & friends for believing in them and their innocence.

🙏 All of you for showing me so much love and support taking the leaf