*****This position is filled and no longer open.*****
Position: Research Associate: Title IX and Campus Due Process
Reports to: Policy Director
The National Association of Scholars (NAS) seeks a full-time Research Associate to lead a project researching and writing about campus due process in cases of campus sexual misconduct.
The National Association of Scholars is a $1.4 million non-profit higher education reform organization. NAS works to improve American higher education by supporting high intellectual standards, academic freedom, and institutional transparency in colleges and universities. It opposes racial preferences and promotes the teaching of the Western tradition. To learn more about NAS, visit www.nas.org.
About the Project
In recent years sexual assault on campus has been declared a national epidemic. The Obama Administration prioritized efforts to hold alleged perpetrators accountable. To that end the Office for Civil Rights (OCR) in Department of Education, starting in 2011, issued “dear colleague” letters to colleges and universities telling them to adopt the lowest legally permissible standard of evidence for establishing the guilt of an accused party. OCR also pushed colleges and universities to bypass other due process protections for the accused.
Colleges and universities generally went along with the new Title IX regime, though they varied in the exact way they implemented the new quasi-rules. In the last few years, Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos suspended some of the OCR “dear colleague” rules and laid the groundwork for actual federal regulations to govern how colleges and universities respond to allegations of sexual assault. Many colleges and universities, however, have announced their intentions to stick with the Obama-era rules.
The logic of low-evidential, no-due-process Title IX investigations has spread well beyond the college campus and into the rest of American society.
America’s campus culture of heavy drinking and hook-ups ensures that sexual assaults occur far too frequently. America’s campus culture of cultivated grievance and victimhood also ensures that false accusations of sexual assault occur far too frequently. Our study will indicate why—and what can be done to address both problems.
NAS will document what colleges are doing and not doing to protect students from sexual assault, and what they are doing to protect both accusers and accused and to ensure rigorous due process. We will issue a report on the problem, including a history of recent Title IX regulation and proposals for better approaches to Title IX and due process.
Principal Responsibilities:
- Lead research project on current campus Title IX enforcement and history of recent Title IX law and regulation. This includes gathering new data, interviewing college and university officials, and reviewing previous studies.
- Write report on Title IX and campus due process, including recommendations for reform.
- Work with other NAS staff to organize a launch event for the report, and speak at the event.
- Work with Policy Director and Director of Research to develop and present policy recommendations to Members of Congress, the Department of Education, and state legislators.
- Write short articles on Title IX and due process.
- Represent NAS at conferences and meetings on Title IX, including with policymakers.
Requirements:
Undergraduate degree and prior experience with research writing required. Advanced degree (especially in law) or experience with legal research a plus but not required. Proficiency in Microsoft Word and Excel required.
Must be diligent, self-directing, organized, able to meet deadlines, able to collaborate well with others, willing to edit colleagues’ work and be edited in turn.
The ideal candidate will write and edit with clarity, precision, and flair; attend to details and maintain a professional tone in correspondence; display good organizational and research skills, creativity, and initiative; maintain excellent research records; and align with NAS’s mission.
This job is based in our Manhattan headquarters, but requires some travel for research. Residence in New York City and the surrounding area preferred. Strong candidates outside New York City may be able to work remotely several days per week.
Salary and Timeline
This is a twelve-month position. An outstanding research associate may be extended an invitation to become full-time, permanent staff.
Salary: Commensurate with qualifications; approximately $50,000 with benefits
How to Apply
Applicants should send a cover letter, two writing samples, resume, and list of 2-3 professional references to Rachelle Peterson at [email protected].
