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Page 4A OPINION East Oregonian Tuesday, September 12, 2017 Founded October 16, 1875 KATHRYN B. BROWN Publisher DANIEL WATTENBURGER Managing Editor TIM TRAINOR Opinion Page Editor MARISSA WILLIAMS Regional Advertising Director MARCY ROSENBERG Circulation Manager JANNA HEIMGARTNER Business Office Manager MIKE JENSEN Production Manager OUR VIEW Ready for the 2017 Round-Up Every year we kick off Round-Up week with a welcome-to-the-rodeo editorial. Well, not every one — back in 1909 we didn’t have a darn thing to write about. Luckily the Pendleton Round-Up came along the next year, and we’ve been tipping our cap on the Tuesday of the second full week in September ever since. In the intervening 107 years, there has always been something new to discuss and look forward to. The big question this week will center around Interstate 84 and its continued closure, due to the Eagle Creek Fire still burning near Cascade Locks. How will the fire and closure effect Round-Up fans who come from Portland and the Willamette Valley? Will they still come if the journey is a little longer? If the air here is a bit smokier? There are additional concerns about how the interstate closure will impact vendors and commercial vehicles, who currently have to make an even wider detour to travel to Pendleton. On a brighter note, something that will make the 2017 Round-Up stand apart is a new exhibition — women’s breakaway roping. Roughly eight women plan to compete this year, and if it is well received, it could become a Round-Up sanctioned event in future rodeos. The event could prove to be an exciting addition to the bevy of Round-Up traditions already on display. On the weather front, things are looking mighty Round-Up friendly. While our southern brothers deal with hurricane after hurricane, and OTHER VIEWS DeVos ends a campus witch hunt S Staff photo by Kathy Aney A dog carrying a faux cowboy walks in Saturday’s Dress Up Parade in downtown Pendleton. our western neighbors try to rassle control over wildfires, Pendleton looks to have clear skies and cool weather. If that comes to fruition, rodeo fans will have comfortable weather in which to soak in their favorite sport. And the Round-Up’s legion of volunteers will surely revel in the cool weather, too. Pendleton — and all of Eastern Oregon — finds a way to enjoy themselves at Round-Up no matter the weather, no matter the barriers put between them and the bucking chutes. This year will be no different. We wish all those experiencing in Round-Up — those competing and those watching from the crowds — a safe and enjoyable week. Let ‘er buck! Unsigned editorials are the opinion of the East Oregonian editorial board of publisher Kathryn Brown, managing editor Daniel Wattenburger, and opinion page editor Tim Trainor. Other columns, letters and cartoons on this page express the opinions of the authors and not necessarily that of the East Oregonian. OTHER VIEWS With DACA ending, Congress must do its job Milwaukee (Wisc.) Journal Sentinel On Friday, House Speaker Paul Ryan told Journal Sentinel opinion writers and reporters that Congress needs to replace the Obama administration’s program aimed at protecting some 800,000 young immigrants from deportation and to otherwise fix what is essentially a broken immigration system. He also said he hoped President Donald Trump would give Congress the time it needs to make that fix. On Tuesday, Trump gave Ryan and his fellow legislators their deadline: March 5, 2018. And he urged them in a tweet. We think ending the DACA program is a mistake. The Obama administration’s Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals policy offered security for children who had been brought into this country through no decision of their own. Leaving them hanging by announcing an end before a new system is in place is cruel. But we agree with Trump on this: It is now up to Congress to act, and we urge it to act quickly. Young immigrants deserve the protection that the DACA program provided and that’s offered in several legislative pieces before it now, including the bipartisan DREAM Act of 2017. As Ryan told us Friday, “A lot of these kids don’t know any other home but this country so I think it’s something that Congress needs to get on top of and fix.” He also said the fix should be done “humanely” and could “give people some certainty and peace of mind.” He argued that the president held a similar view on the need to protect so-called DREAMer kids, and on Tuesday, the president said this: “I do not favor punishing children, most of whom are now adults, for the actions of their parents.” Still, he added, “we must also recognize that we are nation of opportunity because we are a nation of laws.” Ryan said his problem with DACA was with the way it had been implemented: It’s Congress’ job to provide legislation that would implement such a program, not the administration’s. On Tuesday, Ryan said in a statement, “It is my hope that the House and Senate, with the president’s leadership, will be able to find consensus on a permanent legislative solution that includes ensuring that those who have done nothing wrong can still contribute as a valued part of this great country.” OK, so do it. It’s not like this is a new issue or a surprise or that there is an absence of legislation. There are several bills in Congress now. And there is overwhelming public support for such legislation, as The Washington Post noted Tuesday, citing a Pew Research poll from November. The problem is that Congress has failed time and again to fix the immigration system, something Ryan acknowledged in his Tuesday statement. It has had plenty of opportunities. Ryan says he would prefer to reform the system in a piecemeal fashion rather than in a large bill that would collapse under its own weight. So here’s your chance, Mr. Speaker: Start with DACA. There are bills awaiting action, popular support for the program and a six-month deadline. Congress, do your job. It is now up to Congress to act, and we urge it to act quickly. uppose you’re the kind of right of the accused “to be confronted thoughtful liberal who concluded with the witnesses against him.” from Donald Trump’s election This wasn’t some theoretical that you’ve been living in a bubble and exercise. “After my son received need to better understand the causes notice that he had been accused of of America’s distemper. Suppose, too, rape I went to the top-tier university that you have friends who voted for he attended and in my first meeting Trump — and who you know for a fact was told he should leave voluntarily are neither bigots nor buffoons. because there was no possibility that Bret Why are they so angry? How could Stephens he could ever be found innocent.” (I they feel so desperate, politically omit his name so as not to stigmatize Comment speaking, to cast their ballots for him? the family.) For a sense of the answer, look no His son passed two polygraph further than Education Secretary Betsy DeVos’ exams attesting to his innocence. It made no announcement Thursday that her department difference. “I was naive and thought there would revisit the Obama administration’s was no way this could happen in the United Title IX guidelines on campus sexual assault. States,” the father added. “Now my son is The guidelines, she said, had forever marked as having “failed too many students” committed a sexual assault.” by radically curtailing due Kimberly Lau, an attorney process. She’s right. at Warshaw Burstein, has In April 2011, the represented more than 100 department’s Office of defendants in campus sexual- Civil Rights sent a “Dear assault cases. She described Colleague” letter to campus to me sitting with a client in administrators effectively a campus tribunal where she demanding new procedures was forbidden from speaking. when it came to handling The accuser appeared via sexual assault cases. The letter Skype but did not face the arrived without the usual accused. “notice-and-comment” period “They are requiring these that is supposed to precede 19- or 20-year-old kids to formal rule-making. Instead, advocate for themselves,” she as Lara Bazelon notes in says. “They have to speak Politico, “hundreds of schools about a very private event to were placed under federal investigation for three strangers, generally much older. Their failing to be tougher in handling allegations of whole education is at stake. You can’t expect campus sexual assault.” even an innocent person to feel comfortable in Campus administrators got the message. that situation.” Henceforth, the accused would be judged I asked Lau how many of her cases were on a “preponderance of evidence” basis ultimately resolved through exoneration or a to determine guilt, sometimes known as financial settlement. She estimated about 90 the “50 percent plus a feather” standard. percent. But that, she adds, is the good fortune Accusers would be able to appeal “not guilty” only of those who can afford high-powered verdicts. Efforts would be made to spare the representation. “You can’t imagine how many accuser from being faced with direct cross- people can’t afford it and don’t even try.” examination by the accused. The travesties of justice carried out under One way to think about the 2011 letter is the new Title IX guidelines have been the as an effort to combat the scourge of campus subject of some excellent books and superb rape. That’s a laudable goal, even if evidence journalism, none better than Emily Yoffe’s of its epidemic proportions is sketchy and in The Atlantic. And yet the response of the good numbers are all but impossible to progressive left has been indifferent or worse. come by. In 2015, 89 percent of colleges and On Thursday, social activist Amy Siskind universities reported zero incidents of rape. tweeted that conservative writer David French But another way to think about the should “STFU with your hackneyed due letter is as Exhibit A in the overreach of process talking point” after the latter pointed an administrative state pursuing a narrow out that “campus kangaroo courts violate ideological agenda through methods both fundamental rights.” lawless and aggressive. Siskind’s activism revolves mainly around Thus, a letter posing as mere “guidance” pointing out the Trump administration’s could acquire the force of holy writ because creeping authoritarianism. Yet Trump’s no campus administrator was going to risk election was itself a response to the creeping his federal funds for the sake of holding dear authoritarianism of his predecessor. Liberals the innocence of students accused of rape. trying to grasp what happened last November A standard of evidence usually applied in would be well served revisiting this ugly saga civil cases could be used to impose serious and perhaps even murmuring a word of thanks sanctions on students for sexual acts of that DeVos means to bring it to a close. a criminal nature. The Fifth Amendment ■ protection against double jeopardy could be Bret Stephens won a Pulitzer Prize for ignored because campus tribunals aren’t courts commentary in 2013. He began working as a of law. So, too, could the Sixth Amendment columnist at The New York Times in April. DeVos is combating the overreach of administrative state pursing a narrow ideological agenda. LETTERS POLICY The East Oregonian welcomes original letters of 400 words or less on public issues and public policies for publication in the newspaper and on our website. The newspaper reserves the right to withhold letters that address concerns about individual services and products or letters that infringe on the rights of private citizens. Submitted letters must be signed by the author and include the city of residence and a phone number. Send letters to 211 S.E. Byers Ave. Pendleton, OR 97801 or email editor@eastoregonian.com.
