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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.