Harvard Law profs challenge federal sex-assault ‘guidance’

CAMBRIDGE – A collection of prominent law school professors, including Harvard's Alan Dershowitz, shot back at President Barack Obama's Education Department over its practice of using "Dear Colleague" letters to lay down policy mandates that ride roughshod over Americans' constitutional rights.

A letter from the educators dated Monday asserts that the department's civil rights office "has unlawfully expanded the nature and scope of institutions' responsibility to address sexual harassment" through its directives regarding Title IX, the 1972 law that bans discrimination on the basis of sex in providing access to education. Most people know of Title IX through its effects on women's collegiate athletics, but it has been applied more recently to things like sexual assault and gender-based issues such as access to sex-segregated facilities.