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Utah lawmakers have launched discussions on a bill for next year that would require state universities allow students who are accused of sexual assault be represented by a lawyer during disciplinary hearings.
Bill sponsor Rep. Kim Coleman, R-West Jordan, said Tuesday that if a college finds a student guilty of sexually assaulting a classmate, that determination can follow them for the rest of their academic career.
"It's not the intent of this legislation to make this look like a law enforcement and criminal justice court proceeding," she said during an interim legislative meeting. "We just want to ensure that the student's right to have counsel is recognized by the institution."
Coleman said that both the accused and accuser need legal representation for their own protection.
The meeting comes amid accounts from students who reported being sexually assaulted and say colleges in Utah haven't handled their cases appropriately.
For example, a former University of Utah student recently filed a federal complaint after she said school officials dragged their feet on her sexual assault report until both she and the accused had graduated.
Geoffrey Landward, assistant commissioner for the state's higher education department, said students who attend public universities in Utah are allowed to consult an attorney, but the attorney can't represent them during the disciplinary hearing.
The proposal would allow students who have violated a school rule to have a lawyer in their disciplinary meetings. It would not apply to students who have been accused of academic dishonesty, such as plagiarism.
Students would have to pay for their own lawyer.
State Democratic Sen. Jim Dabakis said he is concerned that that will be unfair to the students who can't afford a lawyer.
"If you're going to go down that route, you need to make sure that that route is fair to all students," he said during the meeting.
Coleman introduced the bill during the recently completed legislative session, but it failed.
She said she did not have any examples of Utah college students who have been wrongly accused and then punished by their school.
"We don't know if we have one of those in our state from one of our institutions, but we know the climate, the policy and the procedures that exist to allow that, exists in our state institutions," said Coleman.
David Buhler, the state's higher education commissioner, said that he and his staff have already started discussing the possibility of instituting a similar higher education policy that would allow representation in academic meetings. They plan to consider it during the state's Board of Regents meeting in July.