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CONTRIBUTEDPHOTO Berrendos SERRF Expanded Learning Program student Leyton Henderson engages in a hands-on Making a Pendulum STEM activity. SERRF Berrendosstudents learn about making pendulums The Tehama County Po- lice Activities League Mar- tial Arts Program gave two classes Nov. 18 on anti-bul- lying at the Lincoln Street School. Both sessions included recognizing bullying be- havior and how to address it. Children were taught that telling a teacher or adult is not being a tat- tle-tell, but rather learning how to follow the rules of the school. There is a method and way to send positive mes- sages to the would-be bully, which is learned in the pro- gram with PAL. Usually, though, at school it goes too far and the confronta- tion ends up on the ground. That's where the grappling dummy, recently purchased by PAL, helps out. Students learn how to fall, land safely when pushed and survive un- til the confrontation ends. The grappling dummy is made solid and flexible so that various submission techniques may be applied without injury to anyone else. Once techniques are learned through the train- ing process the students hold matches against each other learning how to ap- ply these self-defense tech- niques safely so that no in- jury comes to the bully. The goal is to win the bully over to doing things a better way for a more productive, pos- itive, happier lifestyle. A win-win for all. The martial arts pro- gram turned 18 in Septem- ber and is the first anti-bul- lying program in Tehama County. Other programs have surfaced and PAL en- courages these programs and for prospective stu- dents try each of them out in order to find the right one for them. Each program has tremendous strengths. PAL also encourages girls and women, eight to 98 and any senior citizen both male and female, to come to 1005 Vista Way Ste. C, 5-6 p.m. on the third and fourth Thursdays of the month to learn how to pro- tect themselves both inside and outside the home. Regular classes for school aged boys and girls, ages 5 to 18 years, are held 3-5 p.m. Mondays and Thursdays. For more information on all of PAL's programs either visit www.tehamaso.org/ pal or call 529-7950. Several businesses and organizations donated $200 each year to PAL and their names and logos are placed on the Star Wall of Heroes at the PAL building. PAL is a 501 (c) (3) non- profit youth mentoring pro- gram that puts cops and kids together and will visit any school or businesses for free lessons in self-defense and awareness training. All programs in PAL are free. PAL Anti-bullying message gets around CONTRIBUTED PHOTO A PAL Martial Arts Program volunteer works with students at Lincoln Street School on Nov. 18. By Bill Draper TheAssociatedPress KANSAS CITY, MO. Colleges that expel students whom they suspect of having committed sexual assault are being asked to go fur- ther by specifying the rea- son for expulsion on their transcripts. Victims' advocates say it's critical to ensuring that such students don't end up on other campuses without their new schools know- ing the potential risk and to holding them account- able, long term, so they can't just move on with a clean slate. Virginia and New York already have such a re- quirement and a Califor- nia congresswoman, Rep. Jackie Speier, introduced a bill Thursday that would expand it nationwide while allowing such notations to eventually be expunged. Speier, a Democrat from the Bay Area, said most schools already note inci- dents of cheating on stu- dents' records, so it makes sense to note if someone was expelled for sexual misconduct. "Sexual assault is a far more serious offense that deserves at least as much, if not greater, scrutiny," Speier told The Associated Press in an email last month. Opponents, though, say such transcript notations would be unfair. They point out that these sex- ual misconduct findings are made by the schools, not the courts, and that in many cases, prosecutors have opted not to press charges due to a lack of evidence. Furthermore, schools have a lower bar for determining culpabil- ity than the justice sys- tem's standard of beyond a reasonable doubt. Title IX, the federal law pro- hibiting gender-based dis- crimination in education, including sexual harass- ment and sexual violence, requires schools to find an accused student responsi- ble if there's a better than 50-50 chance a sexual as- sault occurred. "It is an uneven playing field from the start," said Justin Dillon, a Washing- ton-based lawyer who has defended dozens of stu- dents accused of sexual misconduct. "Regardless of what colleges want to say, the burden is always on the accused student to prove his innocence, not the other way around." The Title IX require- ments can expose schools to lawsuits. That's the case at the University of Kan- sas, which is being sued by two former members of the women's rowing team who accuse the school of mishandling their claims against a football player. Daisy Tackett reported that the player raped her and Sarah McClure said he touched her breasts with- out permission in a sep- arate incident. The AP generally doesn't publicly identify alleged victims of sexual violence, but both women have said they want their names used. The player was never charged and denied any wrongdoing. The universi- ty's office of Institutional Opportunity and Access, though, concluded that he had "non-consensual sex" with Tackett and violated the school's sexual harass- ment policy with McClure. In their Title IX law- suits, Tackett and McClure say the school showed "de- liberate indifference" by al- lowing the player to with- draw instead of expelling him. Tackett's alleges that the university was more in- terested in avoiding being sued by her attacker than in giving her "access to le- gitimate redress." Fur ther more, the women say that although the university agreed to place a notation for "non- academic misconduct" on the player's transcript, it was inadequate because he was able to resume his athletic career at a differ- ent school. When that new school learned that the Kansas misconduct was sexual in nature, he was cut from that school's football team. In its written response to Tackett's lawsuit, the University of Kansas de- nied that it misled her. It also acknowledged the awkward position of hav- ing to handle such cases. "The university system is a place of higher edu- cation, not a court of law, and as such has much more limited remedies," the school wrote. Brett Sokolow, execu- tive director of the Asso- ciation of Title IX Admin- istrators, estimates there are about 10,000 reported sexual assaults at the na- tion's roughly 4,000 col- leges each year, of which roughly 500 to 600 cases result in expulsion. Mike Reilly, who heads the American Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers, said people often question why schools frequently handle sexual violence re- ports instead of law en- forcement. Such cases of- ten involve alcohol and hinge on whether an in- toxicated person gave con- sent, and in many cases, law enforcement doesn't find enough evidence to warrant charges, he said. "It's a balance of campus safety and recognizing in- dividual rights and pri- vacy," Reilly said. "Where's the balance there? That's one issue where people fall strongly on both sides." One of Tackett's law- yers, Dan Curry, said stu- dents deemed to have com- mitted sexual misconduct should have to face long- term consequences, but that unfortunately, those who handle Title IX com- plaints don't always make the right decisions. "There is due process built into the system if they do it right," Curry said. "The question is, are the people hired at these universities competent to do it. If you have incompe- tence there, that's a prob- lem." Dillon, who has defended many accused students, had one who sued George Mason University in Vir- ginia following his Decem- ber 2014 expulsion after a former girlfriend accused him of sexually assaulting her. A three-person Sex- ual Misconduct Board ini- tially exonerated him, but the woman appealed and an administrator who ap- pointed himself to hear the case ordered him expelled. A federal judge in March ordered the student rein- stated, citing testimony from the administrator that he had made up his mind to expel the student before even hearing his side of the story. The case led the school to hire a full-time sexual misconduct investigator and revise its appeals pro- cess. The student has re- turned to the university and hasn't faced any reper- cussions, Dillon said. EDUCATION Co ll eg es p us he d to n ot e se xu al misconduct on transcripts Thankyou! PLEASE RECYCLE THIS NEWSPAPER. Heykids... at the North Pole Dec.14•6-8PM 527-8062 Sponsored by Red Bluff Kiwanis Call Santa ChefTravis' Cioppino ServedwithSalad&SourdoughBread Friday Special thru December $ 17 99 5 ChestnutAve. Red Bluff 530-527-3161 CALIC#778199 GERBER 385-1153 HINKLE ROOFING & CONSTRUCTION, INC Visitusat 100JacksonSt. in Red Bluff for details (530) 529-1220 Monthly Membership as low as $ 28 00 a month! 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