BISMARCK – State Rep. Eric Murphy, a Republican from Grand Forks, has introduced a bill that would impose criminal penalties on those who make false allegations of sexual harassment or discrimination under Title IX statutes.
According to the legislation, House Bill 1256, a person who makes such an allegation that is later determined to be “false and frivolous" would be guilty of a Class C felony. Furthermore, anyone who willfully encourages someone to make a false allegation is guilty of a Class B misdemeanor.
Murphy, an associate professor of biomedical sciences at UND’s School of Medicine and Health Sciences, was accused and later cleared of misconduct under Title IX last September, following allegations by a female colleague.
Murphy said he believes the bill has widespread support in the House.
“I think a lot of House members are tired of weaponizing these types of allegations,” said Murphy. “After my own personal experience, a lot of my House colleagues asked me ‘what are the protections against false accusations?’ and I told them there aren’t any.”
“I’m not talking about a case where it’s really close one way or the other,” said Murphy. “False and frivolous is a pretty high legal bar to clear.”
When asked for his definition of what constitutes a false and frivolous accusation, Murphy said he would not offer a legal definition, since he is not an attorney. However, he said the bill was written to address accusations that he says have no basis in fact.
“This bill isn’t...
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