"No person shall ... be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law ..."
That's from the Fifth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. Forgive us at The State Press for taking our second Wayback Machine trip to the 1700s in five days, but there's something we just don't understand.
Eric Brian Krause, 23, was a graduate teaching assistant here at ASU. He supervised a 100-level chemistry class.
And as of Friday, he is no longer allowed on the ASU campus. Because he's been charged with criminal activity.
Krause was arrested in July on two charges of sexual exploitation of a minor after reportedly soliciting sex from what he thought were two 13-year-old girls on the Internet.
On Thursday, he was arrested again and slapped with additional counts after police reportedly found explicit photos of his 17-year-old girlfriend on his computer.
When the brain trust at ASU heard about this on Friday, according to ASU spokesman Keith Jennings, they had a long talk and decided that it was time to let Krause go.
Correct us if we're wrong, but isn't the standard in this country "innocent until proven guilty"?
"The decision was that he shouldn't be in the classroom at this point or, for that matter, on campus," Jennings said.
What if the charges are false? What if it turns out that young Eric Krause is simply the victim of a heinous misunderstanding?
The supposed 13-year-old Internet girls? Maybe it was his roommate or someone else using his computer.
Let's make two things clear: Yes, pedophilia and kiddie porn are serious charges, and if guilty, Krause should be fired, condemned and thrown in jail for a long, long time.
And yes, the University has every right, legally, to put Krause out on the street. Arizona is a right-to-work state, and any employee of any company can be fired for any reason - or no reason at all.
But the fact of the matter is that when people are charged with crimes, they're given the right to defend themselves publicly, before a jury, to determine their guilt or innocence.
By firing Krause before he is even arraigned on the charges against him, the ASU administration is going against the more than two centuries of ethics upon which our country was founded. While it's certainly possible that Krause is guilty, it must be assumed - at this point - that his innocence is intact.
And if this University truly wishes to lead our state, and our country, into the 21st century, it must do so first by example.
We'd say that the example set by the founders of this country is a good place to start.
