U. Virginia student recounts life after being cleared of false rape charges
Guilty until proven innocent.
While progressives rage against “campus rape culture”, sadly many stories we cover highlight a culture of hoaxes and kangaroo courts.
In The Cavalier Daily, a student shares his story about being falsely charged with rape and how the University of Virginia made bad matters even worse (hat-tip, Instapundit).
….After the charges were dropped, the University ended my suspension, and I returned to school on November 17th. I rejoined my activities immediately and got back into the swing of things.
The administration expressed their surprise and thoughts about what happened to me. My return to the University was not anticipated, nor was it expected to happen so quickly. It was expected I would plead guilty to a lesser charge because of the weight of the allegations. I am one of few students who has successfully resumed my life at the University after being charged of serious felonies.
I am not honored for holding this position by any means.
I was told that it was unfortunate that this happened and that the system is imperfect, but that ultimately a semester isn’t really that much time in the grand scale of things. I lost thousands of dollars in legal fees alone, I lost my fall semester, and I had to bear the anguish of spending five nights and six days in a jail cell. In that one semester, I was unable to salvage any credits and lost opportunities to enhance my social life at the University. Upon my return, I was asked by my peers where I was, what had happened to me, and why were police escorting me out of Wilson Hall that day. I never had a good explanation for anyone.
The administration told me that there were lessons learned from my events. It was a sobering reality to them that people do get falsely accused and that we do not live in a perfect world. The police aren’t perfect, the university isn’t perfect, the court system isn’t perfect, and I am not perfect, which all contributed to the storm of events I was caught in. Along with recent incidents at the University and in a changing world, policy regarding criminal charges has transitioned to an extreme where it involves action first and questions later….
…The administration told me that they must maintain a safe environment for all their students, but where was the compelling evidence that I would compromise that environment? An accusation and a conviction are not synonymous, and the University should be more sensitive and thoughtful in potential future situations when something of this nature occurs….
Comments
“and I had to bear the anguish of spending five nights and six days in a jail cell.”
He could have been murdered. He could have been raped.
Do men have any rights at all?
First, can you ever imagine a college telling an actual rape victim that we live in an imperfect world with imperfect people and in the grand scheme of things…..! Secondly, after a Google search I have yet to find any case where a false rape claim has resulted in any legal consequence, either criminal or civil, for the accuser. If the claim against this student was false , perhaps he should sue the accuser for legal fees, mental anguish, etc.
Dropping charges is not proven innocent. For those of you that don’t know UVA is under federal investigation for the huge amounts of rape on their campus. The rape culture is thriving at UVA under the present administration. It is so bad there the students call it UVrApe. Where there is smoke there is fire. I smell something.
Patty if you think you smell something, perhaps your personal hygiene needs improvement.
But I just love how you completely miss the point of the article, which is the injustice of false accusations against the innocent. I’ll also bet you’re one of those liberals who are very very concerned about justice for the wrongly accused, unless it’s a white male.
http://www.fbi.gov/stats-services/publications/law-enforcement-bulletin/september-2012/false-allegations-of-adult-crimes
“For those of you that don’t know UVA is under federal investigation for the huge amounts of rape on their campus.” The rape that this student was accused of allegedly happened elsewhere in Virginia.