Campus Rape Tribunals are Wrong and Unfair
Colleges aren’t courts and are the absolutely wrong environment to hold hearings on sexual assault.
Robert Carle writes at the Witherspoon Institute’s Public Discourse blog.
The Trouble with Campus Rape Tribunals
The scourge of sexual assaults on college campuses rightly fills us with rage and indignation. But crimes that produce such visceral emotions need to be adjudicated in an impartial and dispassionate manner. A student found responsible for sexual assault is almost always expelled from school and barred from campus. His permanent record will often note that he was found guilty of sexual assault, thereby limiting his educational, employment, and housing opportunities. Such a life-shattering event warrants high standards of due process protections for the accused. Our courts provide such protections.
Campus tribunals, which are conducted by amateurs in emotionally charged atmospheres, do not. Unfortunately, President Obama is using his authority under Title IX to vastly expand the role of campus tribunals in adjudicating cases of sexual assault.
In April 2011, the Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights sent out a “Dear Colleague Letter” that outlined steps that colleges must take to respond to sexual assault on campus. This letter called for sensible reforms such as increased training for victims’ advocates, more partnerships with rape-crisis centers, and bystander awareness to teach men to intervene if they see a woman who is about to be victimized.
But the letter also ordered colleges and universities to investigate and adjudicate students’ reports of sexual assault, even if the alleged victim decides not to have a medical exam or report the incident to the police. Colleges that do not take the steps recommended by the Office for Civil Rights will lose federal funding and be referred to the U.S. Department of Justice for litigation.
In a follow-up communication, the Department of Justice’s May 9, 2013 letter to the President of the University of Montana, the Obama administration admonishes colleges and universities to dramatically expand their definitions of what constitutes sexual harassment and assault and to lower standards of evidence needed to find students responsible for sexual assault.
Comments
Rape is a crime. Rape should be reported to duly authorized law enforcement officials for investigation and prosecution. Colleges should have no say in the matter except educating their students to keep them safe and informed.
That story on the Yu guy is heart breaking.
(reverse the genders to see how utterly vile this woman is)
She goes home with him – and he tells her it’s his first time, and she gets his virginity.
Shortly after sex she starts talking about her EX boyfriend (wow, SERIOUSLY!?) and then informs Yu that she’s not interested in dating him.
Yu’s roomate comes back to the dorm room they are in, and on the way out Walker (the accuser) cutely and casually mentions “she got his (Yu’s) virginity”.
The next day she texts him on FB telling him what a great time she had. Several more pleasant exchanges on FB take place over the next few months.
A year later, on the LAST DAY she can file, she files a rape claim. This prevents Yu from filing a counter-claim.
Yu cannot present the FB messages during the hearing. He cannot bring in witnesses that will back up his story.
His life is destroyed.
Imagine a guy who takes a gal’s virginity, then starts talking about his Ex GF while in bed with the recently de-flowered girl. Then on the way out makes a cutesy comment to her roomate about how he got a virgin.
Then a year later destroys this innocent woman’s life.
Vile.