College Men Fight an Increasing Number of Sex Assault Allegations
I have a hard time believing that there are so many more sexual assaults on campus now than there were just a few years ago.
Ashby Jones reports at the Wall Street Journal.
More Men Fight College Allegations of Sexual Assault
A former undergraduate student sued Cornell University, alleging the Ivy League school wrongly accused him of forcing himself on a female student.
The lawsuit, filed Thursday by a man referred to as John Doe, is the latest to be brought against a school amid a crackdown on campus sexual assaults. It contends Cornell violated his due-process rights when the school concluded he raped a fellow student after a party in December 2013 and then withheld his diploma.
The suit says the Ithaca, N.Y., university “cherry-picked witness statements,” “ignored important…statements” and judged the credibility of witnesses “without any ascertainable rationale or logic.”
A spokesman for Cornell declined to comment.
Since the start of last year, more than two dozen men have sued colleges and universities over such cases, largely alleging that the schools’ disciplinary processes are stacked against them. The number is a dramatic jump from just a few years ago.
Last week, a Boston College graduate sued the school, saying it failed to give him a fair hearing after accusing him of sexual assault.
A spokesman for Boston College said the school “stands by the findings of its administrators who adjudicated the case, and we intend to defend our decision in court.”
Some of the suits have already fallen flat. But actions brought against Swarthmore College in Pennsylvania and the University of Colorado led to settlements in which the schools either set aside sanctions or reduced them. Others have led to judicial rulings that questioned whether the schools’ disciplinary processes afford men a fair shake.
In recent years, colleges have made it easier for female students to initiate actions against men they accuse of sexual assault.
More Men Fight College Allegations of Sexual Assault (The Wall Street Journal)
Comments
why not try the old, but tried & true practice of purity & chastity, that way you don’t have to defend yourself from inappropriate charges… living values is the best way to fight allegations. it may not be popular, but keeping your own dignity & respectingthe bodies of the opposite sex is something to be cherished, valued & commended
Women are being taught that they can be irresponsible and be rewarded for it. Yet another step in the direction that no-fault divorce took us.
Colleges and universities are ill equipped to adjudicate claims of sexual assault and rape. These are crimes and felonies must be reported to public authorities. The problem is that academic reviews don’t afford the accused the usual presumptions of our criminal justice system, one of which is innocent until proven guilty on the reasonable doubt standard. Assault and rape must be stopped but in the process not losing sight of our due process values for the accused. The criminal law does run on campuses. It is time for academic institutions to turn these issues over to the proper legal authorities and not try to run their own criminal justice system or adjudicate these issues. What we have is a parallel justice system heavily weighted against the accused. That is no excuse for sexual assault or rape, they must be punished, but according to law, not in kangaroo procedures.