I feel like I’ve missed something here. There are universities that encourage rape victims to engage in some kind of internal administrative hearing instead of calling the police? Is that supposedly for the victim’s sake, because they think it will encourage more reporting or something? It seems like a terrible idea.
Not being a member of the Columbia University community nor subject to their opinions, I don’t really care what standards they choose to follow.
I simply maintain that it’s silly to excoriate someone for not following legal standards if they’re not part of the legal system.
I find it difficult to believe that a university would find a student to be “reponsible” for a rape and not refer it to the police, if for no other reason than to avoid legal consequences.
Regards,
Shodan
IME the internal procedures are mostly related to the university’s discliplinary procedures - maybe you don’t go to jail, but you do get suspended or whatever. I’ve never heard of a university telling its students they should not also report serious crimes to the proper authorities though.
So basically what Shodan said.
This doesn’t surprise me. Men with this attitude are the reason women have to live soldiers on the front line to survive.
Call the fucking police already.
Yes, and in the same way when I hear of someone peddling quack nostrums that only make the patient sicker I always say “Well, it would be silly to excoriate someone for not following medical standards if they’re not part of the medical system”.
Oh wait, no, what I actually say is “Dumb fucks shouldn’t meddle in what they’re not qualified to meddle in, especially if all they’re doing is make the problem worse”. Sorry, I keep getting those confused.
If I take a day off, the rapists win. Seriously, gentlemen (and I am really compliementing some of you with that term), if you don’t want to be accused of rape, don’t put yourself in positions where you’re alone with a woman.
You know, there’s a federal investigation going on of a bunch of colleges to find out if they’re sweeping sexual assault cases under the rug and trying to keep the police uninvolved. I would not be surprised in the slightest if colleges put pressure on their students to not go to the police. If they can keep it all inside their closed doors, their reputation won’t get tarnished. Quite the motivator.
Is Columbia one of them, though?
They are not.
However, just because they are not under federal investigation does not mean they couldn’t also have this issue. It’s likely a matter of which campuses have a more involved and louder student body on this issue protesting to the government that are having the investigation pointed their way. Squeaky wheel gets the grease.
If you don’t want to be raped, don’t put yourself in positions where you’re alone with men.
As long as we’re, you know, using insanity to solve problems. Now you say something even crazier!
My wife’s gonna find that very disappointing. Being able to be alone with each other whenever we wanted was one of the main reasons we got married.
What if the university conducts a shoddy investigation or disinterested investigation? What if by the time its internal investigation is complete, memories have faded or evidence is gone and the police have trouble finding the truth? All of which is a long-winded way of referring to the Jameis Winston fiasco.
Better advice: if you’re a human being, don’t be alone with ZPG Zealot.
What if it does? They’re not supposed to be completing their investigations before they get the police involved either way.
Is that how it actually plays out?
I don’t agree, because what they’re doing serves as a proxy for the legal system: the writers of these fliers are relying on the university’s findings in declaring that a man is a “serial rapist.” That evokes, as Dogzilla’s comment shows, a feeling that the accusations must have something to them; that there’s some documentation indicating possible guilt. “Serial rapist,” is a term most people would agree describes criminal actions, and the university’s imprimatur connotes some validation of this finding.
Like Dean Gillispie! No, wait, bad example.
Well, I have a bit of knowledge on this sort of thing, having worked with Title IX policy on my campus. What used to be a means to mandate equal funding along gender lines has now been expanded to include instances of Sexual Discrimination. This can be assault, bullying, stalking harassment, you name it.
In order to retain federal funding, schools have to do a much better job of dealing with these issues than previously. Basically, the feds are tired of the labyrinth a lot of schools put students into for sexual discrimination complaints, so we have a pretty rigorous reporting system now( Thanks, Penn state and U of Montana!).
Two issues here. If the Columbia processes are designed to keep alleged victims away from the police, that is a problem, and exactly what the new federal guidelines are designed to prevent.
However, even if an alleged victim cannot or will not involve the police, the school has an obligation to investigate the incident if they know or have reason to know of it. Usually there is a fairly rigorous process with lots of eyes on it. The standard in these cases is preponderance of the evidence. The justification for that is that 1)at that point, it is a civil matter and 2) the school needs to be able to take remedial action which may or may not include discipline even if you cannot prove something beyond a reasonable doubt.
Even if there is insufficient evidence to ‘convict’ the accused, the school can take action. A classic example is separating the students from a common class or residence hall. They can also impose discipline based on this 51% likely standard. There is an appeal process, but generally, it only screens for abuse of discretion on the part of the person overseeing the investigation.
The process is outlined in the student handbook and students are required to undergo training and acknowledge they are aware and consent to the policy, so it seems as though they submit to the school’s jurisdiction as part of attendance.