Rape at College, Then Rape by College

[unhappycamper]

http://www.opednews.com/articles/Rape-at-College-Then-Rape-by-William-Boardman-Community_Courage_Denial_Education-140719-609.html



Anna is returning to Hobart for fall term.

Rape at College, Then Rape by College
By William Boardman
General News 7/19/2014 at 19:24:16

Hobart & William Smith Colleges does a Steubenville

Two weeks after the fall term started, an unknown number of male students, apparently including members of the undefeated football team at Hobart and William Smith Colleges (Hobart), raped an 18-tear-old freshman girl who'd had too much to drink. Hobart's response was to re-rape the child bureaucratically by ignoring evidence and finding the alleged rapists not guilty. It was a sham of an administrative adjudication that failed to meet even a shadow of fairness, competence, or even intellectual plausibility. Hobart stands by its dishonest decision. Case closed.

Actually, the case may not be closed. The freshman, who took a leave of absence after the repeated abuse by students and administrators, has said that she will return to campus this fall, against her parents' wishes, and that she will be working with other abuse survivors. That is, she plans to do, as a student, what Hobart and its staff utterly and negligently failed to do for a victim who accused a winning football team of gang rape.

This harsh summary of events at Hobart in September 2013 and thereafter is based on a very long, detailed, and conscientious story by Walt Bogdanich on the front page of the New York Times on Sunday, July 13, 2014. Titled "Reporting Rape, and Wishing She Hadn't," the story provides a detailed portrait of Hobart's quasi-judicial process that was startlingly incompetent and unjust.

Hobart's damage control started the day of publication, with a letter to the community from Hobart president Mark Gearan. His relatively content-free letter includes a link to an unsigned, longer document that purports to include "information that was provided to the Times reporter which is largely missing from the article"." Although much of the langue is identical in the two documents, neither offers much relevant information. Both are long on policy boilerplate without supporting evidence and without much relevance to the case at hand.

[Heidi]

1. Kick, kick, kick!!!

And !!!!!

[unhappycamper]

2. Hey!!!

How are youse guys doin???

[Heidi]

4. We're good!

The Wiley and Excellent Boy Cat Named Ginger sends you toe bites, and I send you a !

CMW would like for me to deploy a manly hug in your direction, so here:

Happy Sunday, friend! So good to see you!

[PoliticAverse]

3. DU discussion on the NY Times article..

Last edited Sun Jul 20, 2014, 09:31 AM - Edit history (1)

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10025233241

[get the red out]

5. This is an epidemic

This poor young woman; it's like pesants accusing nobility when athletes abuse, or even when colleges place reputation ahead of justice.

[MineralMan]

6. In my opinion, all rapes and sexual assaults that occur

on college campuses should be handled by the local police and prosecutors. Students who experience such things should call 911 and not allow the college to handle the situation. Colleges are not the proper venue for serious crimes. Ever. There is a built-in conflict of interest involved and institutional disciplinary hearings are not a substitute for the criminal justice system when felonies occur.

That's my opinion, and I'd advise any college student who is the victim of a sex crime to report directly to the police and enlist the aid of their inevitably outraged parents to make sure those reports and followed up and handled according to the laws of the state the college is in. That, in the end, will be the only way these crimes are handled properly.

[lululu]

7. +1 to MineralMan's views.

Even the local authorities kowtow to athletes, however, all too often. They did pretty much nothing in this case about prosecution.

[MineralMan]

9. Only by applying serious public pressure in these cases

will they be taken seriously. The time has long passed that we should allow rapes and sexual assaults to be taken lightly, as they so often are when college students are involved.

The football thing is especially noxious. Treating young men who rape and sexually assault women as heroes because they play a sport well is nothing short of toxic to our society. I'm sick of it, and have been sick of it for decades.

As the public, we need to make it absolutely clear that such treatment of athletes stop. When that happens, the incidents will be greatly reduced in number. There's nothing like a successful prosecution for making the point that star athletes are not immune from prosecution when they commit felonies.

[Agony]

8. it should be illegal for universities, colleges and churches to conduct internal investigations

into illegal activity.

Universities should be barred from "offering" this "alternative justice" to students.

[petronius]

11. Universities are required to investigate and react when they become aware of

sexual harassment or assault, whether or not the victim chooses to proceed with a criminal case or report to external authority. But I would certainly support barring schools from encouraging victims to leave it at that - the criminal incident should be handled by competent independent authorities, and the internal process should be focused on campus climate and safety in general. The federal government should be much more aggressive in ensuring that that latter part be done in a rigorous and effective manner...

[Agony]

12. The University role in this should be limited

to broadly, loudly and vigorously educating the whole campus community about sexual crimes.

Given the corporatization of Universities, administrators have a conflict of interest that leaves them poisoned when it comes to internal "justice" in these cases. They should stick to adjudicating academic issues. The criminal justice system is bad enough in regards to rape victims.

[petronius]

14. Education is critical, but universities also have policy and punitive tools that

can contribute to a safer campus. I think they should use all these means, along with prohibiting any suggestion or encouragement that these internal proceedings replace an external criminal investigation. Limiting the school's role to education seems to relieve it of some responsibility.

If a victim chooses not to make a report to outside authority that's her/his right, but I would require a school to facilitate and support that report and investigation if it's desired...

[Dustlawyer]

10. Since George Will told us that she reported this because she is somehow benefitting from it,

I don't see her problem!

Sarcasm thingy!

[maced666]

13. Surprised. President there worked for Clinton and Dukakis.

Long record as a progressive. How these type of crimes get by people like him I'll never know but I won't listen to excuses.

[WillyT]

15. K & R !!!