Expulsion is different and I agree with Hunt that it is more like a criminal punishment. Being expelled for rape means it is unlikely that the student can ever get a college degree from a reputable school and is branded as a sex offender (whether or not he had to register as one). If the student is guilty of rape and is found guilty in a fair “trial”, particularly a serial offender, I have no problem with expulsion as a consequence. However, upthread and in others, some have argued that expulsion is not a big deal since it is not jail time, and therefore expulsion of an innocent kid should not be a big concern.
I am not as concerned about finding a student guilty with less compelling evidence if the punishment is not as severe and is less life-altering. Not arguing that the women do not suffer life-altering consequences, but if the proof is not there, it just isn’t, and the level of pain suffered by the victim is not proof that the accused committed a crime. Most criminal cases in the justice system never go to trial because either charges are dropped or a plea deal is worked out to lesser offense. Many first time offenders can eventually get their record expunged. Not sure colleges shouldn’t act in the same way - the most egregious cases deserve expulsion, the others a lesser sentence (like suspension or being thrown out of the dorm).
As in the number of campus rapes, I doubt there is any way to really come up with good numbers of falsely accused guys. The colleges are not going to admit this. The women are going to contend the guy is guilty, and the guy will maintain his innocence.
The basis of our criminal justice system is innocent until proven guilty. That is not going to make alleged victims happy if they think justice is not being served, but it is the reality. I have said it before, and will again, that there are many crimes in which conviction is difficult; murderers, drug dealers, thieves often get away with crimes . Many times the evidence is just not there and the prosecutor declines to pursue the case even when they are pretty sure they know who did it, which leaves the victim frustrated and angry. That doesn’t mean we decide that the the accused should be presumed to be guilty unless proven otherwise.
Of course colleges should try to get to the truth in these cases and punish those that are guilty. College must work much harder to support victims, to educate bystanders and to change those portions of campus culture where change is needed.
I do have a bit of knowledge base concerning lawsuits against universities. Any good size college is constantly being sued for one thing or another. They probably have 10 to 30 lawsuits open at any time. Vast majority are nuisance or inconsequential but there are always 1 or 2 that you’re worried about. Judging by corporate standards, colleges almost never fire anyone, but when they do the fired employee almost always files a lawsuit. Age, race, sex, etc. discrimination. Very different from the corporate world and quite unbelievable to me. One year there was a rash of sexual harassment lawsuits - every woman who was fired filed one because some brain child in the general counsel’s office had decided to settle two instead of fight and the gold rush was on. I was pretty sure they were all completely groundless; the courts agreed.
I personally doubt that monetary lawsuits will force a change in policy other than at the margin. In the grand scheme of things, at a single top university a million or two million dollars of settlements each year is almost a rounding error. The thing to watch aren’t the amounts of any settlements unless they were truly staggering. It’s when insurance companies refuse to issue policies that cover claims for “groundless expulsion” or whatever. That would be the game changer. Again, I really doubt this will happen.
This is an important point that I hadn’t thought of. Of course i knew it was insurance companies that pay, and we all know that increased college expenses trickle down into increased tuition, but I had not thought about the angle of the insurance companies.
“It is interesting that they still awarded her $150,000. For what,then?” I don’t know. That is part of what is curious. Some idea of negligence apparently .
Again, I really doubt that monetary damages and/or insurance companies will change things much. My guess is that much of this will be solved by increased disclosure or requiring explicit affirmation. For example, colleges with honor codes manage to suspend or even expel students for offenses like using copy & paste that aren’t either criminal or civil offenses. My understanding is that they make students give positive affirmations and sign a blood oath they will abide by the honor committee’s decisions and this is enough. Military schools are pretty invasive in students’ lives - not sure the legal basis for this but somehow they do it.
In principle if every new admit refused to sign a separate statement that they agree to be suspended/ expelled if found to have committed sexual assault then the college might have to relent. Really doubt you’ll see most male students take a stand on a principle that is this distasteful. (The converse, where students agree not to sue if they are sexually assaulted and the college messes up, is possibly illegal and certainly not politically feasible).
Of course colleges still have to abide by their written policies and the laws and can’t be negligent. Publics are a whole other kettle of fish. But this should be more than enough to make the monetary risks manageable. Perhaps colleges are already working on their sets of legal belts and suspenders.
I’m not saying there aren’t other ways to possibly challenge these policies though. I just don’t think this way will work. I am not a lawyer though. And I am just analyzing, not advocating either way here.
The Dear Colleague letter we so often refer to was written in 2011. Remember the 262 suits pre-date that and the UE advisory document was itself released in 2011.
Yes, my guess is that have been even more insurance claims post Dear Colleague – because of all the media exposure I’m supposing there were a great preponderance of lawsuits over the proceedings. But again insurance claims and the expense to the college are only one piece although as the brief explains if the colleges must navigate this stuff then they cannot do it in a capricious manner.
So United Educators (a liability insurance company?) received 262 claims of student-on-student assault from 2006-2010. But these were the ones where people were asking for compensation, not all of the ones that were settled without recourse to insurance, correct?
The advice given in the paper looks sound and sensible to me. In particular, the insurer says that the complaint should be settled as quickly as possible, and both parties should be informed frequently about the status of the process. People who don’t know what’s going on, or who think the process is dragging, get mad, and if they get mad they’re more likely to sue.
No insurance companies also kick in for out of court settlements. Most business carry liability insurance. Even people do - my H and I have rentals and you better believe we have a liability policy. - some drunk tenant could fall down the stairs and claim that the stairs were somehow at fault or some other crazy situation and we could potentially be SOL without liability insurance. You’d be amazed at the stories people come up with and I know this also from working in HR for a number of years. My H was in a business where his employer as part of compensation carried liability insurance on him to cover lawyers or any instance where someone was not happy and wanted to blame/sue him personally as well as his organization for a decision he made. For some businesses that are at “high risk” the insurance company works very closely through lawyers and/or risk management specialists to mitigate risk in order to cut down on liability payouts. One of my boys is heavily involved in “risk management.” and spends a far amount of time with the business insurance company on site. Colleges are no different. When someone sues a college and the college “loses” the liability insurance kicks in depending on the policy just like your auto insurance. i can’t believe i didn’t think of that angle until just now as i’d seen the UE paper before. I don’t know how many insurance companies cover educational institutions, this is just one i happened upon when looking for some statistics.
The other irony is that both H and i talked ourselves blue with the boys when they were in their late teen years about liability and what “could” happen if they had a party in our house and something happened and we were sued. We explained that we could lose everything just because of something stupid. It’s a good talk to have with kids. Kids don’t understand risk very well, but they do “get” liability
Yes they do, I’ve said that before (that both men and women sue). Right now they are paying out more for lawsuits by accused, but that makes sense because most of the issues that have been discussed have to do with colleges that are not as careful with the legal ramifications of the accused. I’ve never taken sides in this issue except to point out the legal “issues” which have currently been primarily issues with how they adjudicate related to the accused who is more often or not male. I’m on the side of our civil liberties and presumption of innocence until proven guilty. Always have been always will be. it just happens that we’re talking primarily about women who are sexually assaulted by males. I’ve got issues with what expulsion can mean in context, but that is a separate thing from the process of adjudicating this stuff.
I’ll amend my comment, i have issues with the mattress dragger and some of the antics of the activists too.
