Funny you should bring up that hypothetical, because it closely resembles the recent experience of a group I’m part of. A former student assaulted at least half a dozen people. The College took nearly two years to do anything with a great deal of evidence from multiple reports, and several people were harmed during that time. The group at large had no clue anything was wrong for most of that time span. Eventually, one survivor warned anyone who regularly interacted with said group - giving as many details as they could offer without sparking a confrontation or harassment by the perpetrator. Which is to say, relatively few.
I don’t know what suspicions people may or may not have harbored about me in the months before the perpetrator was named, and frankly I could care less. Knowing a sexual assault had happened, and we never had a clue, helped the group take some concrete steps to prevent such issues going forward and made individual members far more vigilant about this particular risk. I regret only two things. First, that anyone was assaulted at all, and second, that what little information we had for months didn’t come out earlier.
Specific Maroon articles don’t have the force of the law behind them, or even the imprimatur of university officials, and we shouldn’t pretend they do. Lower stakes mean a lower standard of evidence. Publishing this was probably not the easiest decision the paper has faced, but not publishing carried its own set of risks. I tend to favor publication, because not being sexually assaulted is a tad more vital to most people’s well-being than not being the subject of rumors - even when the allegations are as ugly as they are in this case.
In the context of allegations that are true in 92-98% of cases, the presumption of innocence applies to legal proceedings (for good reason). Newspapers still report on allegations before a verdict is reached all the time.
I know characterizing students as a giant hive mind is trendy, but we aren’t completely blind to the difference between a documented fact and a claim.