From the link…
[quote]
NORFOLK – Attorneys for a former student who is suing Virginia Wesleyan University have filed a motion to stop the school from naming her attacked as a defendant in the case.
Last week, lawyers for the college filed a motion seeking to add the attacker as a defendant because, they said, he was responsible for the attack and not Virginia Wesleyan.
In a separate filing submitted at the same time, attorneys for the school argued that the Virginia Wesleyan did not have a legal duty to protect its students.[/]quote]
I guess we’ll see what the court decides, but I would have thought that Title IX imposes some burden on the college to make some attempt to provide an environment safe from rape. That doesn’t mean I’d decide for the plaintiff here, but if I were the court, I wouldn’t dismiss on the basis that the suit was misguided on its face.
Suppose-- I’m just making up a scenario-- five women had been attacked at a certain dark location on campus that was on the way from the dorms to the library, yet the college had stubbornly refused to light the area or patrol it. I could easily see that the sixth woman attacked there would have a cause of action.
Falsifying the rapist’s record so he can transfer somewhere else is disgusting, but I don’t see how that gives his victim a cause of action. His next victim, on the other hand, could start pricing yachts and mansions.
I don’t know about the specific case. Maybe the school wins.
But what is the school’s obligation?
Why are colleges disciplining students for sexual assault in the first place??? Other schools should be finding out by review of the criminal records!!
Which brings us back to the question, Why are schools handling allegations of criminal acts? Only the police have that jurisdiction.
I don’t think a lot of students know enough to call the police. I had very pointed conversations with both my kids right before freshman year about calling the POLICE, not just campus security in case they were the victim of an assault, theft, etc. I do know that on some campuses the campus security are also part of the local police department, but not at their schools. So I made sure they understood the difference, and that a police report was something they needed to do even if campus security tried to dissuade them.