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<p>I have to believe that Vassar’s councel was intimately involved throughout the process, if for no other reason than to ensure the administration’s decision was on firm legal ground and defensible should a lawsuit be forthcoming.</p>
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<p>Dating web sites have become an important way for people to meet. I assume there are sites that ask people their age, educational background, whether they were ever married, religion, race etc. There is probably academic research showing how these variables are related to the probability of divorce. I think it would be interesting to create an odds-of-divorce calculator. Maybe eharmony already has one in house.</p>
<p>You’ll probably tell me that demographics aside, the couple have to actually like each other. There is research showing that cold feet before marriage do predict a greater chance of divorce. There would be an extended version of the odds-of-divorce calculator for couples that are considering marriage.</p>
<p>[Robert</a> Hughes, Jr. | Do Doubts About Getting Married Predict Divorce? | Huffington Post | September 10, 2012](<a href=“HuffPost - Breaking News, U.S. and World News | HuffPost”>Do Doubts About Getting Married Predict Divorce? | HuffPost Life)</p>
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<p>Crewdad,
I agree. I was being understated. Surely legal counsel was directly involved.</p>
<p>It seems like the issue of judicial procedures at private colleges…including Vassar has been a contentious issue even back when I was still in high school:</p>
<p><a href=“Private Colleges Are Criticized for Their Brand of Justice - The New York Times”>Private Colleges Are Criticized for Their Brand of Justice - The New York Times;
<p>Anyone can dredge up old junk about most anything, cobrat. It is irrelevant… You are going to have totry to be patient and wait until the facts are disclosed. No point in generating theories without additional information. Who knows if he harassed her after the incident. Or if he had any previous issue that came to the attention of any disciplinary body. We simply do NOT KNOW.</p>
<p>“I assume that everyone who wants the female to report to the police and the school when she views what happened as rape (or non-consensul sex) would be on board with the male who is not prosecuted, but is expelled, suing the school/girl when he feels that the school got it wrong. It would provide a check and balance where school administrators are making the decisions.”</p>
<p>I think anyone can sue anyone else when they think they have a case to make. Colleges and universities have well-paid legal departments. Most suits are settled out of court, with no comment decrees. Insurance pays up. Most of the payments are to women. Colleges don’t want it known that they are likely the most dangerous place in the country for young women, and where they will be exposed most repeatedly to dangerous criminals parading as college students.</p>
<p>What’s different about the rapists on campus and the rapists in the neighborhood? Their parents have paid for the opportunity.</p>
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<p>Actually, it is relevant as it shows that private colleges, including Vassar have had a past history of implementing administrative judicial procedures which have been called into question by students on campus and outside critics including concerned civil libertarians who feel they don’t have adequate due process and procedural safeguards for those who are accused.</p>
<p>Can evidence in a college judicial procedure, such as the testimony of the accused, later be used in a criminal case? If so, the accused should be able to have a lawyer present. From what I have read, he does not have that right at many schools.</p>
<p>Cobrat, that article is 19 years old. It’s not relevant to the current situation.</p>
<p>Here’s an interesting commentary about an Oberlin student that supposedly “was expelled for basically practicing his instrument, sleeping in the Con when he had no where else to sleep and being friends with people from the town of
Oberlin.” Wonder what the real facts were. [oberlin:</a> Despicable action by OC authorities.](<a href=“http://oberlin.livejournal.com/1523500.html]oberlin:”>Despicable action by OC authorities.: oberlin — LiveJournal)</p>
<p>As I said, one can find old articles about most anything.</p>
<p>And here is a complaint about how Oberlin handled (or mishandled) a hearing for a sexual assault complaint. [My</a> Assault: Talking to the Administration - Campus Assault and Rape Survivors Online Network](<a href=“http://campus-survivors.org/post/42877637648/my-assault-talking-to-the-administration]My”>http://campus-survivors.org/post/42877637648/my-assault-talking-to-the-administration)</p>
<p>Perhaps the process is broken at many colleges and universities. Students, accusers and accused, plaintiffs and defendants, should have the right to a fair process.</p>
<p>"I think it would be interesting to create an odds-of-divorce calculator. Maybe eharmony already has one "</p>
<p>Do you run your entire life by probabilities? Don’t you have any intuition skills? </p>
<p>“You’ll probably tell me that demographics aside, the couple have to actually like each other.”</p>
<p>I wouldn’t be surprised if there were several Mrs. Beliavskys under consideration, but you dispassionately calculated looks, IQ, education, age, etc. into a spreadsheet and identified the lucky winner. </p>
<p>Are you what most people would consider neurotypical in your thinking?</p>
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Or not so old.</p>
<p>[Oberlin</a> 3rd Highest in Reported Sexual Offenses Among Similar Schools](<a href=“http://www.oberlinreview.org/article/oberlin-3rd-highest-reported-sexual-offenses-among/]Oberlin”>http://www.oberlinreview.org/article/oberlin-3rd-highest-reported-sexual-offenses-among/)</p>
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<p>The statement “What I was concerned about was reporting it to the police” is the issue. We need to teach our kids that if they are the victim of a crime they need to report it. The last thing I would want for any child of mine who was the victim of a crime is to have a bunch of students and what are effectively business people acting as a judge and jury. Kundert is right, the administrative process is not designed to help people who have been victims of a crime. College administrators are there to run the business of education, not deciding who is and who isn’t guilty of a crime.</p>
<p>Oberlin and Amherst are not alone now. More new reports on other colleges are coming out:</p>
<p>[Sexual</a> Assaults Mishandled At Dartmouth, Swarthmore, USC, Complaints Say](<a href=“HuffPost - Breaking News, U.S. and World News | HuffPost”>Sexual Assaults Mishandled At Dartmouth, Swarthmore, USC, Complaints Say | HuffPost College)</p>
<p>[USC</a> Rape: Sexual Assault On Campus Isn’t Just a Crime ? It’s a Culture](<a href=“http://www.policymic.com/articles/44607/usc-rape-sexual-assault-on-campus-isn-t-just-a-crime-it-s-a-culture]USC”>http://www.policymic.com/articles/44607/usc-rape-sexual-assault-on-campus-isn-t-just-a-crime-it-s-a-culture)</p>
<p>[U.S</a>. investigates handling of alleged sex assaults at USC - Los Angeles Times](<a href=“http://articles.latimes.com/2013/jul/22/local/la-me-usc-sexual-harassment-20130723]U.S”>U.S. investigates handling of alleged sex assaults at USC)</p>
<p>This is a sad commentary on the state of reporting/handling sexual assaults on campus.</p>
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<p>Agreed. It also shows how college judicial boards/administrations may not be the best venues to adjudicate what are essentially criminal cases. </p>
<p>However, a part of why this has developed is precisely because there are too many cases of cops and/or DAs who don’t take such cases seriously enough or are hamstrung by resource constraints from prosecuting or otherwise giving due attention to those cases.</p>
<p>Its a conundrum. Colleges and universities have to have policies and procedures to address campus-related issues, and how they will handle the student within their rubric. When the a issues also are crimes, it gets challenging for the victim discern which route to proceed.</p>
<p>The problem is students and parents trust the college administrators. At every safety orientation for college freshmen, the administrators tell students and parents that they will take care of the kids in their good hands. Knowing the right legal channel to handle the complaint outside of the campus is not easy and familiar thing for distressed kids who never have any legal issue before going to college. The first resort they have is the school administrators.</p>
<p>cobrat,</p>
<p>I don’t purport to have any personal knowledge whatsoever about the Vassar case. However, I googled and found newspaper articles about it in the mainstream press.</p>
<p>It seems that two young women saw the accused walking with the alleged victim towards his dorm on the night in question before the incident happened. They contacted campus security because she was visibly drunk and they were worried about her safety with the accused. The accused alleges that they only did so because one of the young women who called campus safety was his “former love interest” and was out to “get” him. I actually think the fact that his “former love interest” called campus safety when she saw him with a drunken female cuts the other way.</p>
<p>I don’t see discrimination. I see the application of the rule that someone who is drunk can’t consent. </p>
<p>YMMV</p>