<p>Mamalumper, thanks for your posts.</p>
<p>LF, great link as usual. Emily did a great job.</p>
<p>While people have plenty of ideas, we should listen to people like Emily who have gone through it and work in the field.</p>
<p>Consolation I do think some of these cases could better be resolved with mediation. How much better would it be for both the individuals to come to an understanding of how individually they came to this point and how much each could learn. Sometimes a situation doesn’t need to be punitive - it is far better for it to be instructive. Without mediation the accuser feels invalidated and the accused feels betrayed - how good is that and how much does anyone learn from that situation? </p>
<p>Whether mediation works depends on the complaint. But it is not an education action, per se. </p>
<p>My D had an issue at college and mediation was the dean listening to D, then separately seeing what the other side had to say. It led to the dean’s decision to apply the equivalent of a restraining order against the other two, making them stay a distance and barring them from parties and functions where D was present. It did work, because the other two adhered. (Though they let it be known they were pissed at this.)</p>
<p>i could see something like that happening but in the end your D probably felt validated and the other 2 were pissed, but they “took their punishment” and probably felt they were able to say their piece. Much better when everyone walks away feeling like they did what they could. </p>
<p>The dean and security had heard casual rumblings about these girls, but nothing more. Seniors, with a few months to go. They didn’t take their punishment so much because they were good kids who hit her by mistake. The dean said if they didn’t, to forget graduating on schedule. And, they were girls. </p>
<p>I should add, D was not physically wounded, beyond aches and a faint bruise. And she is a strong young woman with many fiends to buffer her. But she was furious. </p>
<p>Agree, it would depend on the circumstances. I could see mediation if two people are slugging it out over something.and they need “cooler” head(s) to help resolve whatever the conflict is. There will always need to be multiple paths. </p>
<p>That is not the kind of mediation I had in mind. That sounds like simple adjudication to me.</p>
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<p>I’m sorry, but I don’t understand this.</p>
<p>The timeline is still full of holes, so it’s difficult to determine who knew what when.</p>
<p>September 2012: Jackie enrolled at U-VA. She made friends with Ryan, Alex and Kathryn (AKA Randall, Andy and Cindy) and encouraged them to communicate via text message with a person whom she said she was considering dating whom she calls “Haven.” </p>
<p>September 28, 2012. According to RS, Jackie was brutally gang raped at Phi Ps fraternity house. On that same night she told her friends that she was forced by a group of men to have oral sex, though it’s not clear if she indicated where or by whom. It’s not clear whether she accused “Haven” of being one of her attackers.</p>
<p>November/December 2012: According to RS, Jackie became despondent, considered suicide and left school before the end of the year. Special arrangements were made for her to take her final exams. We don’t know why this was allowed.</p>
<p>May/June 2013 According to RS Jackie met with the academic dean because she is failing several classes. Jackie’s mother, who joined the meeting, told the dean that Jackie had had a bad experience at a fraternity. We don’t know the details of what Jackie’s mother alluded to or what information was given to the academic dean.</p>
<p>The academic dean referred Jackie to Dean Eramo. Jackie may have told the Eramo that she was sexually assaulted, but we don’t know the details. Jackie declined to file a complaint with the campus sexual assault committee or to file a police report. </p>
<p>School year 2013/14 Eramo introduced Jackie to Emily Renda and Jackie became involved with the campus rape victim advocacy group. She told “her story” to Renda and to other students, which we believe was a version of the fraternity gang rape story, not the oral sex story. She interacted with Dean Eramo as a spokesperson for sexual assault victims.</p>
<p>June 2014 Renda testified before Congress. She referenced a young woman who was gang raped by 5 men at a fraternity whose friends didn’t take her seriously. Presumably Renda’s account was based on the story that Jackie related to her. Later in the summer Renda introduced Jackie to the RS writer.</p>
<p>September 17, 2014 Dean Eramo met with Phi Psi representatives to discuss allegations that an incident of forced oral sex involving several members of the fraternity. We don’t know what the incident entailed or when it took place.</p>
<p>October 2014 , President Sullivan met with Phi Psi representatives to discuss an allegation of sexual assault, presumably the same one that Eramo discussed in September.</p>
<p>November 19, 2014. The Rolling Stone article was published. Sullivan said the details in the article were different from the details that she was aware of. The university turned the matter over to the police to investigate. We don’t know if UVA’s Board of Visitors had been informed of the Phi Psi allegations before the RS article was published.</p>
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It seems unlikely to me that Dean Eramo would have sat on Jackie’s story from June of 2013 until September of 2014 and only then decided to take the matter up with Psi Phi, but it’s possible. </p>
<p>I’m also unclear about what responsibility Eramo has under U-VA’s rules and under Title IX to inform 1) President Sullivan, 2) to inform UVA’s Board of Visitors, 3) to inform the police. Her legal responsibility may vary from her moral or ethical responsibility.</p>
<p>Because Jackie didn’t file an official complaint with the school or file a report with the police, there is no accuser. And because Haven/Drew most likely doesn’t exist, there is no accused, other than the unidentified fraternity members.</p>
<p>What I’m wondering is can the school report an assault without the involvement of the victim or without the name of the perprtrator(s)? It’s quite possible that the incident discussed with Psi Phi didn’t involve Jackie at all and that the school does have a firmer grasp on what actually happened than RS did.</p>
<p>Personally, I’d put my money behind the police’s ability to sort out the conflicting details.</p>