<p>[Judith</a> Grossman: A Mother, a Feminist, Aghast - WSJ.com](<a href=“http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887324600704578405280211043510.html]Judith”>http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887324600704578405280211043510.html)</p>
<p>I think this article is likely to be of interest to parents of college students.</p>
<p>Thanks for sharing. Frightening story.</p>
<p>I have been saying this for a long time now even though I have not been personally hit with this. I did not need to be a feminist or have my baby boy so accused to see problems in the directions sexual harrassment and rape accusations are taking. I am alarmed at the way colleges, work places ,communities and courts will jump on a latest media cause whether it is sexual abuse accusation of children from years gone by or date rape or anything where hype and that it is of current interest takes precedence over due process. There is a reason why we have due process laws and innocence presumed. </p>
<p>I saw this when children at nursery and day care programs were all supposedly being systematically abused and put through satanic rituals. Yeah, i was there when a young woman was so found guilty and the verdict reversed when people came to their senses. Families fell apart when members having issues accused dad, grandad and other family member of molestation, abuse, rape. None of it provable either. </p>
<p>I am no fan of Clarence Thomas, but the Anita Hill proceedings scandalized me in a way opposite of how feminist groups looked upon this. </p>
<p>Due process has to be followed. There has to be proof. Otherwise, we become no better than those with pitchforks and torches wanting heads on a stick.</p>
<p>If really feels like some important facts were missing. A lawyer wouldn’t craft a one sided argument would she? BTW</p>
<p>I think this part of her article sums it all and it is not one sided:</p>
<p>“There are very real and horrifying instances of sexual misconduct and abuse on college campuses and elsewhere. That these offenses should be investigated and prosecuted where appropriate is not open to question. What does remain a question is how we can make the process fair for everyone.”</p>
<p>Of course there were facts, many of them likely important missing. But the crucial thing in what she is saying is that it has come to be that if someone accuses you of something such as molestation, rape, sexual harassment, in many settings, you are going to have major problems in that the preponderance of evidence and due process, and other laws and rules we have to protect the innocent so accused (and, yes, it also offers a lot of protection to the guilty) are NOT going to be observed. </p>
<p>It’s always been the situation in colleges. They have their own judicial system and they can kick you out if they don’t want you, is really how it pretty much works. They do not have to prove anything by any standards. It’s their perogative. This is the situation in a lot of cases when you get into trouble at a college. For sexual assault charges, as far as I am concerned, that is a criminal act and the school should immediately call the authorities and have them take care of the situation in a court of law. What is happening is that the schools are taking on these cases because there is no case, zero, zip, zilch in any court of law that can lead to any conviction most of the time, so they are being lumped with other misbehaviors and beiing “tried” by college tribunals. That just is not right. </p>
<p>The Catholic church has roundly criticized and shamed for the way the covered up priest misbehavior in these areas and not reporting the accusations to the police. Organizations are NOT set up to deal with these things. It is up to the police, the prosecutor and the courts to determine such accusations of criminal acts If indeed the accused is found guilty of the accusations, to jail he should go. If not, the info is on record in the event future such situations occur, and when enough do to show a pattern the proof needed for a guility verdict in an individual case would not be the same as it would be in a lone case. There is a good reason for this process that is being circumvented. These accusations are too serious for anyone to be able to just air in a magazine article, talk about and accuse in a kangaroo court, and so I call colleges who try to handle these cases. They are out of their area of expertise. I’ve been concerned about these building wave of accusations for a while now and it’s coming to a break point. Let a few more feminists with sons get hit the same way, or with husbands. Or themselves. Why intelligent people need to get burned to believe that the fire is hot and can burn, is beyond me.</p>
<p>The old “badger trick” has been around for a very long time. It has to be kept in mind when such accusations are made.</p>
<p>I’ve posted this before but:</p>
<p>A. It is plainly obvious that cases such as this would happen.
B. It’s no more reasonable for a college to handle this than it would be for Walmart to handle a rape accusation between two Walmart employees. Hell, it’s probably even less reasonable. It’s almost closer to Walmart handling a rape accusation between two Walmart shoppers. It simply doesn’t make sense.</p>
<p>When it comes down to one person’s word against another person’s word (with no other disinterested reliable witnesses or evidence that still exists to be gathered), that can be problematic in a court of law, and even more so in a forum that is not a court of law.</p>
<p>Is it inevitable that errors occur in such cases? Of course, if the preponderance of errors goes one way, it is “not taking the problem of ____ seriously enough”; if it goes the other way, it is “punishing innocent people on questionable allegations of ____”.</p>
<p>If you take the hysterics out of the article, what happened was:</p>
<p>1) A student complained to the administration about some pretty egregious behavior, including “non-consensual sex”.
2) The administration investigated, which included requiring her son to attend a 2 hour interview with the disciplinary committee.
3) Her son was cleared.</p>
<p>I’m guessing that students accused of cheating on tests, underage possession of alcohol, doing donuts on the football field, or sneaking onto the roof have to go to similar disciplinary committee hearings. </p>
<p>As we’ve seen on these boards, it is always scary for the student and the parents when there is an accusation of wrongdoing, and the school handles it with a disciplinary committee instead of filing civil or criminal charges. Would we rather that ignore any behavior they can’t get an indictment for, and criminally prosecute the rest?</p>
<p>It would have been nice if, as a lawyer, she mentioned whether there might be some tricky legal issues involved with the hearing process. For instance, since the students (not just her son, but all students that are called to these hearings) don’t have the benefit of legal representation, is there a possibility that they could be forced to talk about some things in defending themselves that could be used against them later if charges are filed?</p>
<p>^^^I have to agree. I think a couple of hours grilling before an English professor and a student intern sure beats a night in the drunk tank of a local constabulary. In most college disciplinary cases, the ultimte punishment is no more severe than it would be had they been caught with a marijuana joint in their possession, something which i’m sure sticks in the craw of many parents of girls. In fact, boys arrested for alleged rape are more likely to be accused and tried sucessfully for wht’s found in their pockets at the time of arrest than they would for the alleged rape.</p>
<p>MomofJan, for cheating on a test or other such issues, it 's one thing, but for alleged rape…I don’t think a school has any business dealing with that. The young woman should have been advised to get an attorney and to talk to the police. The young man the same. That is a very serious charge, IMO and not something that should have been handled internally. That was a big problem at Penn State and with other organizations in that the school was over their level of competence in such issues. </p>
<p>The woman who brought up the accusations might have been shorted as well. Many accusers are in these internal tribunals. So it’s not just the male in question. If someone is accusing someone else of assault, rape, things that can be an outright felony, this is not for a bunch of school administrators to decide what should be done. That is why we have police, courts. What if this had been a child involved,more than one woman, more than one person either way? This is not a school issue, and not only should the accused be protected, which I was strongly advocating in my earlier posts, but the accuser should also be made aware of what the legal ramification and venues are. She might have grounds for a civil suit even if there is not enough evidence for criminal action. </p>
<p>I can see the accuser in this case, or the parent of the accuser being equally upset that these charges were so dismissed by a bunch of deans.</p>