There’s been some media discussion recently about how poorly colleges tend to handle rape allegations…
… In the center of this philosophical, and administrative, debate are the universities, which need to protect students, including innocent boys who may not look innocent, as in the Duke lacrosse case. There are good people here who have dedicated their lives to helping young people, and one of the mysteries of this issue is how they created a system that devastates so many of the students who come to them desperate for help. At some universities, it’s administrative bloat, middle-management laziness, a habit of shoving assault cases under the rug so they don’t become nuisances. At others, too much attention has perhaps been paid to the letter of Title IX and not its spirit, with a sluggishness about giving rape survivors what they want—the accused student out of their dorms, classes, and their lives…
… and then, this appeared in the Washington Post:
The suspect in the disappearance of University of Virginia sophomore Hannah Graham was accused of sexual assaults at two Virginia colleges he attended, and he left each school shortly after each allegation, according to school officials.
The alleged assaults occurred within an 11-month span from 2002 to 2003 as Jesse L. “LJ” Matthew Jr. moved from Liberty University in Lynchburg to Christopher Newport University in Newport News. Police investigated each report, but neither resulted in a criminal case, according to the Lynchburg prosecutor and a review of online court records in Newport News…
Christopher Newport confirmed the sexual assault allegation against Matthew on Wednesday in response to a public-records request by The Washington Post. School spokeswoman Lori Jacobs said records indicate that Matthew was accused of a sexual assault on campus on Sept. 7, 2003, which campus police investigated. Jacobs declined to say what action was taken after the allegation or how the case was resolved. Matthew left the university less than a week later…
Lynchburg Commonwealth’s Attorney Michael Doucette said that Matthew was the subject of a sexual assault investigation by Lynchburg police in 2002, when he was a student at Liberty. Another student accused Matthew of raping her on campus, Doucette said, and the case went to Lynchburg prosecutors. But Doucette said the woman declined to press charges and no independent witnesses could be found to corroborate her account, so no charges were filed…
Of course, Liberty is a “Christian” university, and has been accused in the past of preferring to eject both victims and offenders in sexual violence cases, under the well-known “she must’ve done something to deserve it” legal defense.
Not that it’s only the “religious” schools. When Donald Gene Miller made a name for himself, I was working in the same large campus facility as one of the women he murdered — a shy, church-going recent divorcee. While she was still officially missing, my boss (who was a casual acquaintance) tried putting together a reward-for-information fund, which was not so easy in those pre-internet days. A depressing number of the victim’s “friends” refused to help, on the grounds that, well, she must’ve done something to get herself in trouble, even assuming she hadn’t just run off on her own. (When Miller was apprehended, he eventually admitted he’d chosen his victims because they all went to the same adult Bible-study classes as he did… not out of religious mania, but just because they were available.)
Hindsight is always 20/20, but there’s got to be a better way of separating “college kids will do stupid stuff” from “budding serial predators find campuses a rich hunting ground”. I like to think that things have gotten better for victims of sexual violence since 1978, but apparently there’s still much work to be done…
kc
What should they have done?
shirt
Why is a criminal act a mater for the college to handle?
Omnes Omnibus
If someone has been the victim of a crime, s/he should report it to the police. Reports to universities seem to result in nothing – as a general rule.
Frankensteinbeck
I’m not sure it has. There’s a hate in our culture for women and a contempt for sexually active women as sluts that I don’t remember from the 80s, and things weren’t exactly good then. I think it’s been going backwards over my lifetime, and is finally getting so bad that the conflict over misogyny is starting to explode. I’m sure it’s connected to our racial issues as well. Assholes are assholes.
Mike J
@Frankensteinbeck:
Previously, there was no conflict over misogyny. It was just the way things were.
Culture of Truth
It’s almost as if large institutions with a very different mandate — Universities, the Catholic church, sports teams, — are not well-eqipped to deal with serious crimes.
Frankensteinbeck
@Mike J:
Kinda my point. In the 80s I remember the cultural attitude being ‘Wow, I think women may be people!’ and it has slowly devolved to ‘Is she a slut?’ Bigotry became outright hate, and that hate is sparking pushback.
Warren Terra
I’m on my phone at the moment and distracted, so I won’t provide links, but recent issues of Mother Jones and The American Prospect had major articles on this that everyone, really, should read.
The Mother Jones article was on failures to seriously investigate rape and abuse at small Christian colleges. The Prospect article was more about the vexing question of how to investigate allegations while being respectful of everyone’s interests – the alleged victim needs something to happen, and to be taken seriously, but the alleged attacker needs some protection of due process. The difficulty of handling these awful situations well is somewhat obscured by the attention rightly laid to horrible stories of victims being re-victimized by a university that ignores or belittles them, but the pendulum can swing the other way.
Violet
@Frankensteinbeck: The hate comes from the entrenched power (white men mostly, but white people in general and to a certain extent men in general as well) feeling that their perch on the top of the food chain is threatened. It’s all well and good to say that women might be people when there’s no way those women can take your job or your spot at the country club. But these days far too many of those women and others are encroaching upon the power structure’s territory. Fear motivates the hate. Hence women are sluts. Fight back any way you can.
everbluegreen
@shirt:
Because colleges and universities investigate ALL SORTS of offenses, some of which are criminal and some of which aren’t, that violate their codes of conduct. They routinely expel students for misconduct that is not criminal in nature, so it’s certainly reasonable that they can expel students for misconduct that IS. They have different procedures and burdens of proof than the criminal justice system. Which means that victims who can’t get justice through the courts for a whole host of reasons can at least, in theory, be assured that a student who has committed a violent crime against them can no longer show up in their classes, in their dorms, etc.
Of course, it doesn’t always work that way, sometimes for good reasons (it is very difficult to establish some kinds of sexual assault cases) and sometimes for bad ones (university procedures and actions that violate Title IX, for instance).
Frankensteinbeck
@Violet:
You might be right. That’s certainly a major thing that’s happening in racism. Clint Eastwood unintentionally gave us the perfect example. A man famous for treating minorities well lost his shit when a black man was put in charge instead of being an admirable sidekick, and publicly yelled at an empty chair.
wuzzat
@shirt:
A couple few reasons to report to a university:
1. Many universities have their own police departments.
2. Even universities without their own police departments are generally held responsible for the safety and security of their students and employees, which necessitates them being informed of threats to said safety and security.
3. If the accused is part of an honors/scholarship/athletic/student life program, they may have violated their contract even if they’re not found guilty of a crime.
Of course, if a crime has been committed, actual police should be notified. But, there are reasons why the university would need to get involved as well.
Luthe
As most rapists tend to be serial offenders, it shouldn’t be too hard to separate the “stupid stuff” crowd from the “budding predator” crowd. A decent orientation week lecture on consent and bystander intervention (with occasional refreshers) will weed out 90% of the “stupid stuff” bunch, most of whom are just clueless, not evil.
everbluegreen
p.s. I have recently had a glimpse of the CYA mode that a university can go into. A friend of mine (no, not me, an actual friend of mine) was stalked and threatened by an employee of the uni I’m affiliated with. She has PILES of hard evidence, including threatening emails and voicemail. She was able to get a 6-month restraining order against this employee. For insane and convoluted reasons that have to do with the fact that the stalker had former ties to the university police department, critical reports and evidence were not passed on to the local PD. She has been fighting for TWO YEARS to get the university to fire this employee. It simply refuses. It is literally unfathomable to me. I still don’t understand why this private university wouldn’t just fire someone who is a documented violent stalker. That’s not how it’s supposed to work.
As a result, my friend is suffering from PTSD and is afraid to come to campus, which is necessary to do things, like, you know, graduate. Her stalker is walking around whistling, while my friend is having flashbacks and may not finish her PhD. She is from a not-wealthy family and doesn’t have the resources to sue, though she’s been added to the ongoing federal Title IX investigation. It’s sickening and infuriating.
Tommy
@Mike J: I what to be careful here. My parents have been married for 47 years. But I was at my grandfathers funeral a few years ago. This guy says to me that can’t I recall the first time my mother married. I was like WTF. I had NO idea my mom had been married before, Went to dad and asked. He said mom was abused. Beat. She got out of it. Best we don’t talk of it. Like it never happened.
Violet
@everbluegreen: That’s awful. Does she have a lawyer?
Shortstop
@everbluegreen: Local media?
Violet
@everbluegreen: The other thing to do is for her to connect with whatever campus women’s organizations are available. See if they can champion her case.
everbluegreen
@Violet:
@Shortstop:
No lawyer – she doesn’t have the money/connections to know how to find one. Local media is not a bad suggestion, actually. But I think she is holding out hope that she can get through the next two years to finish, and honestly, if she went to the media, that would be the end of her at this university. So it might be a last resort, but it would be just that – a last resort.
everbluegreen
And the other thing is that after fighting this for two years, she is beyond burned out. She has told her story, over and over and over again, to people at the university PD, the local PD, university HR, the grad school dean, her committee members (with some professional fallout for her from the less enlightened ones), the chair of the Title IX committee (who is trying to help her, FWIW, and discovering in the process that the Title IX Committee that she has spent so much time on is largely for PR purposes). Her PTSD is bad. She doesn’t have the emotional bandwidth to keep doing this, especially when all the evidence shows that it won’t make any difference.
Violet
@everbluegreen: The university isn’t going to do anything unless pushed. They’ll protect their reputation above all. If she doesn’t have a lawyer she won’t threaten a lawsuit and they won’t do much.
Could she confide in her advisor? Maybe that person could help. Unless they’re the problem.
Tommy
@everbluegreen: I hold out hope for her. When I travel you know the first thing I want to do is see the local college. I just might coin this phrase but I got “college porn.” I love seeing other schools. I hope this school will stand with her. The places I’ve gone they would (or at least I think they would)!
everbluegreen
Anyway, sorry to be dumping this all here. But I never would have believed, even at my most cynical, that a university could ignore evidence every bit as clear as the Ray Rice video. I fail to see what it gains by protecting this one random employee. And yet, it persists in doing so.
And since my friend is still trying to keep at least a shred of privacy in her life, I can’t talk about this with our mutual acquaintances and express my fury. So, here I am, venting in anonymity to the internet.
Violet
@everbluegreen: That’s a tough spot to be in because she’s at their mercy. If they decide she’s too much trouble they won’t let her get her degree. They can do that. It’s a terrible power imbalance.
Telling her story over and over again is probably not helping. If there is free or low cost counseling available at the university, I hope she’s taking advantage of that. Otherwise, suggest she look around for some Legal Aid type places that she could at least run her story by and see if it’s worth a lawyer taking on. Sometimes even a sternly worded letter on legal letterhead is enough to get things moving.
A high school friend of mine was in a weird situation in grad school where he’d done the work but they were holding up his degree. There was no reason for it–the school was just being dickish. He had connections to a lawyer via family and this person wrote the proverbial Sternly Worded Letter on legal letterhead to the university about the situation. Wouldn’t you know–within a week or two they granted him his degree.
Shortstop
Why are the local police not taking action? What are they saying to her about this hard evidence of stalking?
Does your university have a law school? If so, it may offer its students clinical experiences in the form of services for (mostly) low-income members of the community. Presenting herself as a potential indigent client might just get some attention from the administration. I’m half-serious here.
Shortstop
@Tommy: This particular school is, for whatever reason,
pretty clearly not standing with her.
Violet
@everbluegreen: The NFL would have done nothing without the video getting out. Or maybe the 2 game suspension. The video and the publicity is what made them take real action. The university is behaving the same way. She needs some muscle behind her allegations. If the police are colluding with the university to refuse to investigate, then that is a real issue.
Think of all the hiding and cover up and protection of those in power at Penn State. That is not an isolated incident. It’s only when someone started talking that the case broke open. But lawyers were involved.
Seriously, if it’s as clear cut as you say, some ambitious young lawyer would loooove to take that on. That’s a career maker. Everyone from the police department (both university and local) to the dean to the HR department would be open to lawsuits. And if this person works for the university, it’s likely she’s not the only target. Others could come forward too.
She needs a lawyer. Can you or another friend help her find one?
Tommy
@Violet: Back in the day I ran the hotline for the Univeristy I went to. You know the number one call we got of maybe a potential suicide was a women that had been abused. We could offer nothing for her. Just kind words. One of several reasons I didn’t want to do this for a living.
Violet
@Tommy: Looking at buildings on a university campus gives you no idea of how that university works. Just because you’ve visited a campus does not mean you know what they will and won’t do in cases of alleged sexual assault.
everbluegreen
@Shortstop: I’m a bit fuzzy on the details, but I know that part of the problem was that she originally reported it to the university PD, who, due to connections the stalker once had with their department, made it go away. She was able to get a restraining order through the local courts based on this evidence, but nothing more. There was a second stalker connected with the case who did get successfully prosecuted, but he’s not the one who works for the university.
Anyway, I really appreciate everyone’s suggestions. But the thing you have to understand is that all of these actions are asking more of her than she can do. She is getting treatment, but that doesn’t make PTSD just magically stop. It is all she can do to get through the day sometimes, much less marshal the resources that would be necessary to get a lawyer and bring a court case. The point is not what she should be doing differently; the point is what the university should have done differently.
Shortstop
@everbluegreen: No one has suggested that getting counseling will make her magically or instantly well. I am glad she is in treatment.
everbluegreen
@Violet: I know she does. I have tried to talk to her about this, as gently as I can. But she doesn’t see the point in pursuing it any more, because she has seen no evidence that it would be successful, and she has suffered so much in the last two years of trying to force the issue. I can’t say I blame her, although I guess I hope that a good lawyer might be able to have an impact.
TheMightyTrowel
I feel like this is the time for a quick reminder to commenters and others:
Based on the research carried out to date, most rape is carried out by a very small number of people who intentionally put themselves in situations where they can take advantage of social pressures and social structures to commit rape without censure (x). They look for vulnerable people and manipulate their social group and their victims in ways that make their sexual activities seem socially acceptable. They target people in their social group more than strangers – 2/3 or more rapes are carried out by someone known to the victim (https://rainn.org/get-information/statistics/sexual-assault-offenders).
Prosecuting rapists should be a major priority, but that is still a work in progress since there are major structural hurdles in place (poor policing, slut shaming, misogyny, rape culture, economic or power inequalities between victim and rapist) that prevent rape victims from reporting their assaults, being believed by the authorities or having a jury view them as sympathetic.
Women get trained very early on to watch each other, watch our drinks, check in when we leave places late at night to tell our friends we made it home safe, but the burden cannot just be on us. Rape prevention means preventing rapists from raping, not telling victims to work harder not to be victimised – other people (dudes) need to get involved.
Tommy
@TheMightyTrowel: Wow I think you are blaming the women. Do I think there is a stereotype of a rapist. Of course. But not so sure the victim.
jonas
@everbluegreen: Unfortunately, I have to agree with what others have said. Unless she sics a pitbull lawyer on them, they’re not going to do crap, especially if this stalky employee can threaten them with a wrongful termination suit in return.
jonas
@Tommy:
?? How is this victim blaming?
Suzanne
@Tommy: I think you missed the point of what s/he wrote.
Tommy
@jonas: You blockquted me well, not what I said.
jonas
@everbluegreen:
If she has a restraining order and he hasn’t violated it (in which case he can be arrested), I don’t see how the university can summarily fire him. These situations get really ugly when the stalker is, e.g., a professor she’s worked with. But if it’s an employee in another capacity who is otherwise abiding by the restraining order, they probably can’t do much.
Another Holocene Human
@Frankensteinbeck:
A) The social research is in and it turns out that the “slut” thing is a way of policing class lines. It’s another way of saying a girl doesn’t know her place. SLUT! Burn her! The class lines are getting sharper all the time. It’s much more severe than in the early 80s and more of us are getting poorer while rich has ever more layers with enormous gaps between.
B) Holy rollers didn’t have teevee shows and twitter back in the 1980s. Cable was spendy and edgy so you could get away with MTV going hardcore with the safer sex education since the fundies refused to watch anything that wasn’t released on Betamax. (I had a fundy friend who grew up on Earnest movies. My parents were too snobby for that; I got raised on NR foreign art house films, that’s kiddie NR not porno NR. The most mainstream movie I got to see after The Carebears Movie made my little brother cry was The Brave Little Toaster.)
Another Holocene Human
@everbluegreen: Colleges encourage students to report rapes to campus authorities rather than to the local police. This ensures that they can cover it up and has the bonus that they won’t have figures to report when the parents are reviewing their safety record before sending the precious darlings away.
Schools have been systemically covering up rapes SINCE FOREVER this is not a new phenom but thanks to the internet and social media angry fed up feminists can finally start to make these schools pay. I hope some high school kids are reading and realize they need to report crimes to real police, not campus cops, and also, maybe they should investigate how much local police suck around the campus they’re looking at rather than rely on totally faked Title IX reports.
Don’t go to student health, either. They have been known to not only be extremely nasty but refuse to take rape kits and even trick students into destroying evidence. Fuck that.
Another Holocene Human
@wuzzat: Worry about the academic review board AFTER you’ve filed your police report and non-campus medical has taken rape kit and any other physical evidence.
Another Holocene Human
@everbluegreen: If she is at a big enough/prole enough school, like a state school, there should be some hardcore activists around, like (new) SDS, Rape survivors, feminist groups. At least there would be moral support.
Going through the system by the system’s rules is intended to grind you down. The way to beat the bastards is not to play by their rules. That woman who is dragging her mattress around campus has the right idea. Shame the fuckers.
Another Holocene Human
@TheMightyTrowel: You are absolutely right and I am glad the OP went up because I was having the same thoughts when I saw that. Of course usually these stranger-abductor murderers start with b&e and rape earlier, was surprised to see how quickly that all popped up, two rapes, two schools, no prosecution not even a wimpy one.
A lot of rapists get away with it to the point that they never face academic sanctions at all … but some get a slap on the wrist and decide, hey, my problem is that I got tattled on, well I can fix that.
Another Holocene Human
@Tommy: Go drunk, Tommy, you’re home.
Aimai
@Tommy: you are wrong.
Sherparick
@Frankensteinbeck: In some ways I think it has gotten worse since the 1970s and mid-80s. There was a huge anti-feminist backlash (Rush Limbaugh first got big with the Clarence Thomas – Anita Hill scandal) and lots of young men growing up in the 90s and Oughts were encouraged by popular culture to objectify and hold women in contempt, and without the ideals of courtesy and gentlemanly behavior, which despite aspects of sexism did teach men to avoid violent and disgusting behavior toward women.
JustRuss
@jonas:
I am not an HR professional, but I’m pretty sure you don’t need to violate a restraining order before you can be fired for harrassment.
Everbluegreen, you mention your friend has voicemails. Convert them to mp3s, get a throwaway email account–maybe even in the stalkers name–and email the mp3s to his coworkers, supervisors, and anyone else who knows him. Send them from a public terminal so they can’t be traced to your friend. Disclaimer: This could be an incredibly bad idea, depending on the stalker.