Universities Keep Failing to Actually Punish Rapists

[eridani]

http://readersupportednews.org/news-section2/314-18/24216-universities-keep-failing-to-actually-punish-rapists

This week, two universities at opposite sides of the country announced incredibly lenient punishments for male students found guilty of sexual assault: one at Stanford will have his degree withheld for two years, and another at Brandeis will simply need to attend “sensitivity training.”

The Stanford case, in which the accused male student who claims to have “sexsomnia” (a supposed sleep disorder that he said makes him sexually aggressive while sleeping) was found to have taken advantage of fellow student Leah Francis, has led to wide protests on the Stanford campus. At a rally on June 5, students demanded mandatory expulsion for students who are found guilty of sexual assault and an expansion of services for victims. Though Francis has appealed Stanford University administrators’ decision, the administration reportedly responded that her attacker was not a threat to the campus.

“That makes no sense,” Stanford law professor Michele Dauber told San Jose Mercury News. “A student who is responsible for sexual assault by force is a danger to the Stanford community by definition.”

In the Brandeis case, rising senior and reported victim Joseph Babeu got a letter from the university saying that although the person he accused was indeed guilty of sexual assault, harassment and inflicting physical harm, the assaulter would get off with a warning and just have to go to “sensitivity training” classes.

“Honestly, I thought it was a joke,” Babeu told the Huffington Post. “Did they send me the wrong letter? I read the charges and almost nothing was happening — just a slap on the wrist.”

A petition this year at Brandeis calling for the establishment of a rape crisis center and a crisis response counselor got 2,600 signatures, but even though the administration says it is committed to “fairness, integrity, and proportionality” in combating sexual violence, three of the five students found guilty of sexual assault in 2013 were not expelled.

[Squinch]

2. This has been going on forever. It's good that attention is finally being paid to it, but

the fact that there is so much pushback from the schools and from crappy media people is disgusting.

PS: One can just imagine what the "message removed" message said.

[Trust Buster]

3. If our daughters cannot live in a safe environment at a "university of higher learning", then

We are know better then apes.

[seabeyond]

15. parents PAYING to put their daughters into. PAYING for the environment with outrageous

amounts asked.

[MadrasT]

4. This is ridiculous.

I am tired of this "universities are exempt from normal police jurisdiction" business.

They have proven over and over again they are not competent to handle these crimes. There is a huge conflict of interest when wanting to have positive reputations and wanting to keep their crime statistics low are at stake.

[CrispyQ]

5. “sexsomnia” (a supposed sleep disorder that he said makes him sexually aggressive while sleeping)

???

What will they come up with next to excuse their behavior?

[mackerel]

6. sexonomia sounds like a very serious disoder

that could be potentially dangerous for all of society in general, not just at universities.

[seabeyond]

16. then again, it is bullshit and rape apology.

[Are_grits_groceries]

7. This has gone on for years and

at major universities such as Yale, UNC, etc.
At UNC, a rape victim faced expulsion for speaking out which apparently violated their honor code. Irony abounds. Article about it:
http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/the-lookout/unc-sexual-assault-rape-victim-honor-code-142933849.html

A lot of them are a bunch of enablers. They won't speak out because it might hurt their enrollment and endowments.

[ismnotwasm]

8. Gross

Maybe we need a sexual assault rating index for schools. That way students applying can chose the ones who are proactive-- or trying to be-- in stopping it.

[redqueen]

12. This is a fantastic idea. Circulate the list via social media. nt

[ismnotwasm]

17. It would be interesting to see if there's anything like that out on the internet

Think I'll look

[redqueen]

19. I don't think there is.

If you find one let me know. Otherwise you've just come up with the latest awesome feminist idea

[seabeyond]

20. totaly awesome and productive, proactive. i looked at the stats at the many colleges last spring.

they are hard to find. digging i could find them. i learned in those stats. too many hide.

one fuckin rape at university of new orleans... my ass.

[ismnotwasm]

21. Hey it's been thought of!

I'm going to make this an OP

[seabeyond]

14. having a son in university, and one of the considerations, looking at rapes to see how the school

addressed victims, ergo, the atmosphere i was paying to put son into, this is interesting.

especially for parents PAYING to send a daughter.

[demigoddess]

9. Isn't punishing rapists a job for the police?

and not the universities? Usually the students are over 18 and therefore adults. Not under the supervision of a nanny. If I were the student raped I would call the police or show up at the police station to make a report. Leave it to the professionals.

[seabeyond]

13. "Isn't punishing rapists a job for the police?" you know. a crime. ya. that. nt

[ismnotwasm]

18. Well yes

But if a University isn't going to expell or otherwise discipline rapists I don't want MY kids gong there.

[seabeyond]

10. "taken advantage". is taking advantage, like.... RAPE? nt

[seabeyond]

11. getting raped by our elite, no big deal. think of their future.... nt