The sheer ineptitude of many universities’ handling of rape cases and trials can be absolutely outstanding.
The most recent incident of complete institutional idiocy is at Hobart and William Smith College in Geneva, N.Y. It regards the alleged rape of an 18-year-old woman by several football players within the first few weeks of college in 2013.
The only reason it is in the news now is because of the length of time it took to finish proceedings and give a final ruling, which of course came out in favor of ?everyone but the rape victim.
The term “alleged” has to be used to describe the rape, since none of the ?football players were actually ?convicted.
Even though the accused football players changed their stories multiple times, the panel formed to investigate the case did not find any flaws in the players’ stories. The panel also gave a ruling before they examined what could have been the most damning evidence in the case — the results of the rape kit.
You would believe Hobart and William Smith College would have handled this case with a little more care.
They could have not ?ignored large blocks of evidence. They could have not released the victim’s name before she decided to come out publicly. They could have taken into account the eyewitness testimony that claimed to have witnessed the rape. But they didn’t.
Rape isn’t some faraway issue. According to IU’s 2013 Annual Security Report for Bloomington, there were 96 forcible sexual offenses on IU’s campus from 2010-12.
The University recommends any student who is a victim of a crime to report it to the police as well as the campus administration.
Of course, regulations do not do any good if they are not enforced stringently. Even if IU enforcement is currently top-notch compared to other schools, there’s always room for improvement.
At this point, it is within universities’ best interests to handle rape cases with care.
Of course, cases don’t have to always rule in the “alleged” rape victim’s favor. There are false accusations. But the truth comes to light through the due process of law. No one is above the law, no matter their rank or ?influence. I believe that is only fair.
There might be controversy about the best way to handle the cases. But universities have an obligation to oversee each case to the fullest extent of their abilities.
Universities should put their students’ safety above all else. If you can’t feel safe on a campus, why would you want to go there?
