Originally Posted by Kevin (Post 2300576)

Both Pike and Sigma Nu shut down their chapters in advance of this. You don't have chapters voluntarily shutting down their Alpha chapters (Pike) and Beta chapters (Sigma Nu) unless they believe there are other options.

I don't believe a competent administrator can see those things happening around them and conclude there is no cause for concern. I know that governing bodies of fraternities around the country are going to really be talking about this issue over the next year. I expect some major initiatives.

Originally Posted by Nanners52674 (Post 2300574)

I don't like how in interview clips I've seen UVA administrators seeming to place all the blame on Greek life. Yes Greek life is a big part of the problem, but it's just as important to focus on the administration and the University system as a whole. I get a feeling of UVA passing the buck.

Sexual assaults happen at schools without Greek life. Sexual assault happens at house parties, the bar, friends apartments etc...

Originally Posted by cinder1965 (Post 2300568)

Agree. It is like school systems are not permitted to adjudicate sexually misconduct against a child by a teacher. They have to call the police, report and let the legal system address it.

Originally Posted by aoiwen (Post 2300535)

As a current student at UVA and a member of Greek Life, I would like to share some information with you all.

First off, all fraternal organization agreements between the university and chapters have been suspended until January 9th. Both sorority and fraternities have FOAs meaning that both were suspended at the same time via an email the president shared with students. I have a mixed opinion about this. The University was “damned if they do, damned if they didn’t.” The administration had to do something and they had to do it immediately. Do I think this was the right thing? Absolutely not. Do I have a better idea? Unfortunately not. Both fraternities and sororities function as more than just social organizations. Greek life provides comfort and a safe place for victims of sexual misconduct. For this reason, I am at least thankful that they continued to allow meetings of Greek organizations within the houses. I further do not agree with this move because they are punishing a whole group of individuals for the wrong doing of others. The events described in the RS article happened two years ago and thus there was no immediate threat that the ENTIRE Greek community imposed to anyone.

Second, this is not just a problem at UVA. To say UVA has a problem, that has become very obvious and needs immediate attention. But to say this is only a problem at UVA is very wrong and very far from the truth. This is a problem across all colleges, all genders, and both involved with Greek life and not.

Here are some points that you need to take into consideration before jumping to conclusions:
- Title IX and Due process have hindered the University (all colleges, actually) on responding to these reports of sexual misconduct
- At UVa, there are several routes that students may take in pursuing justice against their attacker: first they can go through the University and the sexual misconduct board AND/OR do so criminally through the police
- When going through the sexual misconduct board: there are HUGE problems with this that are hard to address because of Title IX and due process; basically, if the defendant is found “not guilty” through this process, he/she can then go and sue the survivor for defamation since this is not a court of law. When deciding the best route for survivors, this is tough because they could then face damages even though they are the victim. The benefits of this are that evidence need not be beyond a reasonable doubt, but that it is likely that it happened (basically there is at least a 51% chance the sexual misconduct occurred).
- Survivors can also go through a criminal process – this is often hard and takes a long time; it also requires a lot of evidence; often times survivors don’t seek immediate medical attention and evidence is lost; there need be evidence beyond a reasonable doubt for justice to be served to the defendant
- What I believe is the best route: survivors can file a civil case. Usually civil cases are settled before they ever go to court (>90%). You might think “But what is money going to solve?” In these settlements, survivors can put theoretically any clause in the agreement that he/she finds necessary and since you are settling outside of court, the defendant must agree to it, or it would proceed to court. For example, the survivor could include a clause that the defendant no longer attend said school. The defendant must attend therapy once a week. The defendant owes $X to victim. And more often than not, these civil cases have privacy clauses so you never hear about them, ever. Defendants are often way more willing to settle outside of court if they know they have done wrong because going through the court process is very, very expensive (way more than the cost of settling).
- The next topic of discussion that has been wide at UVA of late is why are students expelled for honor offenses (such as cheating) but no students have ever been expelled for sexual misconduct? In short, honor and sexual misconduct are two separate things since Honor at UVA is an entirely run student organization that punishes people on the basis of beyond a reasonable doubt and the Sexual Misconduct Board is not a student run organization that punishes that it likely happened. Last year UVA's honor system was amended and students now can admit to making an honor offense before going to trial with a 1 year suspension.

I obviously only know such much but it is crucial to see this past the University of Virginia. This is a huge problem everywhere and the changes need to take place within the laws. I’m still learning more and reading more and finding out more from my peers, but above is what I believe to be true.

Here are a few links that you may find interesting:

Interview with Dean Eramo: http://wuvaonline.com/exclusive-inte...exual-assault/

Student Council website in response to the article (IMO, very well constructed): http://www.uvastudentcouncil.com/rollingstone/

Originally Posted by Kevin (Post 2300572)

. . . . Now I've read about cases (one might be this one) where the perp actually admitted to the tribunal that he raped or sexually assaulted someone and he was rewarded for his candor. That is particularly absurd. If the perp admits guilt, that needs to go straight to the police.

I am still squeamish about these Title IX panels and have my doubts as to the constitutionality of how they are conducted and especially as to the qualifications of the adjudicators of those tribunals, but I understand the good intentions behind them.

Originally Posted by exlurker (Post 2300610)

Kevin, is this one of the reports you read? The story deals with the "particularly absurd" rewarding of a perp who admits to what he has done:

http://www.businessweek.com/articles...e-not-expelled

Originally Posted by 1964Alum (Post 2300614)

ITA with you, TriDeltaSallie. As a starter, UVA needs to stop referring to " Sexual Misconduct" and call is what it is, "Criminal Felony Rape."

Originally Posted by DeltaBetaBaby (Post 2300588)

And they don't fire the teacher? Yes, yes they do. Institutions other than the legal system have their own rule sets and enforce consequences all of the time.

Originally Posted by cinder1965 (Post 2300645)

It depends. In a lot of cases they may not fire a teacher right away, they put them on administrative leave, etc. The school still has to report it to law enforcement and cooperate to make sure justice is done. So what is your point?

Originally Posted by DeltaBetaBaby (Post 2300662)

My point is that your example is a bad one. If a teacher is accused of molesting a student, the school doesn't just sit around doing nothing until there's a jury trial. Universities need to be empowered to take action to protect their students, just as elementary schools would.

Originally Posted by Kevin (Post 2300679)

Universities already are empowered and because of Tile IX, they are more empowered than primary and secondary schools. With Title IX investigations, they have a lower burden of proof to actually do something and relaxed rules of evidence. So much so that I think there are some Constitutional issues still.

When it is he said vs. she said, rape allegations are often not prosecuted. Schools under Tile IX still have lots of options.

Originally Posted by Tom Earp (Post 2300726)

What upsets me the most, is that ALL GLOs were suspended from any activities!

Originally Posted by DeltaBetaBaby (Post 2300662)

My point is that your example is a bad one. If a teacher is accused of molesting a student, the school doesn't just sit around doing nothing until there's a jury trial. Universities need to be empowered to take action to protect their students, just as elementary schools would.

And if you really think that law enforcement is a means by which rape victims get "justice," you should read up on what actually happens when a woman reports a rape to the cops.

Originally Posted by DeltaBetaBaby (Post 2300662)

And if you really think that law enforcement is a means by which rape victims get "justice," you should read up on what actually happens when a woman reports a rape to the cops.

Originally Posted by 33girl (Post 2300789)

I know I'm about a hundred posts too late, but I still don't understand what Title IX has to do with rape and sexual assault.

Originally Posted by pinksequins (Post 2300799)

I'm confused, Nanners. I read DBB's comment as meaning that the victim not only has to relive the trauma through testimony but also skepticism by authorities as to the validity of the claim. In sum, it can be another horrific experience. Did I miss something?

Originally Posted by Nanners52674 (Post 2300785)

I really respect you as a member but I'm incredibly bothered with your message. No one knows if someone has been raped and in a discussion about rape, to suggest to a woman that she has no idea what happens when a rape is reported is so far over the line. You have no idea who you're really saying this to. But if gosh forbid they happened to be a rape survivor you come off sounding like a hard assed bitch.

Originally Posted by Low D Flat (Post 2300797)

Basically, the law requires coed schools to maintain environments where women have equal access to education. If women are being run off campus, harassed, in fear, etc. due to the prevalence of rape and other kinds of abuse at the hands of their classmates, then they don't have equal access to education at that school. It's no different, from a legal perspective, from a school that requires all the women to take Home Ec and doesn't allow them to major in physics.

This is not just in education law; this is the theory that applies in workplaces, too. If you're being sexually harassed at work, then as far as the institution's responsibility is concerned, it doesn't matter whether it's your co-worker or the CEO that's harassing you. If the bosses know that the environment is toxic and discriminatory, and they don't act to fix it, they're in violation of the law.

Originally Posted by Low D Flat (Post 2300826)

But there has to be pretty powerful evidence before any federal agency will sanction a school. Just a pattern of women enrolling and leaving wouldn't do it.

Originally Posted by DrPhil (Post 2300807)

Some rape survivors (and organizations that address sexual assault and rape) advocate and advise reporting to police and the legal system. Doing so is usually an overall bad experience but it is typically considered necessary. Even if it is often ineffective for some individuals it can be effective in bringing attention to the issue and giving a larger voice.

Examples: https://rainn.org/get-information/le...reporting-rape

There are far more accounts of why people do not report rapes to the police but it isn't the case that all rape victims would advise other rape victims to not report rape to the police.

Originally Posted by exlurker (Post 2301035)

Fairly long Washington Post story on the UVA situation / allegations:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/...984_story.html

“. . . ‘ the fraternity system probably has one chance to fix itself,' Wright said. 'If we don’t get this right, people are going to ask for fraternities to be banned, and they are going to have a point.’ "

-------- Quote from the story ^^; according to the story, Paul Wright is a UVA alumnus and a Chi Psi; he serves on his fraternity’s national board.

Originally Posted by sugar and spice (Post 2301104)

I think the thing that Greeks don't really seem to understand yet is that the recent push for universities all over the country to take sexual assaults on campus seriously/be more proactive about them is going to have huge ramifications on the Greek system (even without stories like this one coming out, but it certainly doesn't help). Regardless of whether or not you believe the statistics are legit when they suggest that fraternity men are more likely to sexual assault someone than non-fraternity men--Greeks are a conspicuous target and one that is much easier to engage with on this issue than the college community as a whole, so they're going to be a linchpin in these discussions.

Already, the number of universities who have been willing this year to push these temporary bans into place suggest that schools are prepared to take more drastic steps than they previously had been, and that will continue to escalate as more and more of them are being held legally responsible for student deaths and assaults. The Greek community needs to show that it's open to taking steps to decrease the rates of campus sexual assaults if they want to have any chance of surviving over the next few decades--I don't think Greeks seem to understand how close some campuses are to a permanent ban or drastic reform of the system right now (UVA included, but they're certainly not the only ones). It's bizarre to me that so many people on this board seem incapable of recognizing that we're in the midst of a momentous change in campus culture right now, and that Greeks will suffer serious ramifications from it if they can't show that they're able to change along with it.