In a rarity for campus sexual assault accusations, a Brown University student who says he was falsely accused is suing his accuser as well as his former university…This is another instance of a student saying he obtained affirmative consent yet still being accused. The difference here is that the accuser is claiming her “yes” didn’t actually mean “yes.”
washingtonexaminer.com By Ashe Schow
This is why advocates, the media and college officials should withhold judgment—or temper statements that can be taken as judgment—on such allegations until the facts are in..Americans should give thanks every day for the bedrock rule that has been handed down to us through the ages—the notion that a person is innocent until proven guilty.
grandforksherald.com By Tom Dennis
“What does that mean — you have to say ‘yes’ every 10 minutes?”…“Pretty much,” Ms. Zaloom answered. The students did not seem convinced. They sat in groups to brainstorm ways to ask for affirmative consent. They crossed off a list of options: “Can I touch you there?” Too clinical. “Do you want to do this?” Too tentative. “Do you like that?” Not direct enough…“They’re all really awkward and bizarre,” one girl said.
thecollegefix.com By Greg Piper
Having a penis does not make me a rapist… Even before arriving at university, I was terrified of being falsely accused of rape…This new obsession with affirmative, ongoing consent perpetuated by wacky third-wave feminists is scaring a whole generation of young men — myself included.
breitbart.com By Jack Hadfield
“Once you are accused, you’re guilty,” says Parker Oaks, one of several Boston University students stopped by NPR between classes. “We’re living in a society where you’re guilty before innocent now.”..As colleges crack down on sexual assault, some students complain that the schools are going too far and trampling the rights of the accused in the process.
npr.org By Tovia Smith
Members of the Lambda Chi Alpha fraternity at the University of North Dakota were exonerated by a police investigation into an alleged hate crime against a gay man at one of the fraternities parties. A state lawmaker who introduced legislation to give college students in the state due process right says his bill may have prevented a travesty of justice against the frat brothers.
watchdog.org By Rob Port
Fearful of being sued by the federal government, many schools have made it easier both to report accusations of sexual assault (a good thing) and to find a student guilty based on low standards of proof (a bad thing)…many schools are willing to deliver a guilty verdict and permit punishment to be imposed based on a mere preponderance of the evidence: a showing that there is no more than a 51 percent likelihood that the assault occurred… for every 100 students who are disciplined under this standard, as many as 49 of them may well be innocent. That ratio is unacceptable in any civilized society that cares about the rule of law and the principle of fairness.
washingtonpost.com By Alan Dershowitz
Napolitano powerfully fleshes out the harm caused by imposing mandates without consulting stakeholders first: college campuses are being asked to serve in multiple roles…But the federal government’s expectations, especially related to investigations and adjudication, seem better-suited to a law enforcement model rather than a complex, diversely populated academic community found on a modern American campus…administrative investigators lack many of the tools necessary to meet the heightened expectations placed on them by these new regulatory requirements…Are these roles that are well suited for our nation’s institutions of higher education?
thefire.org By Joseph Cohn
California Gov. Jerry Brown (D) vetoed legislation Sunday that would have made California the first state in the U.S. to have a mandatory minimum punishment in college sexual assault cases…Brown said it shouldn’t be up to states to decide what kind of punishments college administrators dole out.
…the recent rhetorical fury about “rape culture” is actually an attempt to move the goalposts, in such a way as to criminalize normal male sexual behavior. Under the rules of “affirmative consent,” any attempt by a male to initiate sexual activity with a female, under any circumstances, is presumed to be sexual assault if she says it was. If a man and a woman have any sexual contact whatsoever — a kiss, a hug, anything — and she subsequently claims this contact was “unwanted,” “unwelcome” or “coerced,” then he is presumed guilty of sexual assault.