TITLE IX Witness Intimidation, it’s a Thing. Witnesses who Defend the Accused are Indeed Punished
Witness intimidation in criminal cases usually calls to mind organized-crime bosses trying to conceal their guilt. In campus Title IX proceedings, however, a different kind of mob exacts a social and professional price from witnesses who defend the accused. Ask Tanaya Devi, a Harvard doctoral candidate in economics. Her mentor, African American 41 year old, Roland Fryer, founded Harvard’s EdLabs, which describes itself as “an education research and development laboratory devoted to closing the racial achievement gap.” Last year two unnamed women who once worked there filed Title IX complaints accusing Mr. Fryer of verbal sexual harassment. Ms. Devi worked at EdLabs. She says in an interview that she was close friends with one of the accusers, that she witnessed many of the disputed interactions—and that Mr. Fryer did nothing wrong. Ms. Devi publicly defended Mr. Fryer. Since then, she says she’s struggled to find research collaborators and has lost nearly every female friend at Harvard. There was this culture of guilty until proven innocent and, if you’re defending him, guilt by association.”..Another example comes from Matthew Sahm’s lawsuit against Ohio’s Miami University, which expelled him after another student accused him of sexual assault. A sorority sister of the accuser, wrote in an affidavit that she told the Title IX investigator, Susan Tobergte, that eyewitnesses might have exculpatory testimony. “I left feeling very uncomfortable, especially after Susan had suggested I google statistics about sexual assault to find that less than 2% of sexual assault cases were wrongful convictions,” – “I felt that she [Susan] was biased towards one side of the case.” It was “hard to bring information to a table when you are unsure if it will affect your status or relationships in a sorority.” One other witness, also described social pressures not to defend Mr. Sahm. “I have been extremely disturbed by the accusations [against Mr. Sahm] and the literal abandonment of the truth,- this has been really hard to write…I think that if one’s constructed truth begins to hurt another’s character, future, or dignity, that is it is only fair that ‘predisposed alliances’ be let go with the opportunity for reality to surface.”
Read the WSJ pdf article: Title IX’s Witness Intimidation or click article link here wsj.com/articles By Jillian Kay Melchior
