[Texas_Tryhard]

The men of the neomasculinity movement have obviously taken a stance against false rape accusations, particularly on university campuses where an unfounded accusation can lead to months of investigations by inept college officials with an obvious bias against men. They can lead to sanctions that include an effective 'restraining order' while on campus, all the way to expulsion, based on the ridiculous preponderance of evidence standard. They can do all of this while denying due process to the accused and refusing to provide him with, or even allow him to have, legal council. And all of this can be initiated by an emotionally damaged woman who decides post-coitus that she feels uncomfortable about the pump-and-dumb and will ruin the man's life, WITHOUT EVEN CONTACTING OR INVOLVING THE POLICE.

Men, however, have been striking back. Those lucky enough to have the means for a protracted legal battle have been winning successful lawsuits against schools, by providing evidence that these discriminatory policies have caused the students significant damage.

Obviously, something's gotta give.

The Safe Campus Act, a bill made up of sane provisions for handling discipline in the case of sexual assault, was introduced by Representatives Matt Salmon, Pete Sessions, and Kay Granger. The bill would require that accusers submit their allegation to the police in order for disciplinary hearings to begin against the accused, allowing trained police officers to use their significant resources to properly investigate rape. It also entrenches the right of both the accused and accusers to seek legal counsel throughout the hearings that do take place. It requires that no disciplinary action take place until the criminal investigation has completed. It provides the right for both parties to have access to all inculpatory and exculpatory evidence prior to the hearings, so that colleges can no longer hide evidence that does not fit their narrative. Victim advocates will no longer be able to also serve as investigator, prosecutor, adjudicator, or appellate adjudicator, preventing some of the bias seen currently in campus sexual assault allegations. Most vitally, it would remove the mandatory and nonsensical 'preponderance of evidence' standard used by colleges today.

The Safe Campus Act does allow for non-punitive resources to be made available to an accuser, so that she can be provided with counseling and assistance by the university even in the event that she does not want to report the crime to police for the nebulous "shame" reason. The bill provides protections for the accusers so that they do not have to answer irrelevant questions about sexual history during hearings, mirroring the protections provided in courts.

My opinion: while this bill still places disciplinary power for sexual assault allegations in the hands of school officials (whereas I think that the criminal justice system should have the sole responsibility for handling these incidents), it is a step in the right direction and towards fairness and common-fucking-sense on university campuses today. Contrast with CASA, the Campus Accountability and Safety Act, authored by the disgusting Senator Claire McCaskill, which only enhances all of the problems the falsely accused face on campuses today.

[The Beast1]

Personally I see rape as a violent and egregious act against the social fabric of a community. Rape should strictly be handled by the police and court systems. If a woman is unable to bring her accusations of rape, an offense that goes hand in hand with murder when armies rampaged around the world, to an authority individual then it most likely did happen.

[J. Spice]

The article you posted was published in July. The media has since weighed in:

October 20, in the Huffington Post:

The Safe Campus Act: a Bill You Need to Know About

Quote:

"Fraternity boys need more protection than rape victims do."

That's the mentality that went into hiring Trent Lott and others to lobby for the Safe Campus Act.

I stopped reading there.

Yesterday, in the Huffington Post:

Alpha Phi Becomes First Sorority to Say it Doesn't Support Safe Campus Act

Quote:

"We believe our sisters who are survivors should have choices in how, when and to whom they go to for support or to report the crime," Alpha Phi said in the statement. "They should have their own voice and the support and encouragement they need to move forward including reporting as they choose to."

Translation: "If I feel that I've been wronged I should have carte blanche to ruin anyone's life.

Another opinion piece published yesterday:

The Safe Campus Act: A Product of Collusion and Dishonesty

There are a dozen other similar articles/op-eds. This legislation would be a step in the right direction, but due process and the rule of law aren't exactly popular with the media and left right now. They'll use these attempts at legal self-defense as fuel for more witch hunts.

[Texas_Tryhard]

(11-13-2015 12:06 PM)J. Spice Wrote:  

The article you posted was published in July. The media has since weighed in:

October 20, in the Huffington Post:

The Safe Campus Act: a Bill You Need to Know About

Quote:

"Fraternity boys need more protection than rape victims do."

That's the mentality that went into hiring Trent Lott and others to lobby for the Safe Campus Act.

I stopped reading there.

Yesterday, in the Huffington Post:

Alpha Phi Becomes First Sorority to Say it Doesn't Support Safe Campus Act

Quote:

"We believe our sisters who are survivors should have choices in how, when and to whom they go to for support or to report the crime," Alpha Phi said in the statement. "They should have their own voice and the support and encouragement they need to move forward including reporting as they choose to."

Translation: "If I feel that I've been wronged I should have carte blanche to ruin anyone's life.

Another opinion piece published yesterday:

The Safe Campus Act: A Product of Collusion and Dishonesty

There are a dozen other similar articles/op-eds. This legislation would be a step in the right direction, but due process and the rule of law aren't exactly popular with the media and left right now. They'll use these attempts at legal self-defense as fuel for more witch hunts.

Yeah, the Alpha Phi article is actually how I heard about this. It's telling that the majority of sororities/frats are for the Safe Campus Act, though. The students themselves don't want unfair campus hearings.

[CH-Toronto]

This needs to be talked more about - I think an ROK article should be written on the matter as well.

The fact that sororities are so opposed to this says a lot. It's very much about making it a much more even playing field- and it makes false accusations harder to get away with.

Quote:

It makes no requirement that any other crime is reported to police. Schools can still investigate and discipline drug dealers, robbers, thieves and harassers. The only criminals who will be shielded are sexual offenders.

The reason for this is that drug dealers, thieves, robbers more or less have corroborating evidence against them. With 'sex-offenders' it usually ends up being a case of he-said, she-said - so now the only difference will be the POLICE will be involved. It's easy for women to lie to the school, because they can just claim hysterics after the fact. Lying to the police is a bit more difficult. Granted - if the woman was raped - she should have no problem going to police.

Quote:

What about the false accusation issue?

Young men do need to take steps to protect against false accusations. Sexual assault laws should be used as a shield for victims and not as a sword against the innocent. We already have plenty of laws that impose penalties on false accusers.

The best way innocent young men can protect themselves from false accusations is to actively create safe environments. College men should be encouraging more victims to report violent crimes. They should be speaking out when fellow students post pictures of naked, unconscious girls. They should take the bold step of having actual rules within fraternity houses. They should be creating less tolerance for predatory behavior, and should be speaking out against violence -- not against campus police.

This is the point where the writer crossed over from biased - to extremist/fanatic. Basically trying to say, "The best way to not be falsely accused, is not be falsely accused."

Quote:

If fraternities want to be sure that they aren't unfairly caught up in scandals, they should work harder to prevent scandals.

Again, blaming the fraternity's fault, not the woman who caused the accusation in the first place. The reason the fraternities ARE in these scandals is because of THE LACK of police in the first place. They're trying to fix the issue by getting the police involved from step 1.

Thankfully - the comment section is filled with WOMEN calling bullshit.

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Sexual assault is a crime, and needs to be treated as such. Being a victim of a sexual assault is horrific, and student victims should be supported by their schools. However, schools have no business adjudicating these cases as they are getting it wrong! Schools should provide a support system for victims and assist them in getting the legal and medical help they need. I can't imagine going through something like this alone. They way it is now, the worst punishment a school can dole out is expulsion of the offender...leaving him free to repeat his crime elsewhere. However, schools have redefined sexual misconduct to include just about anything a female student finds annoying - at some schools, just staring at a girl can get a boy expelled. The biggest issue is that many girls, with the help of school Title IX departments, now believe that regrets = rape. Wrongful accusations are not unusual. INNOCENT male students are being expelled - their academic careers ruined, their lives turned upside down, their futures severely compromised. Once a boy is accused, he will almost certainly be found guilty (schools prefer the word "responsible"). False accusations can not only ruin a male's life, they trivialize sexual assault.
University Title IX investigations are unbelievably biased...boys are denied due process, the presumption of innocence doesn't exist. With the preponderence of evidence standard, some school investigations are decided upon with as little as a 0.01% chance that the accuser's version "may" be true (yes, the word "may" is used in many school policies). Boys are denied access to the evidence against them and many are denied the right to an attorney being present. If an attorney is allowed, that attorney is often not allowed to speak or ask questions. What's REALLY going on on our campuses is astonishing. Your article calls Salmon, Sessions & Granger "misogynists" - I call out these so-called "investigators" on our campuses as "misandrists". Sexual assault is despicable - so are false accusations and the railroading of our young men.

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Ms. Nanos, as the mother of a young man who was falsely accused on a college campus of sexual assault, I find the tone of your opinion piece very flip and condescending.
FYI- I am also the mother of two daughters-both college aged.
To believe that anyone is "for" rape or "for" protecting true criminals is insane.
What any sane person is "for" is fairness and justice.
The criminal system should be involved in any charge of sexual assault . If the accused is guilty, what prevents the criminal from acting again? You advocate just expelling the student and letting a criminal run free to prey on more women?
Unfortunately, the administrators on some campuses are teaching young women that regret does equal rape (exactly what happened in my son's case which was proven by text messages and her roommates' testimony). Behavior that common sense tells most of us is rude or boorish or immature is being labelled sexual assault on many campuses.
I believe this "relabelling" is the real reason that some activists are upset about the provision that the authorities be involved. Under criminal law as it stands now, regret does not equal rape and boorish behavior is well, just boorish behavior.
If we start reporting everything that campuses classify as sexual assault to the authorities the 1 in 5 numbers fall apart (as they have in the past under other examinations).
College administrators who have no legal training other than an occasional Title IX seminar are deciding the fate of the accused on campuses. The stories of young men being railroaded are disturbing if you care about truth, fairness and justice.
Your statement that, "Schools are not courts. Schools can't incarcerate people. That's why schools don't need to follow the rules of evidence and due process when they decide to throw students out."
Really--- no need to follow rules about evidence or due process? A school's decision to find a student guilty of sexual assault is far reaching. It affects the rest of a young man's life.
*Try transferring to another college with the black mark of sexual assault on your transcript.
*Try explaining that black mark to a potential employer.
*Try to recover the value of the scholarship you lost.
*Try paying the bills for a psychiatrist because you now suffer from depression.
*Try paying the attorney's bills you've racked up in an effort to hold the school accountable for their mishandling of the investigation and their lack of due process.
*Try to repair the damage to your reputation after being falsely accused of sexual assault.
Forgive me if I am long winded here but Ms. Nanons you have not lived through the HELL of a false accusation. Colleges are not equipped and never will be to fairly handle sexual assault accusations. If you have issues with the criminal and court system in how they handle sexual assault cases than work to fix those problems.
We don't need a separate fact finding and judiciary system system for certain crimes and particular classes of citizens (college students).

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All the safe campus act is attempting to do is making if fair! Why do you have such an issue with Due process and fairness and equality.