ASHE SCHOW: More evidence colleges are bad at adjudicating sexual assault: Accuser lawsuits.
Men who claim they were falsely accused of rape have been suing their universities for perceived injustices. Now women are filing strikingly similar lawsuits.
A female student at Virginia’s Bridgewater College claims in a civil lawsuit that the college improperly handled her sexual assault accusation. The woman claims Bridgewater didn’t follow Title IX (a federal law provision that has been interpreted to require colleges adjudicate sexual assault) or its own sexual misconduct policy in her case. The woman also claims in her lawsuit that the school failed to properly investigate the sexual assault, provide her with written notification of the school’s review, or inform her of on-campus resources for accusers.
Across the country, a University of Oregon student has filed a lawsuit claiming the school failed to properly investigate her claim in order to protect its basketball team. She claims to have been gang raped by three basketball players (who have in turn claimed the sex was consensual) and that the university violated her Title IX rights.
Her case is a bit different in that she faults the university for allowing one of the men she accused of raping her to transfer to the school from Providence College following earlier allegations of sexual misconduct. The UO student claims the university shouldn’t have enrolled the student because of the prior allegations against him.
Of course, accusations do not equal guilt. No criminal charges have been filed against the student for lack of evidence. The man’s life should not be over just because someone accused him of sexual assault (especially if there’s a lack of proof). However, the women’s allegations in each case sound eerily similar to what men have been claiming in their lawsuits – namely that schools appear to selectively follow Title IX requirements and their own policies and fail to conduct proper investigations.
Well, that’s because they do, which is why criminal matters should be left to the police and courts.