ASHE SCHOW ON BAYLOR: Yet another example of why colleges shouldn’t adjudicate campus sexual assault.
Following a report that Baylor University provided a “wholly inadequate” response to accusations of campus sexual assault – and in one case retaliated against an accuser – members of the media have been quick to demand the school update its policies.
And make no mistake, Baylor should make some changes, but its failures are yet more evidence that schools shouldn’t be adjudicating accusations of campus sexual assault.
The investigation into Baylor’s policies began in August 2015 when the school contacted the law firm Pepper Hamilton “to conduct an independent and external review” of the school’s treatment of sexual misconduct accusations. The report was damning, and specifically called out the athletic departments for protecting athletes from accusations.
The law firm had access to all relevant documents and materials from Baylor, and interviewed five current and former employees and students. Its report, released late last week, found that Baylor failed to adhere to the anti-gender discrimination statute known as Title IX (which has been reinterpreted by the Education Department to cover sexual assault), properly train staff and educate students, conduct prompt and equitable investigations and prevent potential hostile environments, among other problems.
The report brings up one of the major problems with schools currently handling these accusations – the decision of whether to investigate if an accuser doesn’t want to. The Pepper Hamilton report knocks Baylor for failing “to appropriately weigh a request not to move forward against the University’s Title IX obligation to investigate or otherwise determine what occurred.”
So Baylor was faulted for moving forward when an accuser didn’t want to, yet the Education Department has been faulting schools for not moving forward even if an accuser didn’t want to. Michigan State University and the University of Virginia were both condemned for not continuing with an investigation even though an accuser didn’t want to. Sexual assault activists have argued that accusers should be the ones driving the investigations, and the Baylor report seems to agree, but the Education Department sees things differently.
Baylor was also criticized for applying a “by the book” approach to investigations “that treated all respondents equally, regardless of their status as a student-athlete.”
My goodness, how terrible to not give special or poorer treatment to one group of students over the other!
To call these kangaroo courts is an insult to kangaroos.