Fraternal Law Newsletter Failure Essay

It’s a statistic that has circled around the nation for years, one that imprints fear into the minds of young adults and rage into those that demand justice: 1 in 5 female college students will experience sexual assault in the duration of their college career (Clark), with only 20% of those rapes being reported to the police (Hefling). As a topic that is so highlighted in American society, there is a strict demand for an organized, thorough investigation that will result in justice served. Controversy regarding whether the colleges themselves or the criminal justice system should adjudicate the punishment for these vile crimes has arisen; some believe that as an actual crime, these assaults should be taken in a legal stance in order to serve justice at its fullest extent. Others believe that determining punishment through the court system is too nerve-wracking for the victims and that by allowing colleges to do so is the only way they can avoid feeling “skepticism” by the police, juries, or courts (Know Your IX). However, when juxtaposing the capabilities of the colleges and the court system when it comes to the adjudication process, it is evident that the courts are more competent in determining punishments for campus sexual assaults.

Despite having hundreds of sexual assault cases each year, most colleges take little action to resolve these cases. In fact, only 20% of female sexual assault survivors report cases, the rest believing that it was too personal to share, or that if they did, the police wouldn’t listen to them. If they did report, often times it was to the local police rather than the campus police in fear that they would be shamed or turned away by the universities.

Sexual assault on college campuses is an extensive topic that has concerned people for many years. The high rates and the case report cover-ups have brought about many varying opinions. Many people believe in changing the college framework to establish universities that are better equipped to deal with this issue. Others feel that the problem could be addressed by changing society’s outlook on crimes like these. While another group feels that the problem is in how we define rape. Despite these differences in opinions, one thing is clear, everyone agrees that something must be done to reduce sexual assault on campuses.

The Plaintiff contends that Baylor’s knowledge of the potential threat Elliott and other student-athletes posed as well as their deliberate lack of concern subjected her to an increased risk of being sexually assaulted. Specifically, Hernandez alleges that the university failed to address and intentionally concealed the sexual violence committed by football players for several years; the Plaintiff also states that Baylor’s staff was directly and repeatedly told about the sexual assaults committed

The lack of consistency in higher learning institutions can be attributed to that “until recently such institutions have not been subjected to legal sanction for failing to address the problem (Schneider, 1987, p. 525) Schneider writes, “only two reported federal cases have presented a claim of sexual harassment under Title IX” (p. 527). At the time, the only two reported cases were Alexander v Yale University (1980) and Moine v Temple Univ. School of Medicine (1986). More recently, however, in 2015, Michigan State was in violation of Title IX, as they were not appropriately vetting sexual harassment cases on their campus. “Prior to and during the course of Office for Civil Rights (OCR) investigation, the university made revisions to its Title IX policies and procedures in an effort to correct several Title IX compliance concerns” (ProQuest, 2015). Reiterating the amount of obscurity that exists within the policies that each institution enforces and abides by is, for the most part, no use.

Imagine being raped and no one can hear you scream for help. Imagine telling someone about the incident and no punishments were received. Meet Christy Brzonkala a freshman at Virginia Tech that was raped by two individuals. Ms. Brzonkala started off by going to state court to testify against Mr. Morrison and Mr. Crawford explaining to the judge and the people that those two gentlemen had sexual intercourse without giving them permission. Since the incident happened in Virginia, the case was held there and not in Pennsylvania. Mr. Morrison even admitted that he had sexual intercourse with her when she repeatedly stated “no”. The punishments Mr. Morrison and Mr. Crawford received were unacceptable and very disappointing. Mr. Morrison was only kicked out of the school and later was allowed to come back because of technical error that occurred. Mr. Crawford did not receive any punishment because he had an alibi, which resulted in him being innocent because there was not enough information on him. This led Ms. Bronzkala to go to federal court against Mr. Morrison and Virginia Tech because she claimed the school did not handle

Due process presumes innocence and declares guilt based on the accuracy of specific allegations. In contrast, university justice implies that since all women are victims, all accusations, even the false ones, capture a deeper truth. This peculiar notion of justice also gives rise to the conviction that while a man may not have committed any of the specific infractions of which he is accused, as a perpetrator and beneficiary of male privilege he is party to a vast criminal conspiracy and therefore deserves whatever limited punishment university authorities mete

(3) Schools must be proactive in ensuring that your campus is free of sex discrimination. If a school knows or reasonably should know about discrimination, harassment or violence that is creating a “hostile environment” for any student, it must act to eliminate it, remedy the harm caused and prevent its recurrence. (4) They must also have a procedure for handling complaints of sex discrimination/sexual harassment or sexual violence; (5) the school must also take IMMEDIATE ACTION when a complaint is filled to ensure that the victims can progress with their education. (6) Your school may not retaliate against someone filing a complaint and must keep a victim safe from other retaliatory harassment or behavior. (7) Your school can issue a no contact directive under Title IX to prevent the accused student from approaching or interacting with you. (8) In cases of sexual violence, your college is prohibited from encouraging or allowing mediation (rather than a formal hearing) of the complaint. (9) Your college should not make you pay the costs of certain accommodations that you require in order to continue your education after experiencing

On the topic of sexual assault on campuses, Catherine Lhamon, Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights and James Moore, Compliance Manager of the Clery Act discussed ways to further combat sexual assault on college campuses. Lhamon and Moore focused on the improvements made to the reporting of sexual assault, positive changes made to the judicial proceedings on campuses, and the improved punishment of perpetrators. The members of the committee hearing did not deny the importance of combating sexual assault. However, members did disagree on the methods to effectively decrease sexual assault and increase overall reporting of victims. Members disagreed the most on the enforcement mechanism, which was made more controversial by the differences in opinion on the accuracy of reporting, and the guidance authority of the Department of Education. This ballot will address the panel discussion on these

In today’s world, Sexual Discrimination is a very common issue, especially in college campuses. Unfortunately, Student’s enrolled at The College at Brockport has found themselves to be victims of the issue. Although, sexual discrimination is best defined by discriminating against a person on the grounds of sex, other forms of sexual discrimination include sexual assault, and sexual harassment. The college has also had students that have falsely reported sexual discrimination. Both of which are crucial issues that the college has to resolve because students that are involved in either case will notice a severe change in their behavior, learning abilities, and mental state.

This article contends that although well intentioned, the mandates of the Dear Colleague Letter are not the best way to handle campus sexual assault. Universities should have a number of different options available, from mediation (as long as both parties agree) to a full blown adjudicatory hearing. When suspension or expulsion may result, the respondent must have the right to an adjudicatory hearing with robust procedural rights. More controversially, this article argues that Title IX allows universities to make these changes.

Campus sexual assault is universal because the justice system does not treat sexual assault as seriously as they should. In the article “Outrage over 6-month sentence for Brock Turner in Stanford rape case”, the author explains, “Widespread outrage has erupted over a California judge's decision to give a former

In recent studies dealing with Title IX versus the Obama-era policies on handling sexual misconduct, arguments of preponderance of evidence and clear and convincing evidence are up for debate in terms of which protocol should be used. It is clear that due to the tenacity of college rape procedures, such as ways these cases should be handled, needs to be the court mandate of preponderance of evidence due to these situations occurring not only when a camera or second party isn’t around but creates cases of hearsay because the predominant amount of cases are from drunk or make-up sex - both under interpretation and both not able to be a substantial call to fiscal evidence.

Rape is a serious crime and a huge accusation to make. It is defined in various ways, but can shortly be narrowed down to as nonconsensual sex. This crime causes long- term effects for the victim and the accused. When someone is accused of rape, two sides of the story are to be investigated. If there are two sides, then which side is correct. The one who was accused or the accuser? Campus rape is decided by the universities, while rape outside of that is then, decided in court. Many people are conflicted with this policy in that by having the perpetrator kicked off campus, will not be “justifiable” enough for the victim. Meaning, the victim wants justice by having the rapist locked up, rather than just kicked off campus. In an article by

Sexual assault has been a huge issue for many years on college campuses and universities nation wide. As society has evolved, thoughts on sexual assault have also evolved, becoming more focused on the details of victim treatment than ever before. The topic of sexual assault is debatable and sparks many opinions on weather sexual assault on college campuses is becoming more frequent, or if there is just heightened awareness. Sexual assault can happen to anybody no matter the gender, race, religion, or age. Recently there have been many studies conducted on sexual violence on college campuses and universities producing ample amounts of statistics. One may argue that sexual assault rates are the same, but there are simply more studies and attention on sexual assault in the past 20 years. Gender roles have played a huge part in sexual assault on college campuses. Women and men have different expectations when it comes to roles in the relationship, men are often expected to make the first move. One may ask what causes a perpetrator to sexually harass somebody and think it is acceptable. There are various reasons as to why perpetrators do what they do, and may vary from person to person. Although sexual violence is a large problem for many colleges and universities, there is a surprising shortage of federal laws/rules and regulations regarding sexual assault. Colleges are able to develop their own personal policies and procedures for how they will prevent and deal with sexual