Student Spends $12,000 Defending Himself Over Incident He Says Was Consensual
“This was not a good time to get accused of something like this”
If you’re a student who is already struggling to pay tuition, a situation like this could derail your entire life.
Robby Soave reports at Reason:
Two Students Hooked Up. It Was Clearly Consensual. He Still Spent $12,000 Defending Himself.
James, a freshman at the University of California-Davis, was on his way to math class when he received an email that would derail his life for the next few months: The university’s Title IX office, which handles sexual misconduct disputes between students, was investigating a complaint against him.
This was in February 2018, at a time of heightened public attention to the problem of predatory men taking advantage of vulnerable women. Journalists had exposed Harvey Weinstein, Al Franken, Louis C.K., Kevin Spacey, Roy Moore, and others for committing a variety of sexual misdeeds.
“This was not a good time to get accused of something like this,” James tells Reason.
The email from the Title IX compliance officer went into great detail about the seriousness of James’s situation. He would be investigated in accordance with the university’s sexual assault and sexual violence policies, as well as the student code, which covers physical assault, threats of violence, and conduct that threatens health and safety. A finding of responsibility could result in suspension, or even expulsion.
But the email was short on details of the alleged misconduct. According to the Title IX office, a female student, Becky, had complained that James touched her “on her breasts and buttocks over and under her clothing without her consent.” (I am using pseudonyms for both James and Becky.)…
Even so, James had to spend most of a semester fearful that his life as he knew it was about to end—that his name would become synonymous with the evil men of #MeToo. He had to recount the intimate details of an amorous encounter to university administrators, a lawyer, and his parents. And his family shelled out $12,000 in legal fees.
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Comments
First, get RID of Title IX. It’s poisonous. And second, handle all such charges through the criminal court system. No more secret KGB trials, held in the darkness with no protections for the accused. If you’re man enough to accuse someone, you should be man enough to face the possible ramifications of your charges in open court.
Why are colleges investigating alleged crimes?
Obama couldn’t do anything right. How about a TitleIX-sucks website, where accused get to tell their stories and to rate the accuser for their traits? Also allow anonymous ratings. Give these young not so lady like a taste of their own medicine.