Just How Deep Does This Rabbit Hole Go?
I find myself feeling very ashamed of administrators at the University of North Carolina, an institution that grew close to my heart during a few years spent living in Chapel Hill.
For those who may not be familiar with this disgusting situation, the Cliffs Notes version is as follows. Female student is raped. Said student's case is cited as an example in a federal civil rights complaint by a member of UNC's administration, who alleged that she had been pressured by higher officials at the university to under-report sexual assault cases.
Student speaks out publicly about what happened to her. Student receives veiled threat from attorney working for UNC. A few weeks after said threat, student receives notice of being charged with a violation of the university's honor code for publicly defaming her rapist, even though she never publicly named him.
Depending on the decision of a student-run "honor court", the student faces possible probation, suspension, or expulsion from UNC. It strikes me as a very Orwellian honor court, considering there is nothing honorable about punishing women for speaking out about rape.
The University's public relations department has issued statements describing how the honor court works and how the court is an embodiment of the university's commitment to student government. But these statements completely miss the point -- this has nothing to do with student government and everything to do with university administrators retaliating against a crime victim who, in their view, is embarrassing them.
Between the Sandusky case at Penn State and now this case at UNC, a disturbing pattern is starting to emerge. It leads me to wonder just how far this goes. To what lengths are college administrators going to protect rapists and cover up sexual assault on our nation's campuses?
For those who may not be familiar with this disgusting situation, the Cliffs Notes version is as follows. Female student is raped. Said student's case is cited as an example in a federal civil rights complaint by a member of UNC's administration, who alleged that she had been pressured by higher officials at the university to under-report sexual assault cases.
Student speaks out publicly about what happened to her. Student receives veiled threat from attorney working for UNC. A few weeks after said threat, student receives notice of being charged with a violation of the university's honor code for publicly defaming her rapist, even though she never publicly named him.
Depending on the decision of a student-run "honor court", the student faces possible probation, suspension, or expulsion from UNC. It strikes me as a very Orwellian honor court, considering there is nothing honorable about punishing women for speaking out about rape.
The University's public relations department has issued statements describing how the honor court works and how the court is an embodiment of the university's commitment to student government. But these statements completely miss the point -- this has nothing to do with student government and everything to do with university administrators retaliating against a crime victim who, in their view, is embarrassing them.
Between the Sandusky case at Penn State and now this case at UNC, a disturbing pattern is starting to emerge. It leads me to wonder just how far this goes. To what lengths are college administrators going to protect rapists and cover up sexual assault on our nation's campuses?