New Policy at Tufts: the Bad, the Worse, and the Ugly
When the new sexual assault policy was revealed for Tufts, I was excited to see the improvements the school had made. They had made a lot of mistakes and even though they never admitted as such, I sought the new policy as a mea culpa of sorts: by going forward with an efficient policy they could show going forward to a new era where rape victims are not fighting an impossible battle after being insulted.
My excitement quickly vanished.
I quickly whipped up a few thoughts that I wanted to share about the policy. While it’s nice that there is now a set, separate process for dealing with sexual assault, there are is a number of ALARMING protocol that is - simply put - a recipe for disaster. Check out the new policies at the Tufts student group’s site here.
So here are two things that threw up immediate RED FLAGS about the new process.
1) COMPLETE lack of oversight. Essentially, the decision rests COMPLETELY in the hands of the dean. This is definitely not a good way to guarantee justice. Clearly with my own experience I am biased and not confident in his ability to properly assess the seriousness of ALL sexual assault claims. However, there is a reason why juries exist. I think there is a necessary step to have more than one person - more than one point of view - to collaborate and really look at the findings. What is the point of having a Fact-Finder (this name is horrible, by the way…so if they don’t think they should punish the student then the rape isn’t a ‘fact’ ??) if the dean can just go completely against their findings? What if the dean has worked with the accused before and is inclined to be more lenient? What if he still believes rape myths? What if all the proper education and training in the world about sexual violence still makes the dean think someone who files a complaint of rape against an ex is ‘crazy?’
2) THEY DESTROY ALL RECORDS IMMEDIATELY. The policy states
After the case has been decided, and all appeals exhausted (see section on Appeals in the Student Judicial Process booklet), all materials created by or reviewed by the Dean and/or the fact-finder will be destroyed, unless the case or elements of the case are in litigation or moving toward litigation, in which case the materials will be preserved until the litigation is resolved.
Why are these being destroyed? Are all other cases’ record destroyed after everything is over? To file a complaint with the Department of Education for a Title IX complaint you have 180 days. To file a Clery Act complaint (which can be relevant in some cases) you have years. This act seems like an attempt to get rid of evidence that could show the school isn’t properly addressing sexual assault. If privacy is an issue, I am sure the university has the money to invest in placing these files in a place where they are there for at least the remainder of the time of both students’ time at Tufts.
Furthermore, what if a student wants to file a complaint against Tufts? It would be an awkward situation (and not a good decision) to notify the school beforehand because you don’t want them to destroy the files. That could create a very complicated situation. What if 30 days later the student gets the courage to take steps to filing a report? 90 days? Destroying all the evidence on the school’s part just seems like a very fishy decision that doesn’t seem to serve the best interest of all parties (students, university) involved.
There are a lot of other things glaringly missing from the policy, but I wanted to start with these. To see what a good sexual assault policy would have, check out SAFER’s page, “What Makes a Better Sexual Assault Policy?”. Read over the policy and decide yourself what Tufts University is lacking in protecting the rights of everyone involved and ensuring there is actually the possibility of justice.
Until next time
Originally published at Tufts University Survivors of Sexual Violence. You can comment here or there.