Bearpanther, I agree. Almost everything is slanted these days.
The Jezebel article has a point of view. It was interesting reading the Jezebel article after reading the Daily Beadt article. However, there were accusations in the Jezebel article. If there is a 4th complaint, I would love to hear Columbia’s thinking on how many he said she said complaints are necessary for a trigger to go off.
This case has been so publicized that it’s easy to imagine that someone would fabricate an accusation. And it’s also easy to imagine that someone who had been assaulted by Nungesser, but hadn’t wanted to go forward, would change his mind.
We need more details. Then we can state our opinions as facts. 
If you want to play the pointless game of which blog poster is more biased and agenda-driven (hint – they all are), here’s an excerpt from a Jezebel piece dated December 1, 2014:
“‘Is the UVA Rape Story a Gigantic Hoax?’ Asks Idiot”
“In summary, what we have here are two dudes who have some vague suspicions and, on that basis, are implying that Ederley either fabricated her story or failed to do her due diligence and didn’t fact check what Jackie told her. But never mind Erdely’s months of work. Two guys who have no idea what they’re talking about don’t believe it. Case closed.”
The fourth complaint is new interesting information. Based on the info from the three prior complaints (which look colluded to me) I’m thinking this dude is kinky and a jerk but not a rapist.
The complaint from the ex girlfirend is particularly weak. She dates this guy for months and has sex with him over and over and over again throughout. Some time after the relationship ends she concludes that the relationship and the sex was abusive and non-consensual. What in the world does that mean? Does she have Stockholm syndrome? Regrets the kinky stuff he did with her that she now wishes she had not done? She then is “exhausted” by a barrage of questions, drops her case and Columbia rules against her. Come on. You literally could not find a weaker case if you tried.
Emma’s words in this part of the Jezebel article also struck me (maybe the most cynical part of me):
"f I had a choice, no one would see my private Facebook messages at all. However, Paul and Cathy have put me in a position where I either do nothing, and they publish the conversation, or I take the lead and publish it on my own. It’s the only thing I can do to maintain a modicum of control over my private life, which becomes more public by the second, thanks to reporters who don’t treat me with respect. "
I don’t think her life is becoming more public by the second thanks ONLY to “disrespectful” reporters.
One does not have to accept every request for a magazine cover or SOTU invite or gallery opening if one does not want to be in the public eye. And unfortunately these days when one puts oneself in the public eye by carrying a mattress, one must deal with the positive as well as the negative.
After the RS debacle, I am sure all reporters writing about this issue are trying to do their due diligence. That means asking questions. I personally did not see any disrespectful attitude in the emails Cathy Young sent to Emma; Young was trying to do her job. I think it was Cathy Young’s archive that Emma perhaps found disrespectful.
There is a difference.
If the formerly apparently loving wife of an athlete came forward, and said that her husband had abused her, including abusive non-consensual sex, would you believe her? What if her name was Janay Rice?
I don’t have trouble (in the abstract) with a person realizing that they have been in an abusive relationship, even though previously they were not willing to acknowledge it. If you look at domestic violence claims, that’s how it works-- the person finally comes to the realization that they were abused and then they’re willing to come forward.
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Although I’m not at all clear on the timeline, it seems possible Adam filed a formal complaint to a mens group they both belonged to before anything about Emma showed up in the media. If that turns out to be the case, and the complaint is of a sexual assault… that is pretty interesting, at least to me. I hope this is clarified.
However, men sometimes also realize after the fact that they have been in an abusive relationship.
Wow. Another twist and, reportedly, another victim. Was Emma’s friend allowed to/willing to testify at the hearing? To me, that would lend a lot of credence to her version of the events. I don’t recall hearing about that before. This was not an issue raised by the parents in their letter, so either she didn’t want to testify or she did and did not sway the case.
Wonder if the new alleged victim has any evidence to back his story. Otherwise, may be tough after all this time to get a finding, although I am sure at this point Columbia can’t wait for Paul to be gone. Adam says he filed a complaint with a student group they were in. Why wouldn’t that have come to someone’s attention in support of Emma?
Double post.
The article specifically states that in addition to the complaint he lodged with the student organization, that Adam filed a Title IX complaint last fall. But my understanding is those complaints are filed with the OCR, so that is why we may have heard nothing about it until he came forward for this article. However, his alleged assault I believe happened during his freshman year (2011-2012), and the OCR has a requirement that complaints be filed within 180 days of the alleged incident. Not sure how he will get around that limitation.
I’m not so sure what pushing and grabbing a man has to do with raping a woman. But, maybe there is some connection.
Adam says Paul pushed him onto his bed and sexually assaulted him
I was about to post that exact sentence, @alh.
I know, and another young woman says he grabbed her in a bar. As other posters have noted, this stuff is a far cry from rape.
To me, reading people’s opinions about this case is like watching a Rorschach Inkblot test. It tells me little about what might have happened that night (the “inkblot”), but it does reveal a lot about each poster’s biases and neuroses. Not sure how useful it is.
(At the risk of revealing my own neuroses I’ll give my own opinion. I think the two strongest facts we know are that (i) there are 3 (maybe 4) accusers and (ii) Columbia didn’t find him guilty, presumably after looking at all the evidence which we don’t have. If I was forced to pick a side I’d say the fact that there are multiple accusers sways me a lot. However, I also wouldn’t be surprised if the main accusation turned out to be false - although I believe the rate of false accusations in college settings is pretty low, the cases where there is a lot of publicity do seem to turn out to be false quite often.)
I think it is hopeless for people on this thread to try to figure out whether Emma or Paul is right. But there is an important question that outsiders can weigh in on, given what we know – are Emma’s actions in carrying around the mattress etc. themselves offenses that should result in her removal from campus?
Here’s how I would analyze it. Suppose the situation were reversed. Paul instead was found guilty by Columbia. Paul then feels like this is a profound injustice. He creates some giant art exhibit that he carts around campus that depicts Emma as a lying, crazy, slt, say the latest in a litany of false accusers from Tawana Brawley to the Duke lacrosse accuser to UVa’s Jackie. He then makes sure Emma’s name is in the public domain and gives TV and newspaper interviews calling her a lying, crazy, slt.
If that were to have happened, I would be livid at Paul for revealing the name of a rape victim and then harassing her. If I were Columbia, I’d make him stop. It’s not the way two members of the campus community should treat each other; it’s persecution of a fellow student, pure and simple, and I’d want him gone. Give him a warning, and if he didn’t stop then suspend him.
Now, I know full well why Columbia won’t or can’t take this stand in the actual case where Emma is carrying around her mattress. But in a perfect world, should they?
nm
I think the mattress-carrying would fall under most college’s definition of harassment or creating an intimidating living environment. I don’t know what the guy can do if Columbia won’t enforce its harassment policies.
@al2simon I agree with a lot of what you say. I do think it is problematic that after a university ruling of “not responsible” that a university professor basically approves and supervises a senior thesis that has the unsuccessful complainant carry a mattress around. Now could Emma have done this herself in protest against a ruling that she found unjust? Yes, I think she would be simply exercising her First Amendment rights. But having a university professor support and supervise it does bother me.
I don’t get a professor getting involved in this either. Maybe a means to promote their own agenda but haven’t read anything about the professor to form an opinion on that.