How well do colleges handle sexual misconduct allegations?
Obviously, news reports only occur when at least one party is dissatisfied enough with the result to go to the press, or if the incident becomes visible to the press in some other way (e.g. police involvement, criminal case, etc.). Obviously, the colleges tend to look bad in these cases.
But are there many cases of colleges handling sexual misconduct allegations that do not become visible to the press? How likely is it that they were handled well in terms of finding whether the allegations are true and taking appropriate action when warranted? Or is it impossible to know because evidence quality is often poor, even if a high quality investigation is made?
Without access to warrants, subpoenas, forensic labs, or the ability to convene a grand jury, I don’t see how a case can be thoroughly investigated, assuming the case is not reported to law enforcement.
“But are there many cases of colleges handling sexual misconduct allegations that do not become visible to the press?”
Yes, many. This is the professional organization for Title IX coordinators: https://atixa.org It has 7,000 members. Enforcement is not the only thing they do, but that’s a substantial part of their responsibility.
There are over 3000 colleges and universities in the U.S. subject to Title IX. 195 institutions are currently being investigated by the Department of Education for their handling of sexual assault accusations. That goes up to 256 if you include those being investigated for their handling of sexual harassment accusations as well as assault. There are multiple DoE complaints at some of these institutions. Even if you assume just a handful of allegations per year and just look at these schools where we know there were complaints…it’s a lot.
“How likely is it that they were handled well in terms of finding whether the allegations are true and taking appropriate action when warranted?”
The DoE seems to think there are a lot of problems worth looking into.
“Or is it impossible to know because evidence quality is often poor, even if a high quality investigation is made?”
Yes, the evidence is often poor. That may make it impossible to know what happened in the underlying incident. It shouldn’t make it impossible to know whether the case was handled well.
I don’t think the question is whether colleges do a good job investigating sexual conduct allegations. I think the question is whether colleges should be investigating these allegations at all. IMO if a person is going to be tagged with something as serious as sexual misconduct it should be investigated by the appropriate law enforcement agencies.
I think that colleges are very biased towards accusers in these investigations. The accused party often has limited ability to be defended. The standard of proof is practically nothing other than the word of the accused. Nobody should have to live with the stain of being a sexual predator on the basis of one person’s word.
Note, however, that colleges have conduct codes that cover actions that are also subject to criminal penalties (theft, vandalism, hazing, etc.). So sexual misconduct being covered by college conduct codes in addition to criminal law is not especially unusual in and of itself.
The same may also apply on the job, where sexual or other misconduct could result in penalties up to and including dismissal from one’s job, even if there is no criminal prosecution for misconduct that could also be subject to criminal penalties.
Yes, but if student John claimed to the university student Bob vandalized his car, the university would ask to see the police report. If John said, he decided not to file a police report, and had no intention of ever reporting the incident to the police, I doubt his claim would get anywhere.
I tend to agree with Proudpatriot, but I keep coming back to the thought that there are thousands of colleges in the US and only +300 have aggrieved students that have reported to the OCR so what is the difference in those two pools of colleges/universities? I’m come to the conclusion that I’m OK with colleges adjudicating violations of code of conduct up to but not including expulsions if colleges continue to interpret what constitutes a risk to their student population as opposed to one person’s situation accurately. I think expulsions fo any offense including plagarism need to meet a much, much higher test than 50.9999% chance of certainty.
I also think colleges/universities can do a much better job explaining/teaching what is a conduct unbecomingyoung adults from criminal conduct. Frankly I don’t think young people understand the difference. i also don’t think it would hurt if we, as parents, did a better job of telling young people, male and female, starting way before college that’s it isn’t OK to take your clothes off and crawl in bed with someone and not expect that things will escalate sexually. If you need to cuddle to fall asleep, get a stuffed animal. It’s so sweet we think our young population has it all over us in terms of male/female relationships, but it “ain’t” true and it shouldn’t be the college/universities responsibility to untangle relationship issues. That alone, is where they are failing…they “think” because of the Title IX Dear Colleague letter that it IS their responsibility.
So again, I come back to the small percentages of the total universe of US colleges and universities and ask myself…what is the difference in those populations?
@ucbalumnus - If any of the other things colleges adjudicate are also criminal they should also be investigated by law enforcement agencies. Colleges are well equipped to adjudicate academic dishonesty and administrative violations. Colleges are not well equipped to adjudicate crimes. Tarring a person with sexual violence or other violent crime without a real investigation and real due process is unfair to the accused.
Losing a job is not the same thing as being expelled from college. Employers can fire at will employees for any reason. There is no permanent record created and given to every other employer in the US that says so and so was fired for suspicion of sexual violence. If a person is expelled from a college every other college knows that person has been expelled and why. The assumption is always that the charge is true even if the expulsion happened with no representation, no chance to defend oneself, and possibly no evidence at all other than the say so of the accuser. The consequences are much longer lasting and have a longer reach.
Colleges are bound by the regulations contained in Title IX and VAWA. Entire new offices have had to be added to keep schools in compliance. I work at a very small school, so it is just another hat we must wear … and our lawyer bills rise each year, as we strive to make sure our policies and procedures are in compliance with ever-changing regulations. I believe most colleges are working hard to make sure they are in compliance.
Obviously, colleges are required to teach students (young and old) about what is acceptable behavior and what is not, and they are doing so. But people, shouldn’t the groundwork for this be laid before they get to college?
Yes, ProudPatriot…that is a point I feel very strongly about. Many of these expeditions into conduct unbecoming a students are not “illegal” and yet, a student is crippled for life with an education record that may or may not accurately reflect the reason they were expelled. There is no comparison to at will employers at all. The contracts in and of themselves are completely reversed - employers pay employees. Students pay universities.
I know a young man who has proof of stalking, harassment, and personal threats by a former girlfriend. He went to his school to report it, and instead of informing him of his Title IX rights and helping him file a report they called her in and helped her file one against him.
There’s no recourse for these young men. If a young woman accuses them, they’re guilty unless they can prove they’re innocent. He can’t afford a lawyer to sue the school, or an advocate like Hanna, and even if his parents can find a school that would accept him they don’t make enough money to be able to pay for it. He lives in constant fear that she’ll file a police report if he complains too loudly, and his parents can’t afford to post bail or hire an attorney. His choice is to try to get it off his academic record or lay low for several years to avoid going to prison for something he didn’t even do. His parents live in constant fear that the depression and hopelessness he feels will drive him to make another attempt to do something drastic to himself.
The family is trying to find avenues where they can file a complaint that someone will listen to, but they haven’t had any luck. It’s a disgraceful system, and if families aren’t complaining it’s because there are no avenues of appeal or outside oversight that are interested in getting just results for the accused. Colleges have a vested interest in finding for the accusers because funding is tied to how they handle these cases and nobody else seems to care.
Students aren’t employees. If you insist on treating students as employees, why don’t we give them the same due process rights afforded to tenured faculty in dismissal proceedings.