<p>I have no doubt that there are many, many more cases of rapists going free than men being falsely punished for rape, but that doesn’t justify evening the score by punishing someone disproportionately or without sufficient evidence. </p>
<p>Every case has to be judged on its merits. Unfortunately, as Hunt said, rape, unlike most other serious crimes, can resemble a perfectly legal act. Even in a world with no sexism or double-standards about sex, it would still be really hard to meet a reasonable (never mind legal) burden of proof in a lot of acquaintance-rape scenarios, especially after some time has passed. </p>
<p>In this case, we really have no idea how serious the man’s behavior was. Was he stalking her and shouting vulgar epithets, or was he being overly pushy after a break-up? Was he threatening her with violence, or did he call her a “b*tch” in the midst of a verbal confrontation? Was the physical intimidation grabbing the victim and holding her down, or was it standing in front of a doorway so she couldn’t leave a room during an argument? The latter is bad, but not, in my opinion, expulsion bad. </p>
<p>At the more mild end of what was still very bad behavior, a one semester suspension with instructions to stay away from the student in question sounds like a reasonable call. Based on some second-hand experience of situations where people have been suspended mid-semester, any grades earned before the suspension in that semester are vacated; it is as if you were gone for the entire period. If that is the case, which I suspect it is, the student did lose a semester, although I think it would have been better if Yale had let him finish out the spring and suspended him for the fall.</p>
<p>Basically, I can’t judge without knowing more facts that aren’t likely to come out.</p>