<p>It occurs to me in thinking about this some more that a woman who has been assaulted faces a difficult choice in reporting. Unless she is willing to call the police immediately, go to the ER, and get a rape kit, it’s not very likely that reporting to the actual police will result in punishment of the perpetrator, especially if there are no witnesses and any element of he-said-she-said. If she does report to the actual police, and the person is eventually convicted of a crime, the punishment is serious.
On the other hand, it appears that if she reports to the college, it is more likely that some consequences will flow to the perpetrator, because the standard of proof is less–but the consequences may not be that severe, as we saw in this case.
If my daughter called me after an incident like this and asked me what she should do, I’d have to say that it depends on the specific facts.</p>