No, Pitzer is co-ed – Scripps is the women’s college.
Hmm. The anonymous letter reads a lot like a short story. It could be entirely true, but it could be fiction. Perhaps people on campus know more about it.
Hunt, I was wondering if I was the only skeptical person here. I was thinking it sounded like creative writing also.
My advice to my kids before they went off to college was, “If you’re the victim of an actual crime, go to the real police. For everything else, the campus police are fine.”
Realistically, Camp Sec usually gets involved first. And they don’t always encourage reporting crimes at all colleges, or students think they have done enough. Agree with @Massmomm, you kid needs to know if Camp Sec is not also “real police”, they have another step to take on that. If Camp Sec says they will report it, follow up and check on the report to make sure it is accurate. (Police reports are also often wildly inaccurate – it would be laughable if it weren’t such a serious problem sometimes – so always check what was written up and challenge the accuracy if necessary).
All rape cases should be criminal matters and judged in a court of law. No system is perfect. However the courts are far better than public opinion or college admin decision making. Duke Lacrosse? On any serious crime, call the police first.
There are victims so traumatized their memory is bad and they destroy evidence.
In addition, the police overall have done a terrible job with rape victims.
People think they are going to behave a certain way if they get into a tough situation, but they don’t.
Whenever rape gets addressed, Duke lacrosse gets thrown into the mix. Yes, an unfortunate incident but the real cases far, far outweigh situations like Duke.
I agree with @Hunt and @mamabear1234. It reads like fan fiction. I wish the title of this thread read, “rape alleged by anonymous letter to blogger.”
There’s also the Rolling Stone hoax.
Another problem is that court cases can take some time to play out. Meanwhile, the victim has to live on the same campus as the accuser (and sometimes in the same dorm and the same classes). I certainly have spoken strongly to my kids about reporting sexual assault, even in situations where they maybe didn’t follow all the rules they should have to try to stay safe – if nothing else, to save someone else from being assaulted later. Sure, every once in a while there are false or sensationalized reports – but the number of actual rape cases is far higher.
I believe the letter was received by the editor of the Pitzer school paper, which happens to be online. Just clarifying your “blogger” reference.
Of course, one should be aware of whether “campus security” is an actual police department, or if it is a non-police entity.
@Periwinkle: It’s not clear from the letter whether it is creative writing or an allegation. That said, subjectively true rape allegations (where the accuser believes a rape occurred) vastly outweigh subjectively false allegations (where the accuser does not believe a rape occurred), even assuming the truth of the most egregious statistics.
@intparent: It’s not terribly difficult to obtain temporary restraining orders against the accused in these sort of cases.
We researched this before our kids went to college and made sure they knew the answer. Might be a good thing for every parent to do, even if your kids are already at college.
If the accused lives in the same dorm and eats in the same cafeteria and is enrolled in the same classes, essentially that requires the college to take some action to remove the student (or the student has to drop out). I don’t think that is how it usually goes, unfortunately.
If what happened in this letter is true then it is a crime. The university does not prosecute crimes. First off I would want to know what drugs were given to my child. I would want to have evidence. She can still deal with the school on how to handle the situation concerning the alleged criminals being on campus that doesn’t change whether or not she files charges. For something as heinous as drugging and raping do all you really want is them kicked out of school? Does that serve as appropriate justice? Do you want them free to harrass you later? It seems to me that it opens the whole situation up to libel suits etc. You’re begging to have your word doubted if you act like no crime was committed and then make a complaint later. There are other situations that become gray areas but if this situation is as she relates it there is no question I would want to get evidence and prosecute.
You mean “suspect” instead of “accuser”, right?
If the suspect is arrested and prosecuted, he may have to take a leave of absence to deal with the legal matters (which would get him off the campus). Even if he remains on campus (assuming that he is not suspended or expelled by the university administrative people who seem to bungle these cases a lot), having his name and face published in a news report about being arrested may have some effect.
Sometimes I wonder if my daughters would tell me if something happened… I know sexual assault victims can be very resistant to reporting. My kids know I would want them to report. One of mine in particular is very private and has always been one to go hide when something hurts her (literally physically go hide). I also think the evidence of date rape drugs disappear quickly from the body. It has me thinking again… maybe I need to talk to my daughters again. Tell them that my first preference is reporting to authorities. But if they just cannot do that right away – then they at least need to find a friend ASAP and relate the incident to them so no one can say it didn’t happen because they didn’t tell anyone. Although we have also talked about the Plan B drug, and the need to take action at least the next day if something happens. We have also talked about how stressful it is to go to the hospital to have a rape kit completed, but how important it is to other women to have the strength to do this. But who knows how they would react in the actual situation…
Argh. I hate needing to worry about this. 
But I was worried before this article – regardless of how it sorts out, this is a real risk for women.
@intparent: If the court enters the order against the accused, that person would not be able to attend class (unless the classroom was bigger than 100 yards, which is the normal distance requirement). the accused would have to work out something with the school. Same goes for the cafeteria. Dorm may be different as courts often require a special showing when a TRO would impinge on someone’s ability to get home.