Campus Rapes and Kangaroo Courts

Article here. Excerpt:

'Read BuzzFeed’s account of what happened to men who went through these college disciplinary processes to see just how big this can be. One man lost his job after an anonymous caller notified them of his “convictions” -- which were for “non-consensual kissing.” It can go on your permanent record, making it hard to get into grad school -- you might possibly recover from a youthful bad grades, or plagiarism, but our society doesn’t offer much rehabilitation for sex offenders. You’ll probably lose credits, and for those attending selective schools, it seems likely to me that a man with such a notation on his record would have a hard time enrolling in another elite school.

When people say this is “no big deal,” how many of them would shrug off having this happen to them, on the basis of a hearing where the odds are stacked in favor of believing the accuser, and double standards are often rigorously applied? Which is to say: when two people who are equally drunk have sex, the girl can be presumed to be unable to consent—while the boy is held to be fully capable of determining her level of intoxication, and of making the informed decision not to have sex with someone too much the worse for wine. And this in the name of promoting equality between the genders.

I’m not belittling the crime of rape, or how traumatic and awful it is for the women it happens to.  Rape is a terrible thing, which is why we try it in courts, and lock rapists away for a good long time.  It’s also why we treat rapists like they are terrible people who may be admitted to normal society only after convincing repentance and rehabilitation.

That’s precisely why it’s problematic that we’re adjudicating these charges through such a weak process.  Expelling someone for rape creates an official record that brands them, in the eyes of society, as a rapist.  We should do that only after careful examination, giving the accused every chance to tell his side. Not because we are making light of rape, but because we are treating these terrible events, and the punishment we mete out, with all the seriousness they deserve.'

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