Penn State president says universities face ‘very challenging environment’ when handling sexual assault reports

The idea of a Penn State president stating that "sexual assault is unacceptable" is akin to the president of a condom-manufacturing company saying sex should only be for procreation.

Lest we forget, and so soon:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Penn_State_child_sex_abuse_scandal

No matter, even focusing merely on the present, I have some advice for Mr. Barron that ought to be obvious to anyone who has respect for not just the law but for the rights of both victims and some respect for the rights of the accused to be presumed innocent when a facing a criminal allegation: Instead of burying the allegations by channeling the often-naive self-identified victim into a "system" that requires her to forego the assistance of actual duly appointed/elected law enforcers and judicial authorities (and that keeps any chance of an actual identification of someone who may be a real menace to public safety from being dealt with as such), why not instead do what people have been doing for years when a crime is reported to them: call the police.

The current way in which most colleges deal with these allegations results in one of two unacceptable outcomes:

Given: A boy is accused by a girl of raping/sexually assaulting her. This is a criminal offense, not a mere "violation" of some "honor code" or student conduct code (though it may also be that). It's a felony she says has been committed against her.

Outcome of current typical system where the accused is presumed guilty and can do nothing to change that:

1. He is not a rapist/sexual assailant and is punished to some degree and labeled a sexual predator of some kind on campus; an "information" for "internal records use only" may be filed by the university with the local police as well, amounting to an accusation that the boy never has a chance to challenge. However he is punished by anything from loss of scholarship to removal from campus, expulsion, suspension, etc. In any case, his future plans are seriously disrupted and he didn't deserve it. The girl? Knowing no one can be sure the accused is guilty given the presumption of guilt based on a mere accusation, people start to look at her askance. Her only friends on campus are now found among the campus feminists, who on most campuses are not very popular, though they are loud and influential. Fine if she was a fellow-traveler before she made her accusation, but if not, she may not feel like she can stay at that school anyway and have a typical undergraduate life from then on. Final result: The opposite of justice is done and neither party is happy with the outcome.

2. He is a rapist/sexual assailant and is not punished nearly enough for the offense, which is a felony. Rather than being tried and convicted as he ought to be, he is merely suspended, expelled, loses his team membership/scholarship, etc. As with #1 above, everyone knows the system works like this: an accusation equals a conviction. So someone who is in fact a danger to the community is not identified properly as such and may instead get a great deal of support/sympathy because as everyone knows, he is by default guilty and has no chance of exonerating himself. The victim does not see justice done and the rapist essentially walks away, albeit perhaps with a harder time ahead for paying back college loans or a delayed graduation date. But no biggie for him: real rapists are at least partially sociopathic or otherwise nuts, so the impact of punishment/sanction on them is often not felt nearly as keenly as it may affect others. Final result: The opposite of justice is done and neither party is happy with the outcome, with the victim having the same kind of experience as described in #1 above after the rapist receives whatever punishment the school gives him. But arguably, the rapist is a lot happier with this outcome than had he been found guilty in an actual court of law. He says "Thanks, God, for a university administration that doesn't like to confess their sins any more than I do!"

The whole campus rape hysteria will end when universities start treating rape accusations for what they are: accusations of serious criminal acts, and then act accordingly by picking up the phone and calling 911.

Let us avoid all this problem for everyone. Let us separate the schools and colleges for the sexes.

I believe turning these matters over to local authorities is the best solution.

I previously believed colleges are being squeezed by two forces: Title IX enforcement from the Feds, which can result in fines or loss of funding, and female students who sue either because they were assaulted or because they believe their cases were mishandled.

But there's now a third force: male students who are suing universities for denying them due process rights.

I don't think there's a happy ending other than relieving universities of this burden and calling 911. It's what we do in every other case of alleged criminal conduct. Even then, many jurisdictions are under pressure to find men guilty, but at least the men have access to legal representation and to present their facts to a jury, not a bureaucrat with an agenda.