A university student’s take on how to improve adjudication of sexual misconduct

Article here. Excerpt:

'I was arrested on Oct. 3, 2013 after 3:30 p.m. in the parking lot by Wilson Hall. According to the charges, I was accused of felony abduction with intent to defile and felony rape of my ex-girlfriend sometime between March 1 and June 1, 2012 in Fairfax County. At that moment, I faced the harrowing possibility of two life sentences for a crime I did not commit. Once in jail, I received a letter from Dean of Students Allen Groves, from which I learned that, in conjunction with the criminal charges, I was also put on an interim suspension and faced charges through the University Judiciary Committee, even though the University had contact neither with the complainant — who has never been enrolled at U.Va. — nor the Fairfax County police. I also apparently had 48 hours to appeal the interim suspension upon notification of my status, which seemed impossible to do from my jail cell and especially since my bail was not guaranteed.
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How can the University fairly evaluate a case in any circumstance if a complaining witness is not even part of the University community? Universities, as educational institutions, do not have the ability to subpoena witnesses, nor do they have the human or material resources to meticulously investigate these kinds of issues. Having an external complainant further complicates that. Title IX and universities have important obligations to protect students, which is why the abolishment of these university disciplinary systems is unlikely, but if universities currently have the right to adjudicate cases that involve external complainants, then anyone at any university should have the right to file a complaint at any school despite the offense, regardless of that person’s affiliation with that school. There is no consistency in schools’ policies since it is evident that someone outside of U.Va. can make a complaint on a student within the University community and not be held accountable for showing up to trial or cooperating with University investigators. Yet, this does not seem to be true at every University in the United States. There is also no recourse for me against this bad faith accusation, since my complainant’s university makes it very challenging for me to bring forth a complaint. Title IX and university disciplinary systems are intended to support the right to an education for all their students, but in my case they did just the opposite, undermining my rights by ruling against me before my case had come to court and denying my right to a place in our community and an education.'