Allegations Must Be Verified Before Outrage

Article here. Excerpt:

'Like many students at Wooster, I too spend (probably unhealthily) more than a small amount of time on Yik Yak messaging boards. And usually, it’s harmless – albeit not always positive – content. However, over the last few months, I have noticed a disturbing trend that has been the topic du jour of Wooster Yik Yak: discussing apparent sexual assault allegations against Wooster students, even going so far as to name names and make statements such as “[…]don’t forget [name] is also a sexual assaulter.”, “Name drop all assaulters!! Bully them off campus!!”, “[A]ctually bullying is okay if it’s aimed towards sexual assaulters!” and “Put a sticky note with some unique marking, and stick them on every abuser’s door that you know.”

And these accusations come with absolutely no statements of proof, seeming completely unverified. Some students claim that a Title IX claim against a student is proof of guilt. Let me be clear: although a student may even have a Title IX claim against them, this does not mean that they are automatically guilty; almost all allegations of this nature constitute one person’s word against another’s. This apparently common practice of explicitly stating names and advocating for direct, possibly belligerent, action to be taken in response to these accusations, is a blight on how assertions of this magnitude ought to be treated, and how the student body should act while these claims are outstanding.