         
To
add your name to the SATI Mailing List,
click here
|
|
SATI e-News: September 2, 2002
|
|
| |
|
|
| |
Harvard
Raises Standard of Proof in Rape/Sexual Assault Cases |
|
| |
|
|
|
Harvard students are returning to
campus this fall to find a change in campus judicial policy that
they know little about, but which is already at the center of a
national controversy and under federal investigation.
The new policy, slated to go into effect this fall, requires
eyewitnesses, physical evidence, and other “sufficient
independent corroboration” before allowing an investigation of a
sexual assault complaint to go forward.
Although corroboration has long been deemed unnecessary in
criminal courts for cases of sexual assault, recent state and
federal courts have ruled that colleges have no obligation to
provide the same standard of due process that students would
receive in a court of law if they were to report the offense to
local police.
Harvard announced its new policy after the faculty unanimously
approved it in May. According to Harvard Magazine, the
policy is the result of an investigation by Harry Lewis, Dean of
Harvard College, to “investigate a sharply increased number of
complaints of sexual assault.” Harvard responded to 7 complaints
of sexual assault in 2001, compared to 13 during the previous
decade.
Critics of Harvard's new policy believe it will achieve the
College’s desired objective to decrease sexual assault reports.
But they question the value of such a goal, as it seeks to
accomplish it by discouraging victims from coming forward.
A legal challenge, filed this summer by lawyer Wendy Murphy,
triggered a federal investigation, months before the policy was
to go into effect. The U.S. Department of Education’s Office for
Civil Rights will determine whether the Harvard policy violates
Title IX, the federal law barring gender-based discrimination in
education, according to the Boston Globe.
Harvard’s new policy reverses the trend at other major colleges,
many of which have adopted policies to allow accusers to present
sexual assault cases even without concrete evidence. Such
policies have long been promoted by feminist groups and other
victim advocates, who argue that the cards are stacked against
the victim, particularly in cases of “acquaintance rape,” which
comprise the majority of campus sexual assaults, and for which
witnesses are simply not available.
In challenging the Harvard policy, Murphy told the Globe
that she hopes to head off the possibility of other colleges and
universities adopting the Harvard model.
Sources:
“Adjudicating Sexual Assault Cases,” Harvard Magazine,
July/August 2002
“Harvard to require more proof in sex cases,” Boston Globe,
May 8, 2002.
“US probe expected of Harvard policy on sexual assault,”
Boston Globe, August 6, 2002.
“Harvard Sex Policy Probed,” Associated Press, August 6,
2002.
“Facts about New Ad Board Procedure for Peer Disputes,”
Prepared by the Office of the Dean of Harvard College
“Information on Harvard College Procedures for Handling Student
Peer Disputes” |
|
|
|
|
|
> Other Articles in This Issue: |
|
|
|
|
>
SATI e-News Archive
|
|
|
|
|
|
