The Lurking Dangers of College Rape Tribunals

There’s been a lot of buzz on college campuses lately about defining “sexual consent.” Consent was previously just thought to be the agreement between both parties to perform sexual acts, but many colleges, such as Stanford and Princeton, have declared that intoxicated students lose their ability to give consent. That’s right; unlike the real world, a student under the influence can’t give valid consent to sex. The majority of sexual assault cases occur after a party, where both the accuser and the accused had been drinking. Who, then, is at fault? Rape tribunals held by the college point towards the accused, who can be suspended or expelled from the college without substantial proof.

The federal Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights released a “Dear Colleague Letter” to colleges and universities discussing how student-to-student sexual harassment should be handled. According to the DCL, schools may deal with sexual harassment in various ways, but the case must be judged by the preponderance of evidence standard of review. The preponderance of evidence standard is the lowest standard for legal review– It requires only the the case presents just enough evidence to make it seem like the accuser’s claim is more likely than not true. Basically, if a claimant presents a viable accusation and the defendant can’t provide concrete evidence proving it false, the claimant would win the case. Should a student accuse another student of sexual harassment, the defendant is probably going to be expelled (which leaves a permanent mark on college transcripts) solely based on how difficult a claim of harassment is to disprove.

The DCL, released in 2011, also discusses how the Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 define “Sexual harassment of students, which includes sexual violence, [as] a form of sex discrimination.” Since sex discrimination is generally interpreted as discrimination of a woman because of her gender, this definition of sex discrimination seems strangely heteronormative: It assumes that a man is harassing a woman, not a man harassing another man, a woman harassing another woman, or even a woman harassing a man. Statistics of rape and assault by gender also reveal a peculiar discrepancy; in a poll done by the Pentagon, half the self-reported victims of sexual harassment were male, yet RAINN reports that in 2003, 9 out of 10 victims of rape were female. Are men not reporting sexual harassment, or are they losing their lawsuits? Government and college policies towards sexual harassment seem to be generally biased against males.

While the statistics may be slightly skewed, the gender gap for sexual harassment is very real. 1 out of 6 women has been the subject of attempted or completed life during her lifetime, though the number stands at 1 out of 33 for men. Girls ages 16-19 are four times as likely to be victims of rape, which means that college sexual harassment is a very real threat. Rape is a very serious crime, and deserves to be punished for accordingly. However, college rape tribunals are an ill-fitting way to review such a serious matter. If the accused is found guilty, his or her life is permanently changed; he or she may face suspension or expulsion, being marked as a sex harasser on college transcripts, and legal repercussions.  The verdict of the rape tribunal can carry tremendous weight, but the panel often consists of faculty members that have little to no legal experience. College rape and sexual harassment must be taken seriously and dealt with,  but the low standard of evidence and inexperienced panel makes rape tribunals a poor way to do so.