Comments on: Taking rape allegations seriously

By: Gary

Gary — Sun, 07 Dec 2014 23:40:55 +0000

What does the assertion that the university “apparently never expels students for sexual assault” actually mean? I cannot imagine–although correct me if I’m wrong–that if a UVA student is convicted of rape that the student is not expelled.

I attended UVA (quite awhile back). The University was in no way tolerant of rape–as we would define it. I would bet almost any amount of money that a student convicted of rape would immediately be expelled from UVA.

But as Tom Murin and Lizzy noted, it is difficult to know exactly what is meant by the increasingly elastic term “sexual assault.” Lizzy wrote:
Part of the problem is that the campus feminists have been very diligently expanding the definition of sexual assault to include actions such as unwanted advances and a woman’s day-after regret.

I agree and would only add that “sexual assault” probably includes all sorts of other other vaguely sexual activities that we would not recognize as “assaultive” or violent or coercive.

So here’s how I would interpret the phrase “apparently never expels students for sexual assault“:
1) Because UVA’s definition of “sexual assault” is so capacious, most or all cases tried by the University were so minor that expulsion was not called for.

2) WaPo covered its ass with the weasel-word “apparently” because they did not investigate thoroughly enough to determine for sure that no student had ever been expelled for “sexual assault.”

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By: Lizzy

Lizzy — Sun, 07 Dec 2014 01:04:33 +0000

Apparently Erdely has a history of publishing questionable rape stories in Rolling Stone:

http://www.bigtrial.net/2014/12/before-rolling-stone-was-conned-by.html

In this case, one of the accused died in custody.

By: Ymarsakar

Ymarsakar — Sat, 06 Dec 2014 23:02:52 +0000

The Left isn’t concerned about rape. If anything, they would wish for it to grow, so they can profit off of it.

By: Steve

Steve — Sat, 06 Dec 2014 22:49:38 +0000

I remember when feminists were about burning bras and the ‘sexual revolution.’ It was all about comparing themselves to men. It still is. They were gender mongers then. They are gender mongers now.

By: Lizzy

Lizzy — Sat, 06 Dec 2014 22:43:50 +0000

Part of the problem is that the campus feminists have been very diligently expanding the definition of sexual assault to include actions such as unwanted advances and a woman’s day-after regret. I suspect that this is one of the reasons they are so insistent that every rape victim be believed by default. It ensures that men who have engaged in something less than the legal definition of rape/sexual assault can still be put before the school’s justice system, even when it seems questionable on its face.

Blogger Ace of Spades was dead-on in his likening this to the Salem Witch Trials.

By: Geoffrey Britain

Geoffrey Britain — Sat, 06 Dec 2014 22:21:15 +0000

As long as a woman can lie about being raped without there being comparable consequence for that false accusation, some women will lie about rape and some innocent men’s lives will be destroyed. So too when during a divorce, women falsely accuse a man of physical abuse or worse yet, falsely accuse him of sexually abusing his children.

There’s a profound reason why “bearing false witness” is one of the Ten Commandments. It is a terrible sin.

By: Tom Murin

Tom Murin — Sat, 06 Dec 2014 22:00:06 +0000

It seems to me that if a student was convicted of rape they’d be in prison and wouldn’t be attending class for a while.

Not sure about sexual assault since I’m not really sure what that encompasses. Whatever it is – they say that 80 % are not reported. This claim does not seem credible to me.

By: n.n

n.n — Sat, 06 Dec 2014 21:40:36 +0000

The libertine religion or progressive morality has consequences. Perhaps we should pursue a moral consensus that acknowledges individual dignity and intrinsic value. It’s logical to avoid objectifying women and human life generally.

By: Ray

Ray — Sat, 06 Dec 2014 21:12:08 +0000

In the 1980s the Air Force Office of Special Investigations investigated 556 charges of rape by servicewomen. In that investigation, 27% admitted that their accusations were false either before or after being confronted with lie detector tests.

See “False Allegations,” Forensic Science Digest, V. 11, no. 4, Dec. 1985, p. 64, by Charles P. McDowell. The Digest is a publication of the Air Force Office of Special Investigations in D.C.

Also see Kanin, E.J., (1994) “False Rape Accusations”, Archives of Sexual Behavior, V23, P81-92. Kanin found that 41% of reported rapes were fabrications, by admission of the woman.