Universities face pressure to address sexual assault, "Alcohol is not consent"

[Tennis]

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/campus...ault-1.3750355

University of British Columbia students got an extra jolt along with their caffeine fixes when they returned to campus last week.

The school's student union, the Alma Mater Society (AMS), has launched a campaign to raise awareness of campus sexual assault, wrapping coffee cups in sleeves that draw attention to UBC's track record for disciplining offenders.

The coffee sleeves make a stark comparison, showing that while 257 students were suspended over a 10-year period for plagiarism or other academic cheating, none were suspended for sexual assault during that same time. They also encourage students to weigh in while the university seeks feedback on its new sexual assault policy.

"Sexual assault has been an issue almost as long as campuses have been around," says Ava Nasiri, president of AMS. While progress has been made, more needs to be done to make victims comfortable coming forward, and to send a message to perpetrators at campuses everywhere that sexual violence has serious consequences, she says.

The need for more progress is a big topic on campuses across the country this year as many schools try to improve their policies for protecting students.

Stanford under the microscope

But perhaps no school anywhere is under more scrutiny than California's Stanford University.

Former student Brock Turner — convicted of sexually assaulting an unconscious woman near a fraternity party — was released from jail on Sept. 2, completing half of a six-month sentence that sparked international outrage and an online petition to remove the judge who presided over his case. Judge Aaron Persky has since asked to hear only civil cases.
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The prestigious school issued new limits on hard alcohol last month, a move widely criticized for putting the onus on women to drink less, rather than on men not to commit sexual assaults.

Stanford said the new restrictions are "a harm-reduction strategy" aimed at curbing the medically risky rapid consumption of hard liquor. But the student body quickly connected the new policy with the Turner case, given that during the trial Turner said he was inexperienced with alcohol before beginning college.

Ralph Castro, director of Stanford's Office of Alcohol Policy and Education (OAPE), told campus newspaper The Stanford Daily that the new policy was not a result of a recent focus on sexual assault, but rather previous initiatives that had been underway since 2011.

Shelby Travers says she was sexually assaulted on Humber College's north campus at the end of the last school year. While Travers says she was treated well by school administrators when she came forward, more needs to be done to ensure safety at school events. (Cathy Bidini)
'Alcohol is not consent'

Shelby Travers, a second-year student in media communications at Humber College, was watching the Brock Turner case unfold while coping with the immediate aftermath of being sexually assaulted on campus the day before classes ended last academic year.

She describes her assailant as "someone who at the time I thought was my friend and who just abused that sense of comfort and pushed boundaries, and, frankly, at the end of the day didn't respect me or what 'no' means."


Protesters at a Stanford University commencement ceremony in Palo Alto, Calif., hold signs to raise awareness of sexual assault on campus in the wake of the national attention brought by the Brock Turner case. (Elijah Nouvelage/Reuters)

Travers, who opted not to report what happened to police, says her case was handled well and efficiently by the college's department of student conduct, which has banned the perpetrator from campus until 2018. Still, she says she'd like to see student governments work with their colleges and universities to ensure safety at school events.

'When I was giving my statement I was asked, "Had you had anything to drink?" and I just don't see why it's relevant. It's not.'
- Shelby Travers, sexual assault victim

"That's where a lot of these incidents happen, at the school bar, at these events where people are mistaking being under the influence with consent," Travers says. "Alcohol is not consent. That's where the whole victim blaming or shaming comes in — 'Oh, you had a drink,' or 'You were wearing a short skirt' — none of that means anything. When I was giving my statement I was asked, 'Had you had anything to drink?' and I just don't see why it's relevant. It's not."


The University of Toronto released a new draft policy on sexual assault last Wednesday.

Provost Cheryl Regehr said the policy is the result of consultations and committee work that have been ongoing since November 2014.

But the timing of the policy announcement was intentional, she says.

"We wanted to have the draft policy ready for when the students came back to school so that all students would have an opportunity to provide input."

Provincial law also requires all Ontario universities and colleges to have sexual violence policies in place by January 2017, a change that came about as a result of the government's "It's Never OK" action plan on sexual violence.

Front and centre in the U of T policy is the creation of new "sexual violence prevention and support centres" on all three campuses.

The policy also makes a distinction between disclosing an assault and making a formal report. Victims won't be required to file a formal report with campus authorities or police in order to access support as well as academic, employment and other accommodations, Regehr said.
Ex-Stanford Swimmer Rape

Former Stanford student Brock Turner was convicted of sexually assaulting an unconscious woman, but served only three months of the six-month sentence that sparked international outrage and calls for reform in how universities and the justice system handle campus sexual assault cases. (Gary Reyes/Associated Press)

The proposed changes also protect victims from having to come face to face with their alleged perpetrators in meetings unless they agree to do so.


Perhaps the most critical campus reforms, though, are those geared to preventing sexual violence in the first place.

To that end, Bishop's University in Lennoxville, Que., just rolled out new mandatory sexual-assault training for all first-year students during orientation. The university says it's also planning to offer the training to students in second, third and fourth years, as well as to faculty and staff.

This is getting out of hand. These deviants are ruining it for everyone!!
It's high time we looked at much stiffer penalties to deter these awful crimes that are plaguing our campuses.

Do you agree with Miss. Travers that victim profile is a major issue?

[TrumpIsPresident]

I'm just wondering when universities will add Hugh Mungus to the list of banned words.

But on topic, if these universities started expelling people for "sexual assault" then they'd see about a 40% drop in their student body.

(*40% being your average number of White heterosexual students)
(**realistically the number is probably far less considering the sheer amount of beta males these days, but I have no data on that)

Because lets be honest with ourselves here "sexual assault" these days covers everything from full on gang rape to not "liking" a girl's Facebook post.

Maybe if PC feminazism didn't try to over-diagnose every single innocuous incident as "sexual assault" like they had a quota to meet then perhaps the real cases wouldn't be so easy to overlook and bury.

But then it was so natural, and easy, for them to become this radicalized seeing as how they just took a page from the "that's racist, you're racist, everything that disagrees with me is RACIST@#!#$" playbook and so now anything and everything under the sun is considered "sexual assault".

[Gib Lover]

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/campus...ault-1.3750355



This is getting out of hand. These deviants are ruining it for everyone!!
It's high time we looked at much stiffer penalties to deter these awful crimes that are plaguing our campuses.

Do you agree with Miss. Travers that victim profile is a major issue?

Ruining what exactly, Tenn.

What is it that you wouldn't be able to enjoy because of mandatory sexual-assault trainings or the abandonment of "did you have anything to drink" as a question?

Is there something you want to tell us?

[Tennis]

Ruining what exactly, Tenn.

What is it that you wouldn't be able to enjoy because of mandatory sexual-assault trainings or the abandonment of "did you have anything to drink" as a question?

Is there something you want to tell us?

Why should law abiding citizens have to sit through this training because of a few deviants?

[Jotaux]

Universities should not be involved in matters of the law.

- - - Updated - - -

And isn't asking about the alcohol consumption an important question since they are saying you can't consent when you are under the influence?

[Kalis]

Why should law abiding citizens have to sit through this training because of a few deviants?

Because some women are making bullshit claims about sexual assault, so the universities feel they have to do something to appease them. That would be my guess, especially as consent only seems to go one way.

[Theinquisition]

I think there's to much subjectivity here. I've seen men and women get drunk, have sex, and then the female claim rape once she sobered up and realized she slept with someone she might not otherwise has slept with.

Now if a chick gets blackout drunk and someone has sex with them, obviously that's messed up, but if two adults are drinking, and somewhat coherent, have sex...why is the guy automatically to blame?

[darkwarrior42]

Why should law abiding citizens have to sit through this training because of a few deviants?

If we knew ahead of time who was and who was not going to commit crimes, we wouldn't need to worry about this sort of thing.

But since we can't see the future, everyone goes through the training for two reasons:

1) Ideally, so that this sort of thing doesn't happen anymore.
2) Failing that, so that they can't say "I didn't know" or "I didn't understand" as an excuse. Everyone does the training, that's your warning.

[Captainn]

I never understood why 'victim blaming' is so negative. If you're struck by another vehicle, the insurance company is going to assess just how at fault you are. Why isn't the same thing being done in situations like this?

A guy I knew in school unknowingly drove another guy to a mutual friends house. The guy I knew in highschool sat in the car and waited while his passenger was inside---turns out the passenger robbed the house. The guy who drove had no idea, and still served 6 months in prison. He wasn't consenting to anything. Again, why isn't a sexual assault victim assuming part of the blame in this situation?

If you're alone, if you're consuming a ton of alcohol, and you pass out in the middle of no where by yourself, some of the blame has got to be put on you. Should the rapist be set free without any penalty? No. Not at all. But to say the victim is NEVER at fault is complete BS

[Tennis]

I think there's to much subjectivity here. I've seen men and women get drunk, have sex, and then the female claim rape once she sobered up and realized she slept with someone she might not otherwise has slept with.

Now if a chick gets blackout drunk and someone has sex with them, obviously that's messed up, but if two adults are drinking, and somewhat coherent, have sex...why is the guy automatically to blame?

As a man it's up to you to do the right thing. If you take advantage of a drunk female then you need to be ready for the consequences.

One of the problems in society that has been constantly mentioned is that many young men are growing up without fathers and we can see the results. When there is no father figure then look what happens....

[darkwarrior42]

But by that logic we should have training for all basic not being a shitty human things.

I don't think that's inherently a bad idea.

Practically, I'd like to see it limited to issues that make it obvious there is a need.... such as the one in question.

[Kalis]

As a man it's up to you to do the right thing. If you take advantage of a drunk female then you need to be ready for the consequences.

If they have both been drinking, which is a likely scenario, then how do we decide who is taking advantage?

How often do women obtain consent from men before having sex? I would guess at hardly ever and that most consent from men is implied consent, so if we go down that road then women are opening themselves up to a ton of criminal charges.

[Tennis]

You're comparing apples and oranges here. If you are passed out around someone sketchy its not your fault that they raped you rofl wtf

You aren't asking for it just because someone had the opportunity to take advantage of you

Really? Is there not 2 sides to every story?
If someone gets murdered but at first he was punching another person and started the entire fight. Is he free of blame?

[Anastacy]

As a man it's up to you to do the right thing. If you take advantage of a drunk female then you need to be ready for the consequences.

One of the problems in society that has been constantly mentioned is that many young men are growing up without fathers and we can see the results. When there is no father figure then look what happens....

Every feminists nightmare...

[hrugner]

Colleges shouldn't be dealing with sexual assault cases... why the fuck do people think this is a good idea?

There's nothing wrong with private unellected adhoc court rooms determining guilt and innocence with no oversight and outside pressure to produce a scapegoat. Other than being a terrifying precedent of course.

They should go through the court system like everyone else. Unfortunately, I'm not evil enough to buy some property and assert my right to extrajudicial justice on those I think are scary.

[Jonnusthegreat]

Wow! No suspensions for sexual assault?! Nice job, campus!

<This point has insufficient data to be considered an argument>

[Fasc]

You're comparing apples and oranges here. If you are passed out around someone sketchy its not your fault that they raped you rofl wtf

You aren't asking for it just because someone had the opportunity to take advantage of you

The victim blaming is more nuanced than "blacked out drunk and not able to resist"

While it is improper to treat sexual intercourse like a contract since it isn't enforceable by law whatsoever... the most premier aspect of forming a contract is "manifestation of mutual assent" or what we would more commonly say: both parties agreed/consented. But in cases where it is disputed whether or not someone actually consented to the contract, a lot of things have been brought to court concerning exactly that. One notable case (https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Lucy_v._Zehmer) has the emphasis line of "I was high as a Georgia Pine!" in the testimony, specifically referring to how drunk he supposedly was before making the contract. There was no doubt he had a lot to drink and likely drank even more over the course of the discussion... but the court still held he had entered into a valid contract because of the manifestations of his mutual assent and the fact that the plaintiff (who also had drank quite a bit) had no reasonable knowledge that he was unable to understand the details of what was being agreed upon.

Consent in the university world of sexual assault removes ALLLLLLLL of that nuance in favor of hyper technical magic word saying and nothing else (I do hearby enthusiastically consent to the next sexual action you perform!!). This same nuance seen in contract law is seen in torts and criminal law (notably with things like intent) and yet is still attempted to be obliterated in the college world... cuz reasons.

This is why universities shouldn't be in the game of handling sexual assault cases, they start off with very very inconsistent and abusive definitions of consent and intent and so forth that screw the defendant and utterly absolve the complainant of any possible responsibility or wrong doing.

[Theinquisition]

As a man it's up to you to do the right thing. If you take advantage of a drunk female then you need to be ready for the consequences.

One of the problems in society that has been constantly mentioned is that many young men are growing up without fathers and we can see the results. When there is no father figure then look what happens....

that's kind of sexist of you tennisace isn't it?

"As a man it's up to you to do the right thing" So somehow I'm more responsible than a female? she can't make her own decisions? Somehow I'm a adult and shes not? For SHAME Tennisball, I thought we moved beyond this level of sexism!!

Once again Tennis.

If a man and a woman have both been drinking heavily, how can you say who is more culpable?

[Fasc]

that's kind of sexist of you tennisace isn't it?

"As a man it's up to you to do the right thing" So somehow I'm more responsible than a female? she can't make her own decisions? Somehow I'm a adult and shes not? For SHAME Tennisball, I thought we moved beyond this level of sexism!!

Once again Tennis.

If a man and a woman have both been drinking heavily, how can you say who is more culpable?

Easy.

If we define sex, sexual assault, etc with language that puts the acting upon the man and the receiving upon the woman, then the man is always culpable! See how easy this is when you just define the terms to be skewed from the start?

[Ladern]

Account compromised, deleting this post