Harvard’s sexual assault policies reflect larger issue

Last Tuesday, the Boston Globe published an op-ed from 28 professors at Harvard Law School who are asking the university to abandon a sexual misconduct policy introduced in July. When the policy was announced, Harvard President Drew Faust stated, “Harvard is deeply committed to fostering an educational environment free of gender-based discrimination, particularly sexual misconduct and sexual violence.” Though well-intentioned, the change promotes the cultivation of an environment where men are made to fear the consequences for crimes they might not have committed, or punishments that are harsher than the crime warrants.

Harvard is not alone in the struggle. Eighty-five schools across the country are currently undergoing scrutiny for violating Title IX, USC included. In an effort to cover their backs and maintain their government funding, many schools have ignored the principles our country’s courts were founded on and perpetuated an oppressive view of female sexuality to quickly reform their policies.

To be fair, they got some things right. Harvard’s new office, run by specially trained civil rights investigators, will look into all complaints of gender-based discrimination, not just criminal offenses like rape.

Even with a panel of trained specialists, however, Harvard is not equipped to handle rape cases. None of the 85 schools are. The policies that have brought them under scrutiny are just a symptom of the problem. According to the Huffington Post, one Dept. of Public Safety officer at USC said that women should not “go out, get drunk and expect not to get raped.” After decades of treating rape as a women’s issue, ignoring claims, telling students they were not actually raped and blaming victims for their outfits or alcohol consumption, these universities have proven they lack the judgment to handle these cases in a fair and responsible manner.

Now, things have shifted. Finally called out for their misconduct, universities have scapegoated their male students with harsher policies, but have still set consequences that are ineffective at preventing repeat offenses.

In response to Harvard’s new policy, law professors from the university critiqued the lack of adequate representation for the accused. They added that Harvard’s definition of sexual misconduct is harsher than the one mandated by Title IX.

The most common punishment for rape through the U.S. courts today is imprisonment. Universities do not have the right to imprison students. Instead, they suspend or expel students. At USC, if students are members of a Greek organization, they remove charters or place the chapter on suspension. Expulsion might protect university students from a repeat offender, but that leaves a rapist free to roam the streets and does not protect the rest of the non-university students.

There is one final issue with sexual assault policies at universities, including USC. In an effort to avoid the victim-blaming exhibited by DPS’s comment that women who get drunk should expect to be raped, USC’s sexual assault policy states that consent cannot be given while the victim is intoxicated. The policy includes no gender description. It later states intoxication of the accused does not diminish their responsibility. So if two drunk people have sex, the first to accuse the other of rape becomes the victim and the other becomes the accused. When intoxicated, you cannot legally give consent, but you must have the judgment to know the other person’s consent does not count. With a policy that has been reinforced by California’s “yes means yes” law, all drunk college hookups are rape. At USC, where tailgates on campus and registered university parties have alcohol, intoxicated sex is common. By including this in their sexual assault policies, universities are either ignorant about students’ behavior or intentionally ignoring college drunk hookup culture to keep funding and be compliant.

The job of universities is to educate students. An effective sexual assault policy for USC would educate students on the definition and consequences of rape according to the U.S. government, but turn over all cases to LAPD to be investigated by law enforcement professionals.