RICHMOND – Legislative support is coalescing behind a proposal to require that university officials quickly turn rape allegations over to law enforcement, or potentially face prosecution themselves.
A trio of Republican House leaders backed the requirement Monday, though they didn’t spell out potential punishments. In the state Senate, Democratic Minority Leader Richard Saslaw said last week that he’s working on a similar bill, and that he’ll attach the possibility of a year-long prison sentence for violators.
Support for such a requirement appears to be both widespread and bipartisan in the Virginia General Assembly after Rolling Stone magazine published a terrifying description of gang rape at a University of Virginia fraternity. The article also described a culture of acceptance and cover up in the wake of sexual assaults there.
“This has been discussed as an issue for years,” said Del. Rob Bell, R-Charlottesville.
Bell is backing mandatory reporting legislation along with delegates Dave Albo and Todd Gilbert, and all of them hold some sort of leadership position in the House’s Republican majority caucus, or on its courts committee. They’re also all UVA graduates, as well as former prosecutors.
Their proposal would require any college administrator who learns of a violent felony committed by or against a student to inform law enforcement immediately.
Bell said Monday there needs to be more discussion about what penalties to attach to this. He said Virginia universities can still have their own adjudication process for suspensions and other punishments, but that shouldn’t be the only investigation.
“This is not a college issue,” Bell said. “This is a violent felony. … Nobody should get a pass just because he’s a student.”
First off, this isn’t just a UVA issue. Yes, there is a huge problem at UVA and there as been for decades but UVA is certainly not unique. Hopefully, any laws enacted would include all institutes of higher learning in the state of Virginia.
The frustrating part of this article is that it is a knee jerk reaction because of bad press. These three legislators attended UVA and know that there are problems with sexual violence. They also know the common denominator: ALCOHOL abuse. Every year at least 1800 students die from binge drinking. Many more end up in emergency rooms. This tendency has gotten worse the past few decades.
Yes, colleges know. They do all sorts of studies. They try to educate students. Obviously, it hasn’t worked. Binge drinking remains a serious problem with long-term health implications. Colleges and localities need to look at enforcement rather than education. Enforcement doesn’t just start with busting frat parties. Fake IDs are a problem. Local bars appeal to college students and attempt to lure them in. Greek life has parties and most of the time no attempt is made to curtail underage drinking.
A dean at a major Midwest university tells people that when he talks to parents who are attempting to defend their child’s drinking habits he has to inform them that kids don’t have a drink or two like adults drink. These kids are tossing back shots and consuming multiple drinks in a short period of time. The object is to get extremely drunk or to black out.
Why would anyone want to be out of control like that? I fully admit to drinking a lot in college but not to the point of blacking out. After a few rounds worshiping at the porcelain thrown, I learned how horribly unpleasant drunkenness really is and I learned to stay in control. Don’t most people learn this lesson?
If colleges and universities are serious about ending sexual violence, they need address reporting sexual abuse AND address the drinking problem. They also have to be aware of unintended consequences: not all students will report if they feel that the college will be forced to report a sexual assault to police. Why? Often there are social reprisals for reporting a rape, especially if the rapist is a BMOC or popular. Additionally, girls often don’t want their parents to find out that they were raped. Rape is embarrassing and often cops and prosecutors make matters worse, especially if victim-blaming is involved. A prosecuting attorney always puts the victim on trial.
These are all issues our lawmakers need to think about before they do the knee-jerk reaction thing and enact legislation that might have unintended consequences.
Agree. I think it starts with the booze.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/erik-wemple/wp/2014/12/02/rolling-stone-whiffs-in-reporting-on-alleged-rape/?tid=pm_pop
Starry, there are several things about this story that I find problematic. For starters, I have a problem that Jackie refused/s to report her attack to authorities. I feel this leaves 7 rapists in the university community and the Charlottesville community at large. to do that is simply immoral.
I also felt the author’s prejudice against the Greek system. She also really failed to put her thumb on the pulse of the campus and the area in and around Charlottesville.
Does that mean a rape didn’t happen? No, not at all. Let’s put it this way, even if this incident was pure imagination, I feel confident it happened that way somewhere and the state of Virginia needs to sit up and take notice.
Let’s not forget that Hannah Graham was murdered while drunk and disoriented. Her alleged killer was sent home from two different Virginia colleges for sexual misconduct, probably sexual assault. Charges were never brought forth.
The common denominator for all of this behavior is alcohol abuse. College students don’t drink like the rest of us. They binge drink. 1800 die annually from alcohol poisoning. How many more die from traffic accidents, accidents in general, general stupidity where liquor isn’t given as the cause of death? How many sexual assaults start with misuse of alcohol? Probably 95% of them, conservatively speaking.
At least one conservative outlet is declaring the whole thing a hoax.
Why are they saying that? I believe that “Jackie” was sexually assaulted. Do I believe that everything that was reported was exactly how it went down? I am not sure. I expect a few things will come out.
I have heard all sorts of whining now about the lives of the young men. Their names were not released that I am aware of.
I know this existentially: some young men get overly aggressive when told no or when they aren’t getting their own way. I can think of 4 times that I ran into a problem there. No, not rape. Ugly situation, yes. Had others not been in close proximity, who knows.
UVA is also not the only place I ran into problems with aggressive men. Let’s not hang it all on UVA. In each and every case, alcohol was involved.
I used to read Rolling Stone when I was young. They published all kinds of stories that didn’t hold up under scrutiny. Usually with some exploitative angle. I’d rank them under the National Enquirer of being able to take their stories at face value.
The law being proposed does sound like a good idea though.
I believe it has gained more respectability in recent years. (sort of like the people of its generation)
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2014/12/04/the_u-va_rape_case_and_feminist_confusion___124845.html
I don’t have time to read the opinion in detail but I will. I think there is sensationalism in the original story but I think the core of it is correct, just perhaps not all the details. Why do I think that? I grew up in that town and I also dated there long before I was allowed to. You get the tone of things at an early age. Why do I think there was sensationalism? Some of it didn’t ring true to things I have known my entire life.
I want to bitch-slap Heather Wilheim. She trivialized a very serious issue. She wasn’t there and I am willing to bet she knows very little about the school, the students or the community.
I have the same complaint regarding “Jackie.” She leaves 7 potential rapists lose if she refuses to report them to authorities. On the other hand, who is to say how traumatized this young woman was I can’t imagine anyone going through half what she went through and not being horribly scarred.
We need to differentiate between stranger rape and date rape also. I expect that Jackie’s attackers were just young asses to a pledge assignment who had had too much to drink. I say “just” because somewhere out there there is someone on campus who isn’t JUST an ass. there is someone out there who is a Jesse Matthew, thrown out of two schools for sexual misconduct, never red-flagged as a rapist, and who in all probability went from just a young ass to a rapist killer. THAT is why we don’t trivialize such things, Miss Heather.
I think it starts with parents doing a poor job of raising their daughters to understand that just because the media and your peers say it’s “OK” to live a certain way, the choices are not without consequences, and “attitudes” are poor protecting from physical danger. Just because a woman SHOULD be free to walk across a crowded campus, or except a red solo-cup from a guy they just met, without fear of assault, doesn’t mean they actually ARE free to do so. Parents also do a poor job of combatting the influence these same conditions have on sons. Then you add the booze…and the “freedom” of co-ed campuses/dorms/bathrooms to this, and this is what you get. The person with the greatest responsibility for an individual’s personal safety is the individual themselves.
For the life of me, I will never see the attraction to co-ed dorms. Talk about a violation of personal space. Where can you go to sit in your underwear or just to have a skanky hair day. I would never want to live that way. I also don’t like the concept of open door privilege. It means that whatever bum someone who lives in your dorm drags home has free access to everyone else in that dorm.
I don’t think I could even lock my dorm door until senior year. The bathrooms were across the hall. Some of those girls dragged in some real toads…to the visiting area. I would hate to have thought any of them were there after closing. I don’t see those things as freedom. If you want freedom, get an apartment off campus.
Steve is right. Just because you should be able to walk across campus alone doesn’t mean you should do it. Common sense is always the best protection.
Tell that to a young relative of mine who was raped at a state college in Virginia by a rich townie brought back to the dorm by her roommate after midnight.
Tell what, to whom, and for what end? I’m sorry that your cousin was the victim of a sex crime, committed by a criminal, who was allowed into the residence by a woman who should have known better, and if I am reading your comment correctly, violated some policy regarding visitors to the dorm? That she should have an expectation of safety in the dorm, just as someone who is assaulted in their home should have an expectation of safety? What’s your point?
My point is that it’s easy to say that the greatest responsibility for one’s safety lies with that person but in many instances that absolutely is not the case. I’m sure that my relative who was sound asleep when her roommate brought two thugs into their dorm room should not have to accept any responsibility for those 3 persons’ actions.
I would agree. I hope there was a report filed, prosecutions, and her roommate expelled for negligently contributing to a crime.
Censored, what did happen to both the rapist and his enabler?
The first person she (my relative) called was her mother who talked to a lawyer and the school administration. I don’t know for sure if they went to the police. I know no indictment or trial resulted. She changed schools the next year. I suspect it was very much like the UVa case where the school tries to keep everything in house – particularly when wealthy donors are involved. It happened prior to schools having to report these incidents because I’ve tried to search it.
WTOP radio news afternoon of 12-5-2014: Rolling Stone magazine is backing away from their article on a frat gang rape at UVa. Sounds like they are using the same rationale advanced by the Washington Post. Too many holes in the story. Insufficient effort by the writer to find and interview the accused.
http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/business/2014/12/05/rolling-stone-retracts-uva-story/19954293/
Next fake rape story being debunked is Lena Dunham’s.
You know I am no fan of Lena Dunham. I just think she is gross.
I read the same at the WaPo, who also reported that many of the alleged victim’s “close personal friends who are also Anti-Rape Advocates” have come to doubt her story. Add to this the debunking of Lena Dunham’s “I was raped by a Republican in college” story, detailed in her recent auto-bio, Duke Lacrosse, and Twana Brawly back years ago…I have to question the veracity of these claims that are reported in the media first, before law enforcement gets involved. Look, I give the benefit of the doubt to any victim who reports an assault to the police. She (or He) knows that the police will investigate their account, as well as those of the accused (if known). But these cases where the media reports half-truths and innuendo, quote anonymous sources, when nothing is reported to law enforcement etc. aren’t really helping the situation. Look at the Duke Lacrosse players. Their lives were ruined for a time. Look at the turmoil occurring at UVA…what if the story turns out to have been a hoax? Where to the members of this frat go to get their reputations back?
I believe Rolling Stone shouldn’t have run an article centered mainly on one woman’s experience unless they’d done more fact checking of her particular story. However, I’m getting sick of hearing about the Duke Lacrosse team, Tawana Brawly, or Lena Dunham as though the false allegations against some men negate the under-reported attacks on women. Imagine yourself as an 18 or 19 year old kid away from your family and the subject of a rape. Hopefully, you’d go to the nearest emergency room, but you just might be in too much shock and embarrassed. Now think about the armed forces and the number of rapes – including those of males. How many males reported these attacks? And think about why they’re probably under-reported as well. For every Duke Lacrosse player who had to sit out a season, there are women, men, and kids who have to live with the memory of these attacks for a lifetime. Neither the false accusations or actual rapes are right, but there seems to be a lot of male focus just on the wrongly accused while failing to acknowledge the very large problem of male violence. I have 3 female siblings. Between the four of us there has been an attempted rape, a rape at gunpoint, 3 incidences of indecent exposure. This is what women in the United States experience in a microcosm. It makes cries of “Tawana Brawly” ring hollow when the larger issue isn’t addressed.
Excellent point, Censured.
I remember when a basketball player named Herman Veal was accused of raping a girl. He was their star player and every attempt possible was made to slut shame the girl who made the accusation. You know, it really shouldn’t matter. I can remember my husband being a part of that…going around making the door knob sign…you know…everybody gets a turn. I thought it was awful then and its still awful. I believe that the coach participated in finding out about the girl’s “reputation.”
What’s wrong with this picture? I believe if she was a prostitute, she shouldn’t be raped, anymore than a philanthropist should be robbed, just because he gives away money.