In a response to an article about victims’ advocacy groups opposing a congressional bill that would promote more police involvement in campus sexual assault accusations, a spokesman for Rep. Matt Salmon, R-Ariz., provided the perfect summation of the current climate.
Salmon, the lead sponsor of the Safe Campus Act, has been arguing that police — not campus administrators — should be the ones handling accusations of felonies. Opponents of the bill claim it would have a chilling effect on reporting (more on the misinformation about this bill later).
“Colleges and universities are institutions of higher education. They are not investigatory bodies, law enforcement professionals, nor are they a part of the judicial system established and guaranteed by our Constitution,” said Tristan Daedalus, Salmon’s spokesman. “The Safe Campus Act mandates that institutions of higher learning follow the same laws as off-campus landlords, religious institutions, private sector employers, and government agencies when dealing with the heartbreaking consequences of rape and sexual assault in our society.”
He added: “The suggestion that university deans and professors are somehow better equipped to end sexual assault than law enforcement, judges, and juries is bizarre to say the least.”
Currently, colleges and universities are adjudicating campus sexual assault claims as if they are law enforcement, and accused students are often denied constitutional due process protections such as the right to legal representation or even the ability to see the evidence (or lack thereof) against them.
Further, students who are found responsible of sexual assault — a felony — are being expelled. If they are indeed the rapists that activists claim they are, this is a woefully inadequate punishment, as they are then free to prey upon nonstudents. But if they are not the rapists activists claim, then expulsion is a severe overreaction. Salmon’s spokesman agreed.
“Rep. Salmon believes offenders who commit rape should be punished to the fullest extent of the law, not only so that justice is done on behalf of the victim, but also so that the predator is taken off the streets and unable to perpetrate additional sexual assaults in the future,” Daedalus said. “Allowing rapists to roam our streets because they happen to commit their crime in a dorm room on campus instead of in an alleyway downtown only perpetuates the culture of turning a blind eye to serious crimes against women.”
Those writing and advocating against the bill have claimed that it prohibits schools from taking an active role in preventing or responding to accusations of campus sexual assault. The bill actually allows schools to impose interim sanctions against accused students (including the rescheduling of classes, moving dorms or no-contact orders) while the police investigation is taking place. Schools would not be able to investigate or discipline an accused student if the accusation fell under the criminal definition of sexual assault but the student didn’t want to involve the police.
And in fact, law enforcement would be notified only if the accuser wanted. At that point a school could not begin its own investigation or disciplinary hearing for 30 days while law enforcement collected evidence and investigated. During those 30 days the school could still impose the above interim measures and could also suspend the accused student for 15 days if he is deemed a threat to campus safety. That 15-day suspension could be extended for additional periods (each one up to 30 days), but extensions would require a hearing (which could occur alongside the police investigation).
After the 30 days allowed for a police investigation (they might not need that much time), the school can begin its own investigation, provided police don’t request additional time to investigate. This would get police involved but also force them to act quickly. One of the chief concerns of activists is that police investigations take too long. This bill could help speed that along.
Here’s the other thing about this bill: Schools can still have their own investigations and disciplinary hearings, but they have to provide adequate due process protections for accusers and accused students. Those protections include allowing both parties to be represented by lawyers (the students have to pay for their own attorneys), cross-examination and providing both parties with all material evidence. The bill would also ensure that the campus administrators investigating and adjudicating campus sexual assault do not have conflicts of interest by performing multiple rules (such as victim advocacy in tandem with prosecution).
You can read the bill for yourself here.
