Campus sexual assault is rarely black and white

Published October 1, 2015 5:00am ET



This shouldn’t need to be said, but accusations of campus sexual assault are rarely black and white; rather, they usually include some shades of gray.

Proponents of draconian campus sexual assault rules like to cite examples that no one would disagree is sexual assault. During an annual gathering for the American Law Institute, New York University law professor Stephen Schulhofer described the need to overhaul rape law using the example of a passed out co-ed. He suggested that if a woman drank heavily at a party and passed out, and a man came up to penetrate her with his finger, it would not be considered a crime. It actually is a crime, but no one hearing a story like that would think otherwise anyway.

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