A Michigan State University student has written a letter to a campus newspaper, alleging that her partner was wrongly expelled for sexual assault.
The letter, written by an anonymous student who appears to be female, details the process that found her partner responsible, even though school administrators admitted there were procedural errors that led to the outcome.
Even more shocking, the author alleges her partner (apparently male) was denied counseling services when he was suicidal because his accuser “was also using those resources.”
The author, who identifies as a feminist, described how it was not only her partner’s life that has been devastated, but her own.
“My own life continues to be severely impacted by the investigation and the decision you made, as anything I participate in on campus now feels worthless if my partner cannot experience it with me,” she wrote. “I worry about seeing the claimant on campus. I have so far only seen them once, but I nearly collapsed onto the sidewalk as I was struck by a panic attack that left my legs weak and my head dizzy. It took me several hours to recover from the incident and I now avoid the area in which I saw them.”
Just to be clear: Her letter is not chiefly about her own pain, but that part illustrates the rippling effect that false accusations can have.
“We still believe sex is a transaction, with one party gaining something and the other party losing,” she wrote. “In this case, my partner engaged in mutually consensual and sober intercourse with the claimant and was assaulted by the claimant, but responsibility lies with my partner because of their gender. That is simply horrifying.”
In the comments section below the article, people questioned the validity of her claims. The student paper’s editor in chief, Olivia Dimmer, addressed these issues by writing she had confirmed the student status of the author, and had viewed official letters from campus officials proving the case described was real.
Dimmer also confirmed that campus administrators admitted “certain applicable procedures stated in University policies may not have been followed” in the case described.
This didn’t stop some commenters from claiming that by coming forward with a tale of a false accusation, the author was somehow “silencing the survivor.”
Another commenter argued that describing an experience with a false accusation does not negate an experience with sexual assault. Another suggested that there was no “survivor” in this case if it was indeed a false accusation. The author herself responded to many commenters, saying she initially believed the accuser but when she saw the “evidence” she realized that it was a false accusation and that the same evidence could have been used to suggest her accused partner was sexually assaulted by the accuser.
MSU has been especially under heavy pressure to find students responsible (regardless of the evidence), as it was recently found in violation of the anti-discrimination law known as Title IX for exercising what federal bureaucrats considered to be too much discretion. For example, MSU had dropped one investigation after the accuser refused to file a formal complaint. The Education Department faulted university staff even though they had provided the accuser options to seek counseling and helped her obtain a protective order against the accused student.
Sadly, the only way schools like MSU can keep the government off their backs is by finding more students guilty. At schools all over the nation, this has led to more cases like those of the letter writer’s partner.
When people aren’t informed of what’s really going on at campuses across the country, false accusations are able to flourish. A double standard exists by which accusers are not forced to provide evidence of an attack, but rather accused students must provide incontrovertible proof of their innocence.
Perhaps the attention this student’s letter receives will force the school to reopen the case. It likely will not, as the Education Department doesn’t appear to want to investigate a school twice on Title IX grounds. MSU remains free to ruin the life of an innocent student to appease activists.
Ashe Schow is a commentary writer for the Washington Examiner.
