Suppose your college suddenly were the subject of a viral video in which a former student (recently transferred) alleged a sexual assault by a co-worker who is still employed as a tutor on your campus. She gives her name as well as that of the alleged assailant and provides the date and place of the assault – the livestock care facility. Her account has the ring of truth, and we know that false accusations of rape are very rare.
Your administration issues a no-comment statement and then, under pressure, a statement that both the campus and the local sherriffs thoroughly investigated the allegations. It “cares deeply” about protecting students but also must protect the privacy of its employees.
Your administration has not seemed particularly above board in any of its dealings with faculty or students.
The tutoring program is housed is in your college. A rally in support of the accuser is planned there.
Would you go?
Unless I had some reason to believe that I was going to be involved administratively such that I needed to maintain some distance/neutrality, probably.
ReplyDeleteI can't think of any work-related reason not to attend.
ReplyDeleteTo be perfectly honest (with myself as much as anyone else), probably not. But that's because I'm the sort of academic who tends to overthink things, and wants to have all the facts, and understand all the angles of a situation, before I take a position. Perhaps also because I've had some experience with a person who is outright delusional, and makes accusations that (s)he genuinely believes to be true, but aren't (I'm not saying that that's true in this case, or in most cases of rape accusations, just that I'm not comfortable making the jump from "false accusations of rape are very rare" -- an assertion I accept as almost certainly true, though admittedly hard ot measure/prove -- to "this accusation of rape is true"). I'm also really leery of getting caught up in crowd phenomena, including "viral" anything.
ReplyDeleteBut I'm not sure whether any of the above counts as a good reason to skip the rally, as opposed to a rationalization for doing so. After all, even if this particular case turns out to be more complicated than is suggested in the video, rape is a real problem on campus (and so, often, is administrative transparency, or lack thereof).
I'm also not sure if my answer would be different if the self-identified victim had not named her alleged attacker. That's another thing that sets off my radar somewhat, but which I can also see some good reasons to do. Ditto for taking the story public after not getting a satisfactory resolution by going through formal channels, especially when the accused rapist is in a position of trust/access to other potential victims.
And I'd also be more likely to end up going if a number of other members of my department were going, and urged me to do so (which makes my "I don't like getting caught up in crowd phenomena" statement above more than a bit hypocritical).
In short, this is the sort of situation with which I don't deal particularly well, and about which I can (apparently) dither at some length. The habit of looking for all available information, considering all possible angles, noting unresolvable gaps and uncertainties, etc., etc. is useful in some situations (e.g. being a traditional academic researcher), but it does tend to impede activism (including much-needed activism).
My take is similar for this particular case in that I don't feel I know enough facts. Although I've read that 96% of accusations of rape are true, I still want to keep an open mind till due process is served.
DeleteI would attend without hesitation a rally to:
* support all victims of sexual violence.
* protest a culture that forgives rapists or blames victims.
* denounce a system that gathers evidence only to support a preconceived verdict or that actively hides it.
* denounce a system that protects convicted rapists more than their accusers.
* denounce a system that lacks checks and balances sufficient for me to trust it.
I just checked out the youtube page, and see that the rally in question is calling for similar things. (I'll defer watching the video for now.)
When I find myself thinking that the protesters should not be calling for removal of specific individuals, I realize I'm tone policing. On the flipside I think it's important for individuals in certain positions to understand that their performance profoundly affects other people, and if that's not enough of a motivator in itself, then operating in bad faith should have unpleasant consequences for them. So I might go to this one.
Amen to the bullet points (and the rest).
DeleteI don't know. Like CC I tend to over-think things and would be in data-gathering mode first... But I had a friend raped in college (and nothing was done) so am sympathetic and would lean towards going. But, I am horrified to realize, I also thought "would this f-up my chance at tenure." I HATE that that occurred to me...
ReplyDeleteIf that were really the extent of knowledge on campus: yes, I'd go.
ReplyDeleteIt's true that sometimes there are wild accusations from students, but usually these have got some signature hallmarks; the student is usually striking out with increasingly wild behavior it other ways. (It's important to keep in mind that schizophrenia is not uncommon and that symptoms tend to show up around 17-19 years of age.)
But that kind of stuff has a way of getting known. So, I'd be inclined to believe that there was something fishy going on, and would be likely to support the rally.
Actually GOING to the rally? Well, it would have to happen on a day when I wasn't teaching or madly getting ready to teach.. so... no.
If that were really the extent of knowledge on campus: yes, I'd go.
ReplyDeleteIt's true that sometimes there are wild accusations from students, but usually these have got some signature hallmarks; the student is usually striking out with increasingly wild behavior it other ways. (It's important to keep in mind that schizophrenia is not uncommon and that symptoms tend to show up around 17-19 years of age.)
But that kind of stuff has a way of getting known. So, I'd be inclined to believe that there was something fishy going on, and would be likely to support the rally.
Actually GOING to the rally? Well, it would have to happen on a day when I wasn't teaching or madly getting ready to teach.. so... no.
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ReplyDeleteA badly written ad for a plagiarism service? Please don't delete this, Fab!
ReplyDeleteNo comment on the OP. As usual, Cassandra has expressed my thoughts far more articulately than I would have.
Maybe neutralize the link. Agreed that it is just too funny to eliminate outright.
Delete"wonderful article it is very help to take more information quality thesis"
Yup, still funny.
Also agreed that Cassandra, and others here, can summarize my thoughts so well that sometimes the most I can do is sit dumbstruck before the monitor screen and simply point at it.
DeleteHah! (and thanks; I wondered a bit whether I was going to get blasted for my waffling on this one. I should have known better.)
DeleteI got a chance to watch the video (I hadn't before; should have said that more clearly), and I must say, though it doesn't change my basic answer, I find the young woman's story -- especially the part about the young man becoming fixated on her hijab and/or taking it as some kind of a challenge -- all too plausible. Of course, we haven't heard his version of the story, but, based on hers, my main question was whether he was someone with severe difficulty reading social cues (which doesn't change his culpability -- no means no, and by her account, she said no, more than once) or a predator who knew just how far he could go in creating the maximum amount of fear/humiliation/feeling of violation while leaving the minimum amount of physical evidence. Either way, it sounds like an awful experience for her, and I admire her ability to tell it, forthrightly and factually.
ReplyDeleteAt the same time, I have some sympathy for administrators who may have found themselves with a conflicting narrative from him, and little to no additional evidence to help them decide between the two. The main evidence that might tip the balance in favor of believing her would be if other women reported similar experiences with him. That's an argument in favor of reporting such incidents to the school, and the school keeping records (as in the case of another often-serial offence; plagiarism), even if it can't come to a conclusion based on one incident. And I suppose that might also be an argument for going public (a la the multiple accusers of a certain once-beloved father-figure and jello-monger, who gain credibility by their sheer numbers and the strong parallels between their accounts). At the very least, the young woman, by making her account public, may have provided some protection to others (whether the young man is dangerously clueless -- in which case I hope someone close to him will sit him down and help him understand the line between appropriate and inappropriate sexual behavior -- or a predator -- in which case maybe he will hesitate to try the same thing again in the same place, or even elsewhere, knowing his name is publicly attached to this account).
But I can also see why the university might not be able to accede to the demands which the rally is apparently intended to support. I suspect there's an added layer of complexity created by the fact that the accused is not only a student of the university, but also an employee, apparently of a centralized service many other students would have reason to use. That both increases the number of reasons for the university to have to respect his privacy, and increases the potential harm he might do. Ugh.
And in related news: the man accused by the woman who has been carrying a mattress around Columbia University to call attention to the problem of rape and what she sees as the university's mishandling of her own case has sued the university (but not his accuser). That strikes me as another pretty good indication of just how complicated these situations can get.