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    TaloolahAnna Merlan
    2/18/16 11:15am

    Can someone please explain what the benefit is ove investigating sexual assault without involving law enforcement? Other than just protecting the university itself.

    Side note: I was raped in college in the 1980s and the path for me to report it thru the university was incomprehensible. And when I went to the police, I was told to consider carefully if I wanted to report because basically “everyone will know it was you.” And let the icky memories flow...

    Nowadays I would choose a different route and report it, go on the news, buy a billboard, print up TShirts - all emblazoned with his name.

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      infundibulumTaloolah
      2/18/16 11:28am

      If the police decide, for whatever reason, not to move on the case, a victim can have recourse through the university. For example, many rape cases filed with the state don’t even result in charges being filed, and there are many reasons for that. Universities can have different standards of evidence, which might allow the accused to be moved from their housing or forced to drop a class they share with the victim so that the victim can continue their education.

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      bellewether8Taloolah
      2/18/16 11:40am

      Some survivors strongly prefer that law enforcement not be involved - legal prosecution is basically a commitment of multiple years of your life, re-telling your story a half dozen times, and probably everything becoming public even if everything goes as it is supposed to. Some people just want to not have to see the person on campus and be done with it, or even just want an acknowledgement or apology and to be done with it. I don’t think either path is very good really - right now we have no effective way of dealing with the aftermath of sexual assault in any institution, so I guess I’m in favor of at least survivors having options. It all sucks.

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    JujyMonkey: Clever tagline goes hereAnna Merlan
    2/18/16 10:44am

    Meanwhile, the Associated Press reports, it’s having other ripple effects: IU has ordered a review of 18 student sexual misconduct cases Casares was involved in hearing.

    That’s at least a positive aspect to the story; any idea if these 18 cases were flagged in particular, or just to determine if there was a pattern of bias?

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      AmandaJujyMonkey: Clever tagline goes here
      2/18/16 11:10am

      I go to IU, and I know that many people have spoken out for years about his mishandling of cases. He would show favor toward the accused, and there was a lot of victim blaming. He was not a well liked guy.

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      Inside jokeJujyMonkey: Clever tagline goes here
      2/18/16 11:37am

      Hey, remember last time when you had that incredibly painful experience, and we completely blew it? We’re going to try again. Only this time all the evidence is stale, we don’t have any jurisdiction to punish the perpetrator, and we already told all your friends you were lying.

      I eagerly look forward for justice to be served this time, now that the right administrators are investigating, when they have time between figuring out what room psych 101 should meet in (the one with 15 desks, duh) without the involvement of law enforcement.

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    Joseph FinnAnna Merlan
    2/18/16 12:21pm

    As student conduct officials, they knew how to investigate sexual assault without the involvement of law enforcement.

    WARNING WARNING WARNING.

    ‘Cause c’mon, there is no such thing. Not bringing in law enforcement in a case of assault, sexual or otherwise, is pretty much attempting to sweep it under the rug.

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      PetesDragonJoseph Finn
      2/18/16 3:21pm

      Sometimes the student victim will not go to the police, no matter what advisors tell her. Even if the victim does go to the police, it’s often a long drawn-out process. Student judicial proceedings can help temporarily suspend the accused, in some cases, or assure that the accused is no longer living in her dorm or in her class, for example. Those things can happen much quicker using the student code of conduct every college student agrees to be bound by at every university.

      The university judicial affairs and student affairs people are professionals. They SHOULD know what to do from their education and training. Sadly, it doesn't mean they always do it.

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      Joseph FinnPetesDragon
      2/18/16 3:29pm

      All of this is correct. I’m talking about the attitude of treating things internally as a matter of course instead of reporting crimes to the police. If the student doesn’t want to press charges, all well and good, but not doing your duty and reporting a crime as a matter of policy? Hell no.

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    LaurenHorowitzAnna Merlan
    2/18/16 10:48am

    Based on the actions of the ASCA member who supposedly oversees the student conduct office at my university, I am not at all surprised. No, wait, I am, only in that he hasn’t been so accused yet. He does things like allow for rapists to finish out semesters before beginning their suspensions. This may seem reasonable if the accusation or trial happens in November or December for a fall case, or April for spring, but really what happened is that the accusation was made in March, the ‘investigation’ took the rest of the spring semester, the conduct hearing wasn’t until school started back in September, the guy was guilty as sin, and then was allowed to finish out the semester before being expelled. Which meant that the victim had to endure one and a half semesters of being in the same very small major with the rapist (who had a record at the school, hence expulsion and not mere suspension) before the punishment commenced.

    Anyway, to reveal more is sorta like doxing myself or the douche canoe at my university, because he has held positions of power within ASCA. The other conduct officer at my university, who oversees our branch campus, cannot stand this guy and wants him audited. Sadly I don’t think that will happen :(

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      VirginialoveshercurvesLaurenHorowitz
      2/18/16 10:58am

      Your friend should contact the Office of Civil Rights because the length that the investigation took is way far out of the guidelines for how to manage these cases and she potentially has a case for creating a sexually hostile environment leaving him in school for that long. I mean, I could see giving the kid his money back if you're kicking him out just to get him out of your hair, but not allowing him to finish the semester.

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    JamoolnuckAnna Merlan
    2/18/16 3:15pm

    I’m confused - these two people are not students are this was not on campus. Why wasn’t this just handled as sexual assault by the police? Why would ASCA be allowed to have anything to do with this at all?

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      PetesDragonJamoolnuck
      2/18/16 3:23pm

      ASCA is a trade association, basically. All they should be doing is kicking Casares out.

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      PetesDragonJamoolnuck
      2/18/16 6:36pm

      The Ft. Worth police have an open investigation into this.

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    DR honkhonkhonk, tyvmAnna Merlan
    2/18/16 10:44am

    Really hard to read this and not come away with a strong feeling of Schroedinger’s rapist. For fuck’s sake, if nothing else, why doesn’t HE KNOW BETTER by now?

    Oh wait, maybe after probably adjudicating a bunch of panels in favor of perpetrators, he’s got the hang of how easy it is to not be held to account.

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      MostlyKelp ( Now, you people get that oven, or die trying. You hear that, Stormy? DIE.)Anna Merlan
      2/18/16 10:42am

      He did do something. He took a bunch of condoms and refilled the jar at the school clinic, all the while muttering “no babies, no babies”

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        JujyMonkey: Clever tagline goes hereAnna Merlan
        2/18/16 12:14pm

        Interesting. Anything that you can share without doxxing yourself or anyone else? Not being salacious, just curious about a first hand account.

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          LadyGrinningSoulAnna Merlan
          2/18/16 10:42am

          I’m really not surprised by this, but I am incredibly sadden by it.

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            Inside jokeAnna Merlan
            2/18/16 11:32am

            [quote]As student conduct officials, they knew how to investigate sexual assault without the involvement of law enforcement[/quote]

            Trust us. As college administrators we’re expert criminal investigators. We’ve watched, like all the SVU episodes. And if we blow it, well, you can complain to your student life liaison, who can complain to his supervisor, who can buttonhole the dean at a cocktail party, who can get the president’s attention, who can raise the issue at the next regents meeting, currently scheduled for 2021.

            I get that colleges are trying to do the right thing here, but it’s time to admit that they’re barely competent to investigate plagerism. They shouldn’t be trusted with stringing the police tape when a serious crime occurs.

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