Columbia University rape protest - effing awesome.

[missanne]

This is awesome.

[styme46]

I love this! I hope Columbia will get their shit together now.

[Deleted]

I am so proud of that woman.

[lissaholly]

As a fellow student seeing this slight girl drag around a mattress would piss.me.off. I love that she is taking that private fear and projecting it outward into righteous anger.

[Deleted]

I love this. It's both interesting artistically and will create shame the hell out of Columbia.

I wonder how her thesis advisor is dealing with this.

[wambam]

I don't know how big Columbia's campus is. But if I tried to haul a mattress from one end of UK to the other, that would be a serious workout. Girl's awesome for doing this.

[spitforspat]

Wow- she's really inspiring.

[zoomzoom]

Wtf is wrong with that university? Especially when there are two other complaints against him? Good for her.

[kme]

Love this.

[zoomzoom]

"She also filed a police report, but Sulkowicz was treated abysmally – by the cops, and by a Columbia disciplinary panel so uneducated about the scourge of campus violence that one panelist asked how it was possible to be anally raped without lubrication."


What in the ever loving fuck does that even have to do with anything?  My god.  

[eddy]

You go girl.

[Deleted]

Sept 3, 2014 12:37:27 GMT -5 @booby said:

curious - why didn't the police charge him? i ask b/c i can't understand how this is the school's responsibility to discern/decide that yes, the accused is guilty. do they have the capability to do that (well, clearly not, give the comment re: anal rape and lubricant)?

School's have policies. So yes they have the capability to decide that someone committed rape or sexual assault and kick them out regardless of any criminal charges. 

[styme46]

Sept 3, 2014 12:42:19 GMT -5 @wandering said:

Sept 3, 2014 12:37:27 GMT -5 @booby said:

curious - why didn't the police charge him? i ask b/c i can't understand how this is the school's responsibility to discern/decide that yes, the accused is guilty. do they have the capability to do that (well, clearly not, give the comment re: anal rape and lubricant)?

School's have policies. So yes they have the capability to decide that someone committed rape or sexual assault and kick them out regardless of any criminal charges. 

And I would think that after THREE women filed cases against him, that they would do *something* about it.

[cville]

Sept 3, 2014 12:37:27 GMT -5 @booby said:

curious - why didn't the police charge him? i ask b/c i can't understand how this is the school's responsibility to discern/decide that yes, the accused is guilty. do they have the capability to do that (well, clearly not, give the comment re: anal rape and lubricant)?

Because they, too, are assholes:  america.aljazeera.com/watch/shows/america-tonight/articles/2014/5/19/why-college-rapevictimsdonatgotothepolice.html 


As for the school, at least where I went to school, committing a crime is in some instances grounds for expulsion (and things that do not rise to the level of crimes also can be).  I presume she pursued both parallel tracks.

[cinnamoncox]

I'm saddened by what she went through, and is continuing to have to go through, but good for her for doing this. I hope he is charged.

[eddy]

Schools have a responsibility to make sure students feel safe. This is why it falls into the schools lap to kick out a student who violated student code of conduct.

I also think it says the woman did go to the police.

[cinnamoncox]

I would have to look it up for specifics, but I heard Wendy Murphy (?) on Boston Public Radio once speaking about this particular issue (college campus sex crimes and who investigates etc) and it was confusing and even Marjorie Egan (sp?), who I believe is an attorney, was having a hard time really grasping it as well.
Marjorie's point was, a crime is committed, why aren't the city police where the crime was committed tasked with investigating and the answer was so far from black and white I couldn't keep up.

So there's an answer (at least in MA) but it's confusing as hell.

I will look on BPR website to see if I can find info. It was last spring I want to say.

[5thofjuly]

Sept 3, 2014 12:46:21 GMT -5 @booby said:

someone on buzzfeed just said something about there beig cops at school. or that campus police are actual police. they are not real cops in canada. they are rent-a-cops, aka, glorified mall security. that's my frame of reference, lol.

anyway, not that it matters in the end, but i'd be interested in knowing why the police (outside of the school) did not pursue criminal charges.

It depends on the university. At some schools the campus police are sworn officers. At others, they're campus security, which is akin to a private security force.

Adding on- I will tell you that I sit on one of these investigative boards and the message we've gotten is, "Take this seriously and dole out serious punishments- if you're not planning on expelling someone you believe is guilty of rape, what on earth are you saving that punishment for?" I'm sure each university has its own culture, though.

[NothingWrongwithOhio]

Sept 3, 2014 12:46:21 GMT -5 @booby said:

someone on buzzfeed just said something about there beig cops at school. or that campus police are actual police. they are not real cops in canada. they are rent-a-cops, aka, glorified mall security. that's my frame of reference, lol.

anyway, not that it matters in the end, but i'd be interested in knowing why the police (outside of the school) did not pursue criminal charges.

It's different from place to place. Where I went to college, there was Public Safety, like rent-a-cops. BIL goes to a crazy big school where the college IS the town and they have real police.

[anonymous]

Sept 3, 2014 12:37:27 GMT -5 @booby said:

curious - why didn't the police charge him? i ask b/c i can't understand how this is the school's responsibility to discern/decide that yes, the accused is guilty. do they have the capability to do that (well, clearly not, give the comment re: anal rape and lubricant)?

I was sexually assaulted at college and they also had this sort of disciplinary board.  Not surprisingly he was found not guilty. 

[Gato]

This article describes in detail the process at another college campus, and it's depressing.  I truly hope universities address this seriously before my daughters enroll.

[Deleted]

Take note Celo Green

"The legislation additionally clarifies that affirmative consent means both parties must be awake, conscious and not incapacitated from alcohol or drugs – and that past sexual encounters or a romantic relationship doesn’t imply consent. The California bill also, importantly, specifies that “lack of protest or resistance does not mean consent, nor does silence mean consent”."
I hope this legislation passes. It would seem like real progress to me.

[Deleted]

Sept 3, 2014 12:58:43 GMT -5 5thofjuly said:

Sept 3, 2014 12:46:21 GMT -5 @booby said:

someone on buzzfeed just said something about there beig cops at school. or that campus police are actual police. they are not real cops in canada. they are rent-a-cops, aka, glorified mall security. that's my frame of reference, lol.

anyway, not that it matters in the end, but i'd be interested in knowing why the police (outside of the school) did not pursue criminal charges.

It depends on the university. At some schools the campus police are sworn officers. At others, they're campus security, which is akin to a private security force.

Adding on- I will tell you that I sit on one of these investigative boards and the message we've gotten is, "Take this seriously and dole out serious punishments- if you're not planning on expelling someone you believe is guilty of rape, what on earth are you saving that punishment for?" I'm sure each university has its own culture, though.

 Typically, if the school is a state entity (think state U), their will be a state police force of sanctioned, sworn officers. If not, schools provide "security."