To the Editor:
In Amanda Cohen '09's series of articles on sexual abuse, she highlights the steps the College has taken to address rape on campus. While sexual abuse is a problem at Dartmouth, I question the role the College has taken to address it.
Rape is a crime and should be handled as such. Reported crimes should be handed over to the police for investigation and school involvement should end there. The College, however, believes it has the ability to appropriately investigate and internally adjudicate sexual abuse better than the police and state law.
Proponents of the current school policy argue that internal adjudication allows a middle ground for victims who want justice but do not want to revisit a painful issue in the courtroom.
They also claim that College rather than state involvement is preferable because they seek to limit permanent damage to the accused.
I do not believe the middle ground that both of these arguments seek can exist with rape. If a crime was committed, both the victim and the College have the responsibility to have the alleged student prosecuted under the law.
An assault dealt with internally due to the victim's (understandable) desire to avoid revisiting the issue may remove the problem from our community but fails to protect women outside of Dartmouth.
Independent from the criminal justice system, Dartmouth uses its own lower standard of "preponderance of evidence" by which a student's guilt is decided.
I believe it is dangerous for any institution to impose judgment on such a serious crime and to try a serious sexual assault in the same forum used to adjudicate alcohol offenses and property damage on campus.
While the lax burden of proof required by Dartmouth's judicial policy may find guilty some not punished by the criminal justice system, it also has a higher incidence of wrongful conviction of innocent students.
Sexual assault is a difficult problem that needs to be stopped and the College is right to take measures to prevent this crime in our community.
However, in the zeal to protect victims from sexual assault, the College policy of using a private adjudication system may prevent the larger community from prosecuting these crimes through the criminal justice system while also exposing innocent people to stigmatization due to the lower burden of proof.
