Vassar, that quintessential liberal arts college – its homepage today features “a pivotal figure from Vassar’s LGBTQ history.”
Also, it’s a haven for rapists.
That’s the takeaway from a confused columnist – not even at Vassar, but the University of North Carolina’s Daily Tar Heel – who scolds the school for following due process.
Columnist Alice Wilder connects the new sexual-assault documentary The Hunting Ground – whose accuracy has already been questioned – with the months-old story of Vassar student Eleanor Amicucci, who wrote about Vassar’s alleged indifference to her rape accusations:
After the release of “The Hunting Ground,” some schools have made strides to prevent assault and respond appropriately when it occurs. But others, like Vassar, have continued to neglect survivors. It’s every student’s responsibility to pressure those schools to make a change.
Amicucci told me she still sees her assailant every day, causing her extreme anxiety.
She said none of the administrators who are aware of her case have even followed up to check on her. Regardless of whether they believe she was indeed assaulted, there’s no reason why they should neglect a student who is clearly in crisis. …
Vassar found her assailant not guilty. Amicucci has since appealed their ruling, but her appeal was unanimously rejected. She said that administrators at Vassar want to “quell complaints and maintain their image as a progressive and safe liberal arts college.”
Amicucci, by the way, admitted to drinking “one full water bottle of vodka” the evening in question. Her rape claim was based on her friend’s comment that his roommate – her accused rapist – knew she was extremely drunk at the time.
She claims the panel that heard her case judged the accused student not guilty because “there was [not] enough evidence to prove that my perpetrator was aware that I was incapable of consent.” (This is noteworthy because Vassar was actually sued by an accused student for how he was treated during the school’s rape investigation.)
Whatever happened – these investigations generally aren’t made public unless they are subject to outside litigation, and Amicucci hasn’t outed her alleged rapist so he can give his side – the panel appears to have followed due process. But that’s not the point for social justice warriors like the Daily Tar Heel‘s Wilder:
Whether the school in question is eight miles away or 570, it’s every student’s responsibility to keep putting pressure on schools to do whatever it takes to end assault on campus.
Even browbeat them for giving accused students some semblance of due process.
Read Wilder’s column and Amicucci’s “open letter.”
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