There’s a lot of heat on universities over claims they fail to take sexual assault seriously, but then you read something like this and it’s shocking this can happen to a student in America.
Why do universities use kangaroo courts for sexual assault claims? It’s a criminal – not civil – matter.
This male University of Virginia student, who did not use his name, has a compelling story to share (via the Cavalier Daily):
On October 3, 2013 at around 3:30 p.m., I was picked up during my class at Wilson Hall by two police officers. I found out that I had been charged with felony rape and abduction by an ex-girlfriend who claimed this event happened sometime between March 1 to June 1 of 2012 in a different part of Virginia without specifying an exact day or month. I was promptly arrested, put into the cruiser, and transported to the Charlottesville Regional Jail where I would spend four nights awaiting my bond hearing.
During my second day in jail at 12:40 p.m., I received a letter from Dean Groves.
I had been suspended from the University because, in his words, he was abiding to their responsibility to “maintain a safe and secure environment for all members of the community.” It said that I could not be allowed on Grounds without special permission and that I would be held on trial by the University Judiciary Committee even though the University had not even conducted a proper investigation of the matter themselves.
Upon being bailed out, I worked closely with my lawyer to prepare my defense. There was no telling how long the case could drag on for. The trial could be scheduled sometime in the spring of 2014 and I did not want to be gone from the University for that long.
I appealed to the University to reinstate me during the duration of my legal case on Tuesday, November 12th, 2013. I prepared a case that included documents that supported my innocence, about a dozen character letters, and six witnesses. I was brought forth before the University’s triumvirate of Vice-President Patricia M. Lampkin, Dean of Students Allen Groves, and Susan Davis, who is the Associate Vice President of Student Affairs.
I presented my documents, witnesses, and arguments before them. I answered their questions and after an hour of arguing for my reinstatement, Dean Groves asked whether there was any information I was not revealing, since it would be unusual for charges to be filed if there was not some kind of evidence against me.
There was the suspicion that I must be hiding something or perhaps that the prosecution had a stronger case than I expected. There was the idea that the police acted on good faith and would not go forward on an unsubstantiated accusation. There was the question of why would someone make a false accusation? Who would be stupid enough to put themselves in a situation where they would perjure themselves?
The charges were subsequently dropped three days later because the complainant’s statements at the preliminary hearing were inconsistent with facts of the case previously established during the investigation.
Like The College Fix on Facebook / Follow us on Twitter
IMAGE: Vector Portal / Flickr
Please join the conversation about our stories on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Reddit, MeWe, Rumble, Gab, Minds and Gettr.