But I'm glad I won't ever live in a dorm.

Ps. What kind of quack was that doctor? Goodness.

Last edited Wed Oct 24, 2012, 01:22 AM - Edit history (1)

But too many of them take the attitude "Oh well, this patient is crazy, so nothing she says can be trusted". The most nightmarish night of my life was the one I voluntarily checked into a mental hospital suffering from a near-suicidal depression because I'd just lost my job and was in danger of losing everything else because of a false-positive drug test. I actually had two doctors come straight out and say "Well you must have done something wrong, or they wouldn't have fired you". Not that the lab was using an unreliable test (which they were), or that some technician had mixed up the samples.

The next morning I pretended that everything was just yippy-skippy and I was fine now, and checked myself out again, thinking "I may be a little nuts, but those people are batshit!"* If I'd had to stay there any longer, I really would have been certifiable.

Really, the only thing I could compare it to was being in some red Chinese re-education camp, or locked up in a Soviet era psych hospital, where you start to question your own grip on reality. I can totally understand why some people wind up confessing to crimes they haven't committed, when everyone around them insists that they have.

Edited to add: when I said batshit, I was referring to some of the staff, not the patients. They were just screwed up people who needed help, and too many of them weren't getting it.

It was like she was in some kind of totalitarian re-education camp. Not allowed to leave until she had thoroughly ingested the party line and was of no danger to the reputation of the institution.

I read a book recently about a woman who was raped on a college campus back in the 80's and how she was treated (very similarly but at a different university), and how the horrific crime came back to haunt her life many years later. It was "Crash Into Me" by Liz Seccuro. The similarity in the actions of the colleges these women attended once they told of their rape is so similar that it makes me wonder if there isn't a book out there somewhere on how to shut up a co-ed that wants to dare to demand justice and decent treatment after her rape instead of blaming herself and keeping quiet like a good little girl.

Disgusting!

This isn't the first story I've heard where the college was allowed to handle the matter themselves. Wouldn't this be a matter for the police and state prosecutors? When did colleges stop being subject to state sexual assault laws? What am I missing here? I never attended so maybe someone who did can clue me in?

Underage drinking being one example. If we ever tried to prosecute every kid whom the school became aware of possessing alcohol under the age.
But once you start hiding the Drunk and Disorderly it becomes easier for some to justify hiding more serious crimes. Protecting the kids, school and alumni reputations all part of the supposed justification. And that doesn't even address attempts by some to hide the stats over fears it will reduce future enrollments.

but this is a felony charge.

That's sad.

For instance, this paragraph:

Amherst has almost 1800 students; last year alone there were a minimum of 10 sexual assaults on campus. In the past 15 years there have been multiple serial rapists, men who raped more than five girls, according to the sexual assault counselor. Rapists are given less punishment than students caught stealing. Survivors are often forced to take time off, while rapists are allowed to stay on campus. If a rapist is about to graduate, their punishment is often that they receive their diploma two years late.

otherwise should have to be reported to the non-campus police. That should be a federal law, and any administrators violating it should face both obstruction of justice charges and be charged as an accessory after the fact for any non-reported crime.

That will jumpstart us on the way to stopping at least the increased instances of sexual assault at colleges vs the general population.

no crime occurred. I should clarify my original comment that any allegation that could be construed to suggest a violent crime may have occurred, including all variations of sexual assault, should be mandatory to report to off campus law enforcement authorities.

There should be no wiggle room where administrations can say "I didnt think she was telling the truth"