Brown University Students (Rhode Island) Can Accuse Others of Sex Attacks Anonymously

 Brown University Students Can Accuse Others of Sex Attacks Anonymously

Brown University in Rhode Island first hit headlines over alleged assaults in the early 1990s

The Times by Will Pavia, New York

March 23 2021, 

[I made use of my two free Times articles a week, to view THIS article and to make a contribution to the Comments section. RC ]

A lavatory at Brown University once made headlines across America after women at the college began writing the names of men who had allegedly sexually assaulted them in a list on the wall.

The “rape list”, as it was called, appeared amid complaints from female students that administrators treated allegations as misunderstandings or indiscretions by “boys” who “do not know the rules yet”. It also prompted complaints from men who claimed that they had been anonymously slandered.

Three decades later Rhode Island’s oldest Ivy League university has set up an online reporting system in which students can make allegations of sexual assault or harassment anonymously to college officials. Some student groups say that it will encourage victims who might be reluctant to speak about their experience in person or over the phone.

“Anonymous denouncements,” Professor Nicholas Christakis, a sociologist and physician at Yale University, tweeted. “What could possibly go wrong?”

Professor Amna Khalid, a historian at Carleton College in Minnesota who writes about higher education, said: “It’s a way for some people to come forward with stories about what’s happened, but if they are going to name the person but not be willing to put their name forward then it could become a way of targeting people they don’t like.”

Brown said the system was “one additional mechanism through which community members can report incidents of sexual violence” and allowed for support to be offered even if there was no formal complaint. The system would also provide “as complete a picture as possible about alleged incidents”.

Extract from COMMENTS:

MQ

This looks on the surface to be outrageous, but may well be effective as long as the accusees remain anonymous as well. Ms. Alpha lodges a complaint against Mr. Beta. If, within a short time, another complaint is lodged against Mr. Beta, an investigation begins. It should at least be a deterrent for all but the most sex-crazed predators

Rory Connor - replying to MQ

(i) And what if Ms Alpha tells her friends MS Gamma, Delta, Epsilon etc what she has done and encourages them to make lying anonymous complaints against the same guy in support?  Will there be ANY stage at which the College authorities refer this to police as a criminal conspiracy? OR will they make a private decision to ignore complaints that seem frivolous?

(ii) There is also the question of libel - which doesn't necessarily mean a false allegation has to be broadcast to the nation. A female student who tells College authorities that she has been sexually assaulted by a male student at the same College, IS going to affect the attitude of the authorities to that student!  

Again this online accusation system is being set up for the benefit of female students at  "Rhode Island's oldest Ivy League University" too embarrassed to talk about sex. Should they be at University at all?