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College Rape Survivor Faces Potential Expulsion


NotALoserLikeYou

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...For intimidating her [alleged] rapist.

http://jezebel.com/5986693/college-rape ... her-rapist

Last month, former University of North Carolina assistant dean of students Melinda Manning, three students and one former student filed a complaint with the U.S. Department of Education's Office of Civil Rights on behalf of themselves and 64 other unnamed sexual assault survivors, alleging that university officials pressured Manning into underreporting cases and violated the Campus Sexual Assault Victims' Bill of Rights, the Clery Act and the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA), and equal opportunity mandates under Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, Titles VI and VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act.

Now sophomore Landen Gambill, one of the students named in the case, says she's being punished by the Office of Student Conduct for "intimidating" her rapist by speaking to the press about her sexual assault.

Landen said that she attended a preliminary Honor Court meeting and asked whether she could have violated the Honor Code simply by saying she was raped; the answer was yes.
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What is an honor court? I have told my daughters that if they are raped on campus or have trouble with anyone to report to the local police station and not campus security. I sure as hell wouldn't tell them to go to an honor court. Do the students have to use the honor court? Allegations of rape and stalking should be handled by the authorities outside of the university.

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She was reprimanded by the college 3 times for violating their honor code (by publicly claiming she was raped by another student) so she must now appear before this honor court, that the school provides.

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What is an honor court? I have told my daughters that if they are raped on campus or have trouble with anyone to report to the local police station and not campus security. I sure as hell wouldn't tell them to go to an honor court. Do the students have to use the honor court? Allegations of rape and stalking should be handled by the authorities outside of the university.

An Honor Court is usually a student run group responsible for hearing misconduct cases against students and determining what, if any, university-centered punishment the student should face. I'm a UNC alumnae and current UNC employee. The UNC honor court handles academic misconduct cases (violations of the Honor Code) as well as criminal/social misconduct cases where another UNC student was the victim (violations of the Campus Code). Honor court cases for Campus Code violations can be carried out parallel to criminal charges. For example, if a student is accused of assaulting another student, they face criminal charges and the associated consequences. They may also face honor court charges, with the potential for suspension/expulsion. If the victim of assault was not a UNC student or employee, then the honor court isn't involved. It is possible, though not likely, that a student could be found guilty in one court but not the other.

It is also possible to carry out an honor court case without a parallel criminal case. There is speculation that the university has discouraged assault victims from filing criminal charges and funneled them to the honor court instead, which would keep the universities assault numbers low.

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http://www.dailytarheel.com/article/201 ... on-assault

From January to August, all cases were heard by a special University Hearings Board, a panel consisting of two Honor Court students, two faculty members and one administrative chair.

Some students whose cases were heard by that hearings board say their experiences were inappropriate — rich with insensitive questioning, unequal treatment and blatant violations of rights.

“It’s incredibly clear that those people had no idea what sexual assault is, what consent is,†said Landen Gambill, a sophomore whose assault case was processed by interim procedures.

“They were not only offensive and inappropriate, but they were so victim-blaming.

“They made it seem like my assault was completely my fault.â€

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An Honor Court is usually a student run group responsible for hearing misconduct cases against students and determining what, if any, university-centered punishment the student should face. I'm a UNC alumnae and current UNC employee. The UNC honor court handles academic misconduct cases (violations of the Honor Code) as well as criminal/social misconduct cases where another UNC student was the victim (violations of the Campus Code). Honor court cases for Campus Code violations can be carried out parallel to criminal charges. For example, if a student is accused of assaulting another student, they face criminal charges and the associated consequences. They may also face honor court charges, with the potential for suspension/expulsion. If the victim of assault was not a UNC student or employee, then the honor court isn't involved. It is possible, though not likely, that a student could be found guilty in one court but not the other.

It is also possible to carry out an honor court case without a parallel criminal case. There is speculation that the university has discouraged assault victims from filing criminal charges and funneled them to the honor court instead, which would keep the universities assault numbers low.

Thanks. I don't think that sexual assault charges should be handled by the honor court. The security police should transport the victim immediately to the local ER and call Chapel Hill's police.

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Yes, it's true that there is reason to believe that these women were encouraged not to report the rape to the police, but to be "assured" that Honor Court would handle it. Removing the rapist/assailant from campus or punishing them from the university's end would be an action of honor court. I am glad the women were courageous enough to come forward and file a case with the former Dean Manning, and I hope Chapel Hill pays for this big time.

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Wait. Is UNC a state school? It's not a religious school even, is it? Their site is messing up for me when I try to find out.

It's a state school. No religious affiliation.

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All universities receiving public funds have a duty to respond to student on student sexual assaults as part of Title IX, in addition to whatever criminal proceedings are happening. A Dear Colleague letter went out in spring 2011 basically stating that all sexual assaults are a form of sexual harassment and therefore discrimination and that the university would be in danger of a Title IX violation if it does not respond to any sexual assaults against students that they know, or should know, about. Of course, it is completely inappropriate for the school to discourage reporting to legal authorities, but that explains why the school's honor court is dealing with this at all. Most universities have added these claims/proceedings to whatever student conduct board they already had.

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Rape = crime --> local police. Period. The university/honor board/OWM can do/say whatever they like. A crime was committed; campus security is not equipped to deal with this, and committee meetings imply and/or enforce the charming notion that this is some sort of disagreement or unpleasant breach of manners that civilized people should be able to just chat about and everything will be hunky-dory. If I were that girl's mother a lawsuit would already have been filed, a biiiiiiig one. And a complaint re the Title IX violation.

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The idea is supposed to be that that university, having a lower standard of proof, can take action even when there is not enough proof for criminal charges. If a judge doesn't feel it is appropriate to issue a restraining order, the university, through these proceedings, can still order that, on campus, the university can expel the aggressor, or order him/her to change class schedules to be kept away from the victim. The systems are supposed to parallel each other, much like the fact that a rapist can be criminally charged with rape, and then civilly sued for battery for the same event. The different systems have different goals, and the university's actions here are reprehensible because involvement in one system should not preclude involvement in any of the others. Because yes, absolutely, rape=crime=police. But rape also = gender discrimination, which the university has a duty to respond to.

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Thanks. I don't think that sexual assault charges should be handled by the honor court. The security police should transport the victim immediately to the local ER and call Chapel Hill's police.

If the university hasn't gone after him, she probably has a case against the university. I am making the assumption that the university has, and that that is how this was brought to their attention in the first place--the letter made HUGE waves in the world of higher ed administration. I was posting mostly to answer those like the above posters, who questioned why the university would be involved in an incident like this at all.

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THIS. This is such a problem on campuses and no one seems to realize it or want to deal with it. Schools would rather brush these incidents under the rug or just dismiss them rather than deal with it and acknowledge that this does happen at elite colleges. The things I was told by security and the stories I've heard of other students' experiences are just horrible, and it drives me insane that this still happens and it takes something like this to get people's attention.

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If the university hasn't gone after him, she probably has a case against the university. I am making the assumption that the university has, and that that is how this was brought to their attention in the first place--the letter made HUGE waves in the world of higher ed administration. I was posting mostly to answer those like the above posters, who questioned why the university would be involved in an incident like this at all.

I, too, wonder if the "alleged" rapist has been before the honor court. I doubt it since by all appearances this honor court is going after the victim. If UNC wanted to cover its arse (and I'm sure it does) they would say that the "alleged" rapist was brought before the honor court already. But instead, UNC appears to be flailing about, blaming the victim and pointing fingers at how she's making her "alleged" rapist uncomfortable.

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I'm usually a lurker but I'll make this my first post here.

I'm a UNC alumnae (now living abroad) and I know the victim in this case quite well. The Honor Court is such a joke on the UNC campus, and needs to be reformed ASAP. When I was a freshman at UNC, I had my drink spiked by my then boyfriend but was fortunate enough to get out onto a balcony of the dorms in my state (I remember nothing) and was found by another student who took me to the ER. The ER found traces of rohypnol in my system and it was forwarded on to the police. My ex only ended up getting 40 hours community service or something ridiculous.

It went before the Honor Court and he got no penalty because I wasn't 'harmed' and there wasn't adequate proof that he did it (even though he was the only person in the room with me). I got a violation for drinking in the dorms because the blood test with the rohypnol also showed a BAC of 0.06 (so not even enough to be drunk). That was definitive proof I'd broken the rules of housing.

My other lovely run-in with the Honor Court was in my senior year. I had a 4.0 GPA and I happened to have a TA that year who had it in for me because I'd questioned something relating on my mid-term exam (he'd marked my essay a 3 out of 10 or something because I'd gotten facts wrong but none were incorrect and I took it to the Professor). For my final paper in that subject, he accused me of plagiarism. No proof at all, just that it wasn't my writing style and I must have bought the paper online and he took it to the Honor Court. I had to have countless Professors vouch for me, give in credit card statements, and defend myself against these accusations that had NO basis. It was humiliating and stressful and there was no repercussions for this TA even though he had obviously screwed up.

I think the Honor Court is a good idea in theory. Sometimes in rape cases there isn't enough evidence to go through the criminal courts (everyone knows the statistics on how many rapists are actually convicted). The Honor Court is meant to give the option of protecting the students on campus. It is also there so that if a student is convicted of a crime against another student in criminal court, the school can remove them from the campus as well (under the guise of it being just). Unfortunately, just like the real legal system, it is run by the students who are eager to have some political power and beef up their resume and who aren't always concerned with the true meaning of justice. There are exceptions to that but in general, that's what I found.

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It is now my understanding that Landen's case against her rapist went before the Honor Court and he was found not guilty by the (dis)Honor Court. Honor Court's defense used the fact that she attempted to commit suicide and had severe psychological distress AFTER SHE WAS RAPED as evidence to prove that she was unsound, and the young man went free. Now, she has been called before Honor Court for calling the man she accused of raping her a rapist. I hope she will not be punished for this. Also, as of August 2012 after this and 63 other women filed a claim with the US Dept of Education, Honor Court claims they are not qualified to handle cases of alleged rape or sexual abuse on campus. Too little, too late there HC.

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In most cases where there is some sort of quasi-judicial body, it is possible to appeal to a REAL court. Anyone know about American administrative law or the appeal procedure for this "Honor Court"?

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I was supposed to go in front of an honor court because I attempted suicide back in November. I ended up getting it settled before it came to that and I was allowed to go back to class, but I'm still on "conduct suspension." (Oh, and I can't use their counseling services anymore.)

This case is particularly horrible. A lot of universities are absolutely terrible with dealing with students; all they really care about is their image.

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Rachel333, I am so sorry. Aine, welcome, and its a small world. I'm also a (double) UNC alumnae, and my sister is heavily involved in this case. We love our alma mater, and we believe we can change it for the better. And I think this latest round of publicity is really touching a national nerve--more so than the stories earlier this year. I feel positive that good is going to come out of this.

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WHAT THE FUCK?! Sorry to shout, but this is disgusting! So it's worse to tell people about your rape than it is to rape someone? The perpetrator SHOULD be intimidated, not to mention downright fucking ashamed of himself! And so should the university for letting it happen! Jesus fucking Christ, whatever happened to duty of care?! Oh, and Honor Court is nothing but bullshit, designed to pay lip service to victims of really bad shit without actually doing anything about the problem, and humiliate decent people for minor/non-infractions. *rant over, slumps back into chair exhausted*.

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  • 3 months later...

And what they're doing isn't intimidating to her and other potential rape victims at all.

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