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Last April we passed on word that a student at the University of Portland had been threatened by administrators with disciplinary action after reporting a sexual assault. She and a male student had been drinking at a party in violation of university policy. She told the university he raped her in her dorm room. The university took no action.
A year later, after the student went to the campus newspaper with her story, she got a letter from the university’s judicial co-ordinator saying that the two students’ drinking had made “consent—or lack of consent … difficult to determine,” and that “there are possible violations for which [the complainant] could be charged.”
Today comes word that the university’s sexual assault reporting policies have been revised. The new policy reads as follows:
“To foster the safety and security of the entire community, the University of Portland encourages reporting of all instances of sexual assault. … To remove barriers to reporting, the University will not pursue potential policy violations of the survivor which occurred in the context of the sexual assault. Likewise, the University will not pursue potential policy violations of a person who comes forward to report sexual assault.”
This change brings Portland’s policies in line with Catholic colleges like Gonzaga, Santa Clara and Notre Dame. According to a university administrator, it brings the university’s written policies in line with “the University’s values and practices regarding sexual assault that have been in place for many years.”
Thanks to Inside Higher Ed for the heads-up. New visitors are welcome to follow us on Twitter.
The folks behind the Take Back NYU protests have come in for a lot of abuse in the last week, and though some of it has been on-target, quite a bit has fallen wide of the mark. I’ll be posting my own take on the occupation itself soon, but before I do that I want to explore a few of the critics’ more telling errors and misstatements.
Our ongoing coverage of the NYU takeover continues here and on our twitter feed.
TBNYU held a press conference at 5 pm, but no news came out of it. The two sides seem pretty dug in at this point: The university is refusing to negotiate and warning of academic and/or legal consequences if protesters remain after the Kimmel Center closes at 1 am, while the students are refusing to leave without concessions from the university.
9:30 pm Update: Dozens of students just forced their way past security into the occupied area. Two guards were injured in the scuffle. Video here.
10:15 pm Update: Apparently an ambulance has been called for one of the injured guards, though it’s not clear whether that was a cautionary measure. Take Back NYU has posted a statement reaffirming their commitment to non-violence.
11:45 pm Update: Reports suggest that negotiations are underway, apparently in an attempt to establish terms for an orderly end to the occupation.
12:15 am Update: Liveblogging here, live feed here. NYU’s deadline for the protesters to leave is 45 minutes away, and the students have rejected an offer to walk out and be given probation. Supporters of the protest and assorted gawkers are blocking traffic in front of the occupied building, and the mood among the protesters is raucous and defiant.
12:58 am Update: Ten students reportedly left the demonstration a few minutes ago, which means several dozen are still inside. The live feed has been video-only for about half an hour, and the video just went down. No update from the embedded liveblogger in ten minutes.
1:00 am Update: Take Back NYU website claims 500+ supporters in the street. Says NYU is threatening occupying students with expulsion, non-students with arrest. Live stream back up. Some occupying students leaving.
1:17 am Update: Multiple reports of protesters fighting cops in front of Kimmel. Protest liveblogger calls it “rioting.” Others say pepper spray, mace, nightsticks in use. Washington Square News reported that all NYU students still in Kimmel after 1:10 am would be arrested and expelled.
1:26 am Update: Washington Square News on recent developments…
Protesters, many of whom were masked, unsuccessfully pushed against the barricades, attempting to get into the Kimmel Center. The police sprayed an unidentified substance in protesters’ faces. Two police officers were brought inside: one, a female, rubbing her eye, and the other, a male, also thought to be injured.
1:31 am Update: NYULocal liveblogger has photo of “safe harbor” flyer passed out by NYU, promising to suspend disciplinary action against Kimmel protesters unless there is “a subsequent violation of University policies.” Not sure who the offer applies to, or whether it’s still operative in the wake of the violence outside Kimmel.
1:45 am Update: About twenty protesters remain on the third floor of Kimmel. They’re said to be asking for no action to be taken to remove them tonight. No recent word on conditions outside the building.
1:57 am Update: NYULocal is reporting that the remaining TBNYU protesters will be allowed to stay in Kimmel overnight. NYU will not roust them.
2:01 am Update: New post at Take Back NYU website —
The police pepper-sprayed the crowd earlier and a few supporters in the street were injured. There are still between 400-500 people out there and it doesn’t look like they’re going anywhere. We, the students of the occupation, remain firmly against non-violent action and we hope the crowd stands in non-violent solidarity with us. Negotiations are ongoing and we thank you all for your support!!
2:16 am Update: WSN just asked Farah Khimji of TBNYU what the current status of the protester’s demands was. Her response: “At this point, I can only speak for myself, but I don’t know what I want.”
And that strikes me as a pretty good place to end the night. See you all in the morning.
Friday 9:30 am Update: Ongoing coverage, and a recap of events to date, can be found in our Friday morning post.
The Chronicle of Higher Education made four three major errors in a single sentence on Friday, mangling issues of technology, due process, and sexual ethics in an online story about a student at Calvin College.
Here’s the original lead to the article, posted on their blog…
A Calvin College student has been suspended for one year over a lewd Facebook message he allegedly sent to an ex-girlfriend.
And here’s what’s wrong with it…
1. The student, Tony Harris, wasn’t suspended, he was expelled. The university called it a suspension, but according to the Grand Rapids Press he will have to re-apply after the year is up. If you’re barred from campus and told you have to apply for re-admission, you haven’t been suspended. You’ve been kicked out.
1. The problem with the Facebook posting wasn’t that it was “lewd,” but that it was found to be harassing. The policy Harris was charged under prohibits “communication that degrades or harasses individuals or groups.” Harris was accused of harassing his ex by posting a derogatory sexual message about her, not of posting something lewd.
2. He wasn’t expelled because of the Facebook incident. He was given probation over it, and told to post an apology on his Facebook page. He was expelled for refusing to apologize, and he says he refused to apologize because he wasn’t the one who put up the post.
3. The post in question was a Facebook status update, not a message to the other student.
Why does any of this matter? Because these aren’t random errors. They’re symptomatic of larger weaknesses in writing about student disciplinary matters, sexual ethics, and new technology, failings that are commonplace not just at the Chronicle, but elsewhere as well.
If you’re going to write a story like this, the details matter. The details are all that matters.
There’s a huge difference between being suspended for sending someone a smutty email and being expelled for contesting a disciplinary finding that you harassed someone in a semi-public forum. If you neglect those distinctions, you’re not getting the story. The Chronicle didn’t get this story.
Update: As reader JRH notes, Harris’s status amounts to a suspension rather than an expulsion under the terms of the Calvin College student handbook. Studentactivism.net regrets the error.
studentactivism.net 
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