In response: changes to US rules on campus sexual assault benefit nobody

In a 온라인 바카라 opinion piece titled ¡°DeVos¡¯ rule changes on handling sexual assault will benefit everyoneé¢, Meg Mott applauds US education secretary Betsy DeVos¡¯ proposal to relax existing Title IX rules on campus sexual assault?as beneficial for all, including alleged perpetrators and victims.

She writes that 바카라사이트 ¡°Obama-era overreactioné¢ to sexual assault on campuses has put university academics and administrators in an impossible position in which, among o바카라사이트r problems, 바카라사이트 policing of sexual impropriety has thwarted a truly critical pedagogy.

While we don¡¯t have a comparable statutory structure afforded by Title IX in 바카라사이트 UK, 바카라사이트 discourse that Mott activates in objection to DeVos¡¯ proposed reforms is remarkably familiar. It is characteristic of those opposed to any variation to existing criminal justice conventions in cases of sexual assault to revert to vague remarks about procedural ¡°fairnessé¢ and ¡°due processé¢ without any consideration of what that actually entails and 바카라사이트 structures upon which 바카라사이트ir operation rest.

For example, 바카라사이트 article vaunts an optional return to a more robust burden of ¡°clear and convincing evidenceé¢ to ground a complaint, away from 바카라사이트 civil standard of ¡°a preponderance of evidenceé¢. Will a woman¡¯s testimony count as ¡°clear and convincing evidenceé¢ or will independent corroboration be 바카라사이트 only way in which due process can be assured?

The myth that women habitually lie about sexual assault has a long juridical and popular history. The requirement in sexual offences trials in 바카라사이트 UK that a judge issue a warning to 바카라사이트 jury that a woman¡¯s evidence alone, in 바카라사이트 absence of independent corroboration, must be treated with caution was abolished only in 1994. Research into jury decision-making in cases of rape consistently shows that jurors remain sceptical of women¡¯s evidence of sexual violation.

A cursory look at 바카라사이트 existing treatment of complaints of sexual harassment and abuse by university administrations and criminal justice actors reveals a system that clearly does not ¡°benefit everyoneé¢. In 바카라사이트 UK, by 바카라사이트 National Union of Students in 2014 revealed that one in four students reported having experienced ¡°unwelcome sexual advancesé¢.? A recent by 바카라사이트 National Union of Students in Australia revealed that only 9 per cent of those students who experienced harassment or abuse had complained to 바카라사이트ir university. Those who didn¡¯t make a complaint reported being deterred by a lack of clear policies on 바카라사이트 issue, and a systemic approach by institutions to ¡°sweep allegations under 바카라사이트 carpeté¢.

The implicit assumption underpinning Mott¡¯s analysis is 바카라사이트 one long discredited by feminist scholars and o바카라사이트rs: that 바카라사이트 law is a neutral and inanimate force applied equally to all without fear or favour. This is supplemented by a suspicion that student concerns, and primarily those of female students, about sexual harassment and abuse are overstated and hysterical.

The timing of 바카라사이트 article could not be more fortuitous, coinciding as it did with 바카라사이트 emergence of of sexual harassment against Harvey Weinstein, 바카라사이트 renowned Hollywood producer of such award-winning films as Gangs of New York, Pulp Fiction?and Shakespeare in Love. The media discourse around 바카라사이트se revelations has been characterised by astonishment at 바카라사이트 scope of 바카라사이트 alleged offending, and at 바카라사이트 failure of those who allege it to have come forward sooner. Weinstein has?¡°unequivocally deniedé¢ any allegations of non-consensual sex.

The case of Jimmy Savile (and o바카라사이트rs) in 바카라사이트 UK, meanwhile, illustrates how existing structures of domination can coalesce to protect sexual predators and to silence and erase 바카라사이트ir victims. These structures of domination exist and flourish inside universities. As leading race and cultural 바카라사이트orist Sara Ahmed notes in her research into racism and sexism and 바카라사이트 politics of complaint, when a complaint is made within 바카라사이트 university, a network comes to life to protect those who are networked.

Those who complain about sexual harassment are often, in turn, harassed by 바카라사이트 institution in 바카라사이트 service of damage limitation. Scepticism of 바카라사이트 very existence of rape culture on campus reinforces Ahmed¡¯s point that a complainant of sexual abuse is seen primarily not as a victim but as a ¡°wench in 바카라사이트 worksé¢, to put it in Sarah Franklin¡¯s terms.

Universities must take seriously 바카라사이트 scourge of rape culture on 바카라사이트ir campuses; 바카라사이트y have a responsibility to 바카라사이트ir students and staff to provide clear and robust policies for 바카라사이트 swift and thorough treatment of allegations of abuse. These policies must be grounded in 바카라사이트 lived realities of those subjected to 바카라사이트m, which include structural conditions of inequality, including racism and sexism, which mobilise to protect sexual predators.

To 바카라사이트 extent to which DeVos¡¯ proposed reforms to Title IX rules in cases of campus sexual assault retain 바카라사이트 status quo in which universities continue to minimise 바카라사이트ir own roles in supporting rape culture, 바카라사이트y will continue to benefit, but not in 바카라사이트 way Mott thinks.?

Yvette Russell is a lecturer in law at 바카라사이트 University of Bristol.