The Other McCain

"One should either write ruthlessly what one believes to be the truth, or else shut up." — Arthur Koestler

Ivy League Lynch Mobs

Posted on | February 20, 2015 | 66 Comments

The “rape culture” hysteria hyped by feminist fanatics keeps producing new atrocities at elite universities. I was frankly shocked when I learned the truth about Emma Sulkowicz’s vendetta against Paul Nungesser at Columbia. She accused him of rape six months after their last hook-up, without a scintilla of evidence, and when the university refused to expel Nungesser on her mere say-so, Sulkowicz then turned her accusation into a protest for which she received class credit.

This is part of a climate of fear fostered by feminists who have deliberately exaggerated the frequency of rape on campus using statistics derived from surveys of dubious methodology which, if taken at face value, would lead us to believe that male college students are more likely to commit rape than are other men. In other words, feminists are suggesting that the “best and brightest” males at elite schools are more dangerous than any common street thug.

Under pressure from the federal Department of Education, schools are moving to abolish due-process protections for accused students. The University of Pennsylvania’s new policy is under fire:

Law professors at the University of Pennsylvania are not happy about the university’s new sexual assault policies, which they say undermine due process.
Nearly one-third (16 out of 49 tenure or tenure-track professors) signed a letter to school administrators denouncing the new policy, which institutionalizes the low “preponderance of evidence” standard for sexual assault allegations and disallows cross-examination of the accuser.
“Due process of law is not window dressing; it is the distillation of centuries of experience, and we ignore the lessons of history at our own peril,” the faculty members wrote. “All too often, outrage at heinous crimes becomes a justification for shortcuts in our adjudicatory processes. These actions are unwise and contradict our principles.” . .
The new UPenn policy, unlike many universities across the country, does allow students to obtain legal counsel, although the lawyers cannot speak on their client’s behalf. The policy also prohibits cross-examination of accusers and their witnesses, one of the biggest biases against accused students.
The professors argue that threats from the federal government to curb funding if schools don’t adequately punish accused students provides quite an incentive for hearing panels to find students guilty. Recent findings from the Department of Education show an administration more concerned with looking tough on sexual assault than a fair hearing.
“Sexual assault is indeed an important problem, but the federal government has dictated a set of policies and twisted universities’ arms into compromising some of the safeguards that we teach our students are essential to fairness,” UPenn professor Stephanos Bibas, who signed the letter, told the Philadelphia Inquirer. “There is a tremendous amount of money on the line. It is understandable that universities feel pressure to comply.”

(Hat-tip: Instapundit.) Will freshman orientation now include a Miranda warning? It should. The Sulkowicz Scenario — a vindictive ex-girlfriend making a rape accusation without evidence — is a nightmare that is likely to become more common before the current witch-hunt subsides. Accused students should remember they have the right to remain silent. Don’t try to talk your way out of it. Admit nothing. Deny nothing. Make no statement of any kind. Lawyer up immediately: “I have the right to have my attorney present during questioning.” And once you’ve vindicated yourself, sue the hell out of the university for violating your civil rights with their Stalinist “show trial” disciplinary procedures.

 

Category: Crime, Education, Feminism, Sex

Comments

66 Responses to “Ivy League Lynch Mobs”

  1. wbkrebs
    February 21st, 2015 @ 5:22 am

    It rivets liability onto Columbia, if and when Nungeisser sues them.

  2. Daniel Freeman
    February 21st, 2015 @ 5:24 am

    Well. You can read his opinion here, since he actually wrote about it contemporaneously with the events of last June.

  3. wbkrebs
    February 21st, 2015 @ 5:34 am

    Thank you for the reminder.

    I do think that the angle that a feminist sociology professor persuaded the young woman that the young man was a serial rapist is relevant to Stacy’s recent posts, and was not explored back in June.

  4. Daniel Freeman
    February 21st, 2015 @ 5:40 am

    Excellent point! I seem to recall reading something about that, or perhaps it has become a trite cliche.

  5. Adobe_Walls
    February 21st, 2015 @ 5:57 am

    Do you really believe Dingbats who do sh!t like this go on to have lives?

  6. Michael Spangler
    February 21st, 2015 @ 6:22 am

    Progressives are always the last ones to know they’ve been duped.

  7. Steve Skubinna
    February 21st, 2015 @ 7:01 am

    They think they’re the ones duping the rubes in flyover country. Next thing you know it’s the Night of the Long Knives and they don’t know what hit them. Best case scenario is they see the pigs walking on their hind legs and hear the sheep chant “Four legs good, two legs better.”

    Meanwhile we rubes in flyover country shrug at the blue-on-blue bloodshed and get on with our lives.

  8. Steve Skubinna
    February 21st, 2015 @ 7:06 am

    That would be true if feminist theory, such as it is, were subject to logic. It is however not under any standards of academic rigor and its practitioners use the time honored technique known as “making sh!t up.:

    And nobody calls them on it, aside from a few courageous observers with no stake in the game, such as Stacy here.

  9. Daniel Freeman
    February 21st, 2015 @ 3:05 pm

    Not happy ones.

  10. Michael Spangler
    February 21st, 2015 @ 7:40 pm

    Best case scenario. Odd’s are, most of them will be sent off to the “vet”.

  11. Steve Skubinna
    February 21st, 2015 @ 11:27 pm

    No, no, they go live on a “farm” where they get to “chase rabbits” all day long.

  12. Gabe
    February 22nd, 2015 @ 2:08 am

    Sue First talk later, and Sue individuals not the school. Make the marxist who are making the decisions pay. Make settlements contingent on the school firing the people who abuse your civil rights. This trend will be over the minute the first marxist prof is fired

  13. Rick Caird
    February 22nd, 2015 @ 6:55 am

    Stacy, this reminds me very much of the 1980’s with the “recovered memory” fallacy and the “every woman was molested as a child” movement. That was a movement that ended up throwing people into jail, destroyed families, and was all built upon so called counselors and psychologists who teased out false memories and experiences that could be used to justify the hysteria.

  14. Daniel Freeman
    February 22nd, 2015 @ 2:13 pm

    He made a similar connection recently — well, four weeks ago — in Campus Kangaroo Courts.

  15. theoldsargesays
    February 22nd, 2015 @ 4:47 pm

    Jameis Winston is an exception because his athletic stature makes him a social and financial boost to FSU, the City of Tallahassee and the State of Florida.

    If he were just an average athlete he’d have been kicked out of school and would be bagging groceries in Hueytown, Alabama.
    Instead, both school and local authorities look the other way on shoplifting, rape and what passes for sexual assault on campuses these days (vulgar, sexual innuendo filled speech).

    Give him a couple of ywarsband he’ll be back in Hueytown.

  16. wbkrebs
    February 23rd, 2015 @ 1:42 pm

    Ahem. My point was that with all the pull you document so ably, Jameis Winston was still run through the process. You point out, and I agree, that someone with less pull would have been ground up.