JonathanE

December 12th, 2023 at 6:18 PM ^

What do you mean, these kinds of cases? The system is set up to protect the rights of the accused. Even when the evidence is presented and weighed, you have to be sure beyond a reasonable doubt for an individual to be guilty. We are not even talking about suppression hearings where evidence showing an individual's guilt is suppressed because of how it was obtained.  

Joined: 09/03/2017

MGoPoints: 2368

Ernis

December 12th, 2023 at 9:47 AM ^

Correct, universities cannot be trusted to handle these matters. MSU has proven itself to be an extreme malefactor relative to its peer institutions in this regard, but as others have noted, this is a problem that exists on campuses everywhere. It's not just that universities are incompetent or ill-equipped: they have the power and the incentive to obstruct justice if it means protecting their reputation.

Our future conference-mate Oregon provides another tragic but telling cautionary tale on this subject, where a female student was assaulted by basketball players and her behavioral health records were given by the university to its attorney to use against her in court. You can read more about it here, here, and here. Because she received counseling from the university's clinic, the privacy of her records was covered under the extraordinarily weak FERPA law and not HIPAA or 42 CFR 2, so the university had every right to carry out its abhorrent defense tactic.

Point being: the purpose of a university's administrative resources is to protect the institution, not the students. Don't trust them in matters like this where they have an incentive to protect their reputation at the victim's expense.

Joined: 09/23/2008

MGoPoints: 11479

Bo Harbaugh

December 12th, 2023 at 10:19 AM ^

No university has the moral high ground with this issue.  

It's also an incredibly difficult crime and allegation to process - as it is horrific to the victim, but can also be illegitimately weaponized to destroy lives  (as we saw in the Duke lacrosse player case) due to its intimate nature.

Large institutions have been terrible managing the two sides of both believing and supporting victims while keeping an innocent until proven guilty stance towards the alleged perpetrator. 

Joined: 08/03/2019

MGoPoints: 38692

GoBlue96

December 12th, 2023 at 11:29 AM ^

I think part of it is that basketball recruiting rankings are based on NBA potential which sets unreasonable expectations for their short college time.  A 5 star recruit could be near useless as a freshmen but people don't see that or don't want to see that.  He's unplayable at this point at a postition of great need with Kohler's injury.

Joined: 07/01/2008

MGoPoints: 56011

waittilnextyear

December 12th, 2023 at 11:27 AM ^

When it was "just" Jerry Sandusky, it was easy to claim moral superiority over the Joe Bots in Happy Valley.  That said, since that time, it has become disturbingly obvious that any institution of any real size (UM, MSU, OSU have all been made examples of) suffers from shitty shit (different shades of sexual violence).  I'm glad that we mouth-breathing sportsball-fan types have grown from simply trying to dunk on the institution du jour to realizing that the problem is the actual problem.

Joined: 09/11/2021

MGoPoints: 16304

Girlbleedsblue

December 12th, 2023 at 11:31 AM ^

Sexual assault is truly a problem everywhere, no one has a moral high ground on the crime itself. But MSU as an institution is just bad at handling this shit. The institutional response is something that anyone can legit criticize and it has nothing to do with re-traumatizing the victim. We have obviously not been perfect in this area, I’m quite ashamed of how Anderson’s behavior was accepted. But time and time again with MSU, in the news, because they screwed up as an institution. It’s ok to talk about that, even if it’s a rival school. 

 

 

Joined: 10/25/2014

MGoPoints: 1721

1408

December 12th, 2023 at 11:33 AM ^

Another issue is the Title IX process.  In this instance, the accused retains a high profile and capable lawyer but the victim is at the mercy of a bunch of idiots that staff this department.  

Joined: 01/28/2015

MGoPoints: 4332

Ernis

December 12th, 2023 at 1:20 PM ^

Right- the victim has to be cross examined in person while the alleged perp doesn’t even have to show up or cooperate at all. It’s a travesty. But make no mistake: the process as it is implemented by the institution serves to protect the institution. This is a case of the process working as designed.

Joined: 09/23/2008

MGoPoints: 11479

Johnny Blood

December 12th, 2023 at 11:57 AM ^

A failure on so many levels.

You would think by now that we as a society would be better equipped to handle these situations, especially in dealing with the survivors and understanding the psychology of their trauma.

Joined: 12/22/2010

MGoPoints: 5112

alum96

December 12th, 2023 at 12:05 PM ^

Brutal read.  The mental exhaustion of going to through the same story over and over and over and over again to multiple people and having to relive it, and running into brick walls repeatedly is a horror in itself. 

Joined: 04/28/2012

MGoPoints: 82666

samsoccer7

December 12th, 2023 at 12:47 PM ^

It seems like these cases, like in many other instances in many other topics, all hinged on one person's ability to say she was untrustworthy.  That person used their own garbage pseudo-science to say requiring 4 questions before being told about a gun meant she couldn't be trusted.  And somehow that person's assessment sticks?  That makes no sense to me and she was clearly left hanging by the institution supposedly meant to protect her.

Joined: 07/08/2008

MGoPoints: 11891

RLARCADIACA

December 12th, 2023 at 9:40 PM ^

Wow is all I can say.  This statement seems to say it all. “It’s the incompetence of the investigators that often create these inconsistencies, which then get weaponized against the victim,”. The investigators went into it biased against the victim.  It’s so clear that is what happened and not just against this young women but so many more.  The management of Little Brother all over should be ashamed and removed with an entire reboot of their team and system.

Joined: 01/08/2010

MGoPoints: 668