Wow. You might want to familiarize yourself with the outrageous and illegal behavior of Duke faculty and staff during the whole Duke Lax case. Perhaps then you might recognize that a) they (the powers that be at Duke) still do not understand the meaning of innocent, b) they are still convinced that a rape did occur, and c) they repeatedly failed to follow their own guidelines set forth in the Student Handbook to protect the falsely accused students. So what exactly makes you think that this power differential they speak of will NOT apply to those who are perceived to hold power, even if they aren’t in “official” positions of power? They certainly perceived the falsely accused Duke Lax players as powerful. After all, power, money, whiteness, and elitism were the overriding themes in the reactions of many Duke faculty and staff. Why would it be any different now?
The is no question that Duke handled the false rape allegations very badly. But as you stated, that was mainly due to Duke officials violating their own policies.
Also, “perceived or real power” had nothing to do with the stripper’s false allegations. She falsely claimed forcible rape, not that the LAX players coerced in into an invalid consent, with their magical LAX powers. If the allegation had been true, it would have been sexual misconduct (and much worse) under any policy.
Of course, the school, the race baiters and the media rushed to the wrong conclusion, assumning that some spoiled, rich white kids were far less credible than a stripper with a criminal record.
My point is the policy itself does not seem bad. Though you are correct that the policy is only as good as those who enforce it. It would seem to me that changing personnel would do much more good than changing the policy.