Posted on 07/13/2014 1:09:50 PM PDT by Behind Liberal Lines
he was 18 years old, a freshman, and had been on campus for just two weeks when one Saturday night last September her friends grew worried because she had been drinking and suddenly disappeared.
Around midnight, the missing girl texted a friend, saying she was frightened by a student she had met that evening. “Idk what to do,” she wrote. “I’m scared.” When she did not answer a call, the friend began searching for her.
In the early-morning hours on the campus of Hobart and William Smith Colleges in central New York, the friend said, he found her — bent over a pool table as a football player appeared to be sexually assaulting her from behind in a darkened dance hall with six or seven people watching and laughing. Some had their cellphones out, apparently taking pictures, he said....tests later found sperm or semen in her vagina, in her rectum and on her underwear.
It took the college just 12 days to investigate the rape report, hold a hearing and clear the football players. The football team went on to finish undefeated in its conference, while the woman was left, she said, to face the consequences — threats and harassment for accusing members of the most popular sports team on campus....
the district attorney, R. Michael Tantillo, said he had “virtually nothing to work with” and quickly closed the case.
Although federal officials estimate that up to 20 percent of college students will be sexually assaulted in school, Mr. Tantillo said he rarely heard of such reports at Hobart and William Smith. “I guess that’s your job to find out why,” he told a reporter.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
“try reading a comment in the context it’s offered. the context was that it’s not just women who ought to be carrying.”
The context was guns carried by drunks.
“why didn’t you correct the person who said all women should carry and correct them for not pointing out the exceptions you rip on me for?”
I didnt rip you. I said “Getting stupid drunk is not a good time to carry a gun.” You seem to agree with that so why are you so upset? You must be incredibly thin skinned.
“jerk.”
You really need to work on your social skills.
Very disheartening to read this as I am a Hobart alum. Also read the President’s response and while I understand the frustration he has in that the reporter tended to leave out stuff he seems to miss the point. In a situation like this your processes are secondary and your response shouldn’t focus on trying to prove you did everything you could.
I read a number of the responses in the NY Times and it’s silly how stupid many of they were, particularly those who tried to blame this so-called cover-up on the need to keep making a lot of money to protect the football program.
As one poster noted, Hobart is a VERY small D3 school and the football program generates very little revenue since most of the attending fans are students, who pay little or nothing to go to the games. The team COSTS money, it does not contribute cash flow to the school’s treasury.
The author actually tried to insinuate that the football team is the most popular on campus, which is way off base since the lacrosse program is where the school gets it’s biggest PR impact, having been high-profile for decades.
I will say that in my day (class of ‘80), a few lacrosse players were protected, but from fighting and vandalism, not rape (and ironically they were also Kappa Sigma brothers, so just maybe that fraternity leadership needs to take a look at itself too). And my son goes to school in Tallahassee so the the Winston case is also fresh in my mind. We all know that top athletes tend to get special treatment in high school and college and it’s true that schools need to change their thinking on that.
One thing I noted was that it took the author great effort to note that the first person that tried to intervene was a MALE student friend of the young woman, but that almost comes out grudgingly, as if that would hurt the crusade they were on.
Of course, nowhere in the author’s paradigm does it seem that the young woman should be at least scolded for allowing herself to drink twice the amount of legal driving limits. While keeping yourself under control is no guarantee you won’t become a victim it certainly doesn’t hurt your chances either. With all the efforts that academia has put into so-called anti-rape programs it still comes down to the ability of individuals to not put themselves in a position to be taken advantage of, either physically of mentally. This woman clearly had a self-esteem issue, which she actually admits early in the article by indicating that she wasn’t thin, blonde and wearing expensive clothing.
As for the football players . . . less said the better. Even if consensual you DON’T TAKE ADVANTAGE of a DRUNK WOMAN.
PERIOD.
If you do you have some really low self-esteem of your own and you have no idea of what it truly is to be a man.
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