Saturday, June 11, 2016

 

Not the Headline They Were Hoping For...


Yesterday, I was looking at something on Yahoo, and the top story was Another Day, Another Disturbing Situation Surfaces at Baylor. Yeesh. I know Baylor is getting increased scrutiny, but they also keep giving news people something to cover. Here is the brunt of the story: Junior college transfer Jeremy Faulk was kicked off the team (and out of school) based on reports that he had engaged in improper conduct at a previous school (Florida Atlantic) and was involved in an incident at Baylor in April. Baylor's new coach, Jim Grobe, apparently took this action. The troubling part was this:

Faulk’s departure has angered Jeff Sims, a former assistant at Florida Atlantic and the former head coach at Garden City. Sims, who coached Faulk at both schools, says Baylor is trying to rid itself of anyone who has had an allegation made against him, true or not. And he’s disturbed by something he said new Baylor interim coach Jim Grobe told him when he called to ask why Faulk’s status on the team was in jeopardy over the alleged April incident.

“Grobe says to me, ‘Listen, if he just leaves, he can go on, and we won’t stop him from playing anywhere, and this investigation will stop.'” Flabbergasted at the notion a sexual assault investigation might disappear if an accused player were to leave the team, Sims said he pressed Grobe, but Grobe struggled to be more specific before implying that Baylor administrators had made him remove the player from the team.

Urg. Making investigations "go away" really shouldn't be the point of what is going on at Baylor these days.




Comments:
Actually, I can imagine a situation in which a university might be so traumatized by recent events and so cowed by rules and regulations subtly mandated by the 2011 OCR directive on Title IX (in which the rights of the accused and orthodox rules of evidence are suspended) that making the internal investigation simply "go away" might be in the best interest of all parties.

Important to note, if I understand correctly, the accuser retains all access to the criminal justice system in this case.
 
These coaches still don't get it: Grobe said the players "know there is zero tolerance right now." Right now? How about zero tolerance all the time for sexual assault?
 
It is important to ensure that the alleged perpetrator has due process rights in any allegation of sexual assault, wherever that takes place. A couple of issues bother me. First, some of the allegations were that the assault took place in the residence of the alleged perpetrator, who in each case alleged that there was consent. Second, some of the cases occurred off-campus and some did not involve students as alleged victims; that reduces the right of the Univ. to investigate and impose punishment, though not necessarily the obligation to provide further protection to students of both genders.

I think that the colleges and universities must quickly design and implement prevention training and education programs for all students, with particular instruction on what is and is not consent. Question: If a woman removes her clothes, does that constitute consent? I have heard both answers to that from both males and females.



 
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