UVA Waged Intense Fight to Influence Federal Sexual Assault Investigation
This article talks about the University of Virginia and its history with sexual assault, along with the legalities. UVA has had "21 instances of alleged sexual assault from 2008 to 2012", which is a staggering number to many. The publicly-released allegations resulted in a blow to the University's reputation. The OCR, or US Education Department's
Office of Civil Rights had composed a 39 page document to be released, but first had to share it with UVA, who claimed it was "riddled with inaccuracies". "The university was enormously displeased with what our (the OCRs) findings were and very much hoped we would change them”. The OCR shortened this document of accusations to 26 pages, which was made public. This copy didn't list every event of assault, and made the time span of these assaults seem much shorter, indicating that sexual assault at the University hasn't been as ongoing of a problem as it truly is. Gov. Terry McAuliffe is the one who said that UVA was in danger of losing their rights to due process, and that they should be able to review the allegations before they went public. Do you think the University of Virginia should've been able to review the claims, seeing that the severity/number of occurrences of sexual assault was lightened so much? Additionally, the school was called a "hostile environment". Do you think that since UVA is taking hold of the offenses that the school can still be considered a "hostile" place?
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By the way I don't know what happened to the formatting, sorry if this is more difficult to read^
ReplyDeleteIn my opinion the University of Virginia definitely should not have been allowed to review the claims before they were released. Of course UVA would be "displeased" with the Education Department's findings - they made the school look like an unsafe (or hostile) environment. So of course UVA would try to get the claims changed / made to look less severe. And I think UVA can still be considered a hostile place because the school failed to take action immediately after the assaults happened. Instead it seems like UVA tried to cover them up to avoid getting a bad reputation. They're more concerned with their reputation than the safety/well-being of their students.
ReplyDeleteSexual assault is very serious and pressing issue that needs to be dealt with throughout the country. However, I think that UVA should have been able to review the claims before they were released, whether they were changed or not. If they disagreed with the claims, further investigation could be launched. UVA could probably still be considered hostile to some, because changing a culture of sexual assault that has already been established can be quite hard to change.
ReplyDeleteUVA should have been able to see the document to ensure no false accusations were said, but they shouldn't have as much influence on the revision of the document. When the report was shortened key elements of all the sexual assaults may have been excluded which is needed to tell the whole story.
ReplyDeleteAny institution or corporation should not have the right to alter in any way a list of accusations of sexual assault on their premises. There needs to be no bias in dealing with these issues, and employees of the University cannot be trusted to represent these claims 100% accurately.
ReplyDeleteThe University of Virginia should not have been able to review the claims because doing so lightened the severity. UVA should have faced the issue as it was and dealt with whatever circumstances evolved from that. This case was brought up to fix the problem, so shying away from it will only cause more damage. Even if the school is considered a "hostile" place, the fact it tried to cover up the scandal appears worse in my opinion. UVA should be more concerned with fixing the issue and achieving a better reputation than hiding a scandal.
ReplyDeleteUVA should be able to review the documents in advance. This will allow them to prevent false accusations. Their ability to revise the document should be greatly limited. Sexual assault is a very serious issue and will definitely make UVA appear unsafe.
ReplyDeleteUVA had the right to review the documents, but they certainly did not have the right to alter them. If they found the information to be incorrect or misconstrued, they could have handled it differently than negotiating changes without any counter investigation. In a way, this makes UVA seem even more hostile, or at the very least indifferent. It is very easy to interpret this situation as a cover up. UVA is not helping their image by trying to alter a report of rape on their campus, as opposed to taking action against their rape problem.
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ReplyDeleteThe UVA should not have been able to review the document. Their stake in this is biased and revision or influence from them should be minimal. Instead the OCR should have released the document and if the school wanted to "lighten the blow" they should have released a counter document from their point of view. These actions they are taking make UVA seem like a more hostile place then if they didn't try pushing things under the rug.
ReplyDeleteI think it is a good point to make that UVA was not given its basic right to due process. In a court of law, the accused would get a chance to present his case to the court and defend himself; as such, it is not a far reach to claim that UVA should have had such an opportunity. However, UVA, of course, has a lot to lose and would be motivated to mitigate the story in order to save its own reputation. Just an observation, as this reminds me of freedom of the press - the government is not allowed to preview news articles before they are printed, especially not those (such as the Pentagon Papers) that would result in public outcry against the government. So similarly, why should UVA have been allowed to see this report? So I believe that UVA should not have been able to review the document. Instead, UVA should have released their own document defending themselves, as Liam suggested. The problem with this, however, is that the damage was already done when the initial report was released, and a report from UVA would come off as a weak attempt at saving face.
ReplyDeleteSexual assault on college campuses has been a controversial issue in the last few years (there have even been Law and Order: SVU episodes on it). UVA's steps toward a more safe, secure campus are admirable in light of this growing problem at American universities. And it's also the best way to combat the negative publicity that arose from the federal report.