The Rape of Due Process At S.D.S.U.

San Diego State University held its graduation ceremonies last month. Every woman who graduated with her virtue intact should thank her lucky stars. Campus Police documented that nineteen rapes had been reported to them between August 2014 and April 2015.

Interesting that there is a column between Reported Rapes and Actual Rapes. This column is entitled "Unfounded" rapes. And there is always a zero in the column. Then there must have been arrests made, and investigations opened, right? Perhaps rape is the one category of crime that is allowed to be reported but not investigated.

There was, as widely reported by the media, one arrest made. Like many outlets, NBC San Diego reported "police made an arrest in one case during the school's fall semester." Reporter Samantha Tatro's report omitted a key detail about the arrest that had been known about for over a month. The district attorney removed the case from the court calendar and officially rejected the case and dropped all charges soon after.

Apparently an arrest is all the due process the news media needs to indict, convict, and punish alleged rapists. Same for the SDSU Administration, for that matter. After the alleged crime was reported to campus police, a Community Safety Alert was sent via email to all students, notifying them of the assault and naming the alleged suspect.

Dropping charges against the suspect doesn't undo the damage done to his reputation, and he is suing the school. He was suspended after the arrest, and had to enroll in another university. His reputation has been irreparably damaged. He has been physically assaulted.

This is because of a system that presumes guilt upon the accused. SDSU was awarded a $200,000 grant to reduce sexual violence, and it is being spent on a full-time investigator, and a full-time sexual assault victim advocate. Yet it takes an act by the California Attorney General to ensure that reports of violent crime made to campus authorities are immediately disclosed to law enforcement.

The reason colleges are holding kangaroo courts for accused rapists is because they interpret Title IX as a measure meant to prevent women from experiencing discrimination. The wording of Title IX actually extends to people of both sexes. "No person in the United States shall, on the basis of sex, ... be subjected to discrimination."

But that's exactly what happened to the only person arrested for sexual assault involving SDSU students this year. The university has a Center for Student Rights and Responsibilities, which is run by Dr. Lee Mintz. Her doctorate involved transgender issues, and her mission is to "examine the perceptions of treatment and educational success of transgender and gender-variant college students." Maybe someone whose core competency is so clearly at the fringe of behavior and cultural issues shouldn't wield so much power over a student's life.

The accused student wants to hold SDSU and Dr. Mintz accountable for denying him a fair hearing, denying him counsel, and refusing to allow him to admit evidence. This was despite an email from SDSU Title IX coordinator Jessica Rentto that claimed both "the complainant and the accused have equal opportunities to present relevant witnesses and evidence in connection with the investigation."

The university should be empowered to suspend students charged with serious crimes, and to expel those convicted of those crimes. In this case, the complaining witness either doesn't understand that her consent isn't nullified when she sees the boy talking to another girl after, or she flat-out lied. Filing a false police report is also a crime. Why hasn't she been named, shamed, and suspended?