| Blog and Media Roundup - Wednesday, August 7, 2013; News Roundup | |
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| Tweet Topic Started: Aug 7 2013, 04:29 AM (252 Views) | |
| abb | Aug 7 2013, 04:29 AM Post #1 |
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http://www.cotwa.info/2013/08/this-is-how-bad-it-is-on-american.html Tuesday, August 6, 2013 This is how bad it is on American campuses: the leader of the sexual grievance industry has been branded a "rape apologist" This is how far we've come: the leader of what can aptly be called the sexual grievance industry has been called a "rape apologist." An anonymous reader at The Dartmouth lobbed that name at none other than Brett Sokolow, founder of the National Center for Higher Education Risk Management, which counsels colleges across America on how to make it easier to punish college men for sex offenses. Why is Mr. Sokolow a "rape apologist"? Because he had the audacity to assert that automatic expulsion is not appropriate for all forms of sexual misconduct since it encompasses a wide range of behaviors, from inappropriately touching someone at a party to rape. Calling Brett Sokolow a "rape apologist" is about par for the public discourse about rape. Recently, Jezebel's Katie Baker suggested that keeping an open mind about a rape claim is rape apology. Another writer, Jessica Wakeman, attacked Judith Grossman's perceptive article about the absence of due process protections for college men accused of sexual assault as "rape culture" and "victim blaming." See here and here. We are stranded in an age where, when it comes to sexual assault, any concern shown for the rights of the presumptively innocent is deemed "rape apology." This blog frequently discusses the critical balance that is at the heart of just sexual assault policies: every civilized society must strive to eradicate heinous criminality by punishing offenders, but it also must insure that the innocent aren't punished with them. While the latter concern typically is absent from the public discourse, rarely have we seen such vitriol directed at persons who express the slightest concern for the rights of the presumptively innocent in sex cases as we've seen lately. As for the merits of Mr. Sokolow's comments: it is easy to dismiss COTWA's concerns as lacking objectivity since it is our mission to tell the stories of the wrongly accused. But it's not so easy to dismiss the views of Sokolow. Elsewhere, Mr. Sokolow said colleges are having a "fear-based reaction" to the Federal government's Title IX policy, and "that a lot of colleges now are expelling and suspending people they shouldn’t, for fear they’ll get nailed on Title IX.” Mr. Sokolow says the reaction borders on "hysteria." He pointed out that expelled students no longer automatically have the option of just registering at another school. Nowadays, schools share information, which makes that problematic, so students who are expelled have a lot more at stake. Finally, policies mandating expulsion for even slight forms of sexual misconduct do no favors to victims of sexual abuse. When a policy requires young men to be expelled for even mild sex offenses, such as inappropriately touching at a party, that policy undermines confidence in the system and makes it all the more likely that even young men who deserve some punishment will be let off the hook. Most persons charged with officiating sex offenses on campus strive to be fair even if the school's policies aren't. When the punishment doesn't fit the crime, they will exercise leniency. |
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| abb | Aug 7 2013, 04:29 AM Post #2 |
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http://www.cotwa.info/2013/08/brandeis-hiring-sexual-violence.html Tuesday, August 6, 2013 Brandeis Hiring a Sexual-Violence Bureaucrat, by John Leo As found here: Brandeis University is hiring a full-time administrator to deal with sexual violence on campus. This might imply that an upsurge of sexual assault is under way on this very quiet, very liberal campus. But that is not the case. Brandeis has the usual elaborate safeguards against such offenses-- conditioning at freshman orientation, a strong and vocal feminist contingent, educational programs on sexual assault, a rape crisis hotline, stern judicial procedures that seem pitched against the accused, and a recorded rate of sexually violent acts of less than one case per year (though some insist the real total is higher). Still, Brandeis feels it needs a "Sexual Violence and Prevention Services Specialist," who will apparently run conferences and rallies, seek grants and lead programming tailored to the needs of individual groups into which the modern university likes to divide its students, such as "LBGTIO, students of color, international students, student-athletes" and so forth. Announcement of the new hire came from the campus Feminist Sexual Ethics Project. Candidates for the job, it says, must have a "sophisticated theoretical understanding of the cultural and social causes of sexual and other gender-based violence," which we take to mean a feminist perspective on men. The Project seems to hold a similarly dubious view of religion. It says: "If we are to create a society in which ethics and social structures are based on freedom and dignity, we need to recognize the extent to which slave-holding values have shaped and continue to influence religious policy." Those who believe that multicultural and feminist excesses on the modern American campus are almost always funded by the Ford Foundation will not be disappointed. Ford is helping to pay for this one too. |
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| abb | Aug 7 2013, 04:34 AM Post #3 |
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http://dukecheck.com/?p=15162 ✓ A story you won’t see in the Daily Tar Heel Posted on August 7, 2013 by DukeCheck One of the passengers in the car driven by P J Hairston on the night of June 5th has entered into a plea deal on a misdemeanor pot charge, which, if he follows up, will see his record wiped clean. But unlike Hairston himself, UNC’s top scoring basketball player who faced the same charge and got a similar deal earlier, Mikyael Falcon must put in ten hours of community service as part of his penance. No one could explain why the two are being treated differently, although judges have wide discretion in this area. Both plea deals have other requirements like drug testing and education as well. The second passenger in the car when Hairston was stopped during a routine traffic check, Carlos Sanford, facing similar charges, got his court appearance moved to October 29th. Such postponements are routine. In Durham District Court on Tuesday, Judge James Hill told Faulcon he was getting a break, even though such pre-trial intervention programs are common among people with no rap sheet. Hill asked if Faulcon had a basketball scholarship to Elizabeth City State University, and Faulcon said yes. The judge asked if any of his teammates at Durham’s Hillside High School were also given scholarships, and Faulcon responded, “I am the only one.” Judge Hill: “You’re what we call a role model. How does it look to your fellow Hillside students to see you standing up here on drug charges?” “Not too good,” Faulcon replied. The charges were not serious: a personal quantity of marijuana found inside the car that Hairston was driving. It’s unclear why, with one small bag of pot in the car, three different people faced charges, and why their lawyers did not contend no one defendant could be identified as the owner beyond a reasonable doubt. There was also no mention in court of the gun and ammo clip that had been tossed from the car, or additional pot which we estimate to be worth $650 also tossed. Durham Police and the DA have said no one will be charged with possessing these items – but not no one has explained why the items cannot be traced through fingerprints or DNA. These proceedings have not touched upon the key issue arising from the June 5th stop: why was a college basketball star was driving a very expensive car rented for hundreds of dollars a day from Hertz by a Durham thug with recent felony convictions. Moreover, there is at least one other car tied to the felon. As Loyal Readers know, Hairston has been suspended indefinitely from the team. This occurred after he got a second speeding ticket this summer, but presumably his friendship with the felon, known as Fats, was also in Coach Roy Williams’s mind. Loyal Readers also know that Faulcon’s mother was claiming he was being set up — since initial claims were that Fats had provided him the car and Hairston was only driving it. With her son coming out of this with a clean record, presumably she will be silent. Stay tuned. There will be future posts of material you cannot find in The Daily Tar Heel, UNC’s student newspaper. |
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| abb | Aug 7 2013, 04:36 AM Post #4 |
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Passenger in PJ Hairston's car gets probation Published: August 6, 2013 Updated 17 hours ago The Associated Press DURHAM, N.C. — An Elizabeth City State basketball player who was in a rented car with suspended North Carolina guard P.J. Hairston when they were arrested in June has received six months of unsupervised probation. Miykael Faulcon appeared in Durham County court Tuesday. Judge James T. Hill said that if Faulcon also performs 10 hours of community service and completes a drug assessment program, the charge will be dropped. Both Faulcon and his mother, Trudy Ransom, declined comment as they left the courtroom. Faulcon, Hairston and former college basketball player Carlos Sanford were arrested June 5 and charged with misdemeanor marijuana possession in Durham. Hairston also was charged with driving without a license. Authorities dropped both charges against Hairston after he provided proof of his license and completed the assessment program. Sanford also appeared in court Tuesday, but his appearance was continued until Oct. 29. That traffic stop was the second time in a month that Hairston had been cited while driving a rental vehicle linked to a convicted felon. Hairston was cited for speeding in a 2012 Camaro on May 13 in a vehicle that was rented under a woman's name sharing the home address of Haydn Patrick "Fats" Thomas. Thomas' name appears on rental records for the 2013 GMC Yukon that Hairston was driving on the night of his June arrest. Thomas faces pending drug charges as well as a charge of possession of a firearm by a felon from a December arrest. Hairston was suspended indefinitely from the team last week after his third traffic citation of the summer. He averaged about 15 points per game last season and opted in April to return to school instead of entering the NBA draft. Read more here: http://www.newsobserver.com/2013/08/06/3086868/passenger-in-pj-hairstons-car.html#storylink=cpy |
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