Rape is a serious violent crime

Some insightful letters to the editor – my favorites:

Rape is a serious violent crime. College administrations have shown themselves time and again to be completely incompetent when addressing charges of sexual assault. Why do we allow this process in the first place? Would we allow a college administration to investigate a kidnapping? Would we allow it to adjudicate a murder charge? Of course not.

But since we allow rape investigations to fall within the scope of its authority, we drive home the message that rape is not a serious crime, that it is merely a campus-related issue that does not require the same level of criminal legal investigation as other crimes.

And:

Foolish and courageous. Those are the two words that came to mind when reading this horrifying story. Too harsh?

Foolish, because we need to teach our young women to avoid being in situations in which they may become a victim. While assaults happen no matter how careful you are, drinking large quantities of alcohol and being alone with the wrong kind of man is a precarious position at best.

Courageous, because Anna is determined to have her story publicized and willing to help her peers become educated about the failures of our college administrators. The disciplinary panel that heard her case was a kangaroo court at best.

I hope Anna finds some kind of justice through the civil system as a last resort. I applaud her bravery.

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/16/opinion/the-rape-case-hobart-and-william-smith-and-readers-respond.html