Saturday, October 25, 2014

Sexual assault is a serious crime, but a college is not a justice system

As a female student I read your article on new college codes for sexual conduct with interest (“Yes means yes, says Mr Brown”, October 4th)
writes Jena López writes to The Economist from Houston.
Universities are overstepping their boundaries. Sexual assault is a serious crime, but a college is not a justice system. It does not have the right to say if a person is innocent or guilty. Instead, colleges should tell students what the legal definition of sexual assault is when they first arrive and help them if they want to go to the police if an assault occurs. If one student is accused by the other it is the job of the courts to declare innocence or guilt, not the college.
Unrelated: also check out the letter to the editor on "Napoleon’s flair for genius".