SEXUAL ASSAULT at Brown University

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by Jody Ericson

Prior to the 1960s, campus judiciaries did not even exist. Instead, university deans acted, as it's known in legal theory, in loco parentis. As Chris Shea wrote in the February 9, 1994, issue of the Chronicle of Higher Education, "college officials didn't used to need a reason to expel someone any more than a parent had to hold a hearing before spanking a child."

But with the civil-rights movement came what was supposed to have been a new era of student rights. In 1961, one court ruling in particular "opened up a huge body of law over the last 35 years," says Dennis Gregory, former president of the national Association of Student Judicial Affairs.

That year, six black students at the University of Alabama were suspended for organizing anti-segregation protests. In some cases, the suspended students said, they hadn't even attended the demonstrations. In their lawsuit against the university, a judge ruled that the accused had had a right to defend themselves prior to their suspension.

Today, universities use a variety of systems to discipline their students. Some have an undergraduate "attorney general" who investigates complaints, and student "defenders" who argue the case before a panel of "justices."

The majority of campus judiciaries don't use the word "guilty" when rendering verdicts. Rather, they find students "responsible" for violating the student code. Conclusions are reached not according to the criminal-case standard of "beyond a reasonable doubt," but according to the civil-case standard of "a preponderance of evidence." This standard frees the judiciaries to hear cases that would never withstand the rigors of a court trial.

On campuses across the nation, rulings on sexual violence among students have been particularly contentious. Some women say that they have been ignored. Then there are the critics, including writers Camille Paglia and Katie Roiphe, who maintain that the definition of rape has been stretched too far, and that women, even drunk ones, must take responsibility for their actions.

"There is a gray area in which one person's rape may be another's bad night," Roiphe wrote in her 1993 book, The Morning After: Sex, Fear, and Feminism on Campus.

Fueled by such assertions, students accused of sexual assault are fighting the charges now and pointing out the flaws -- and biases -- of campus judiciaries in the process.

At Brown, for example, Adam Lack emerged as a martyr to some in the struggle against political correctness after he filed a suit against Brown University in February -- and also against Sara Klein, the woman who claimed to have been sexually assaulted by him. In his lawsuit, Lack says he was a victim of the school's liberal politics and of a double standard for men and women.

The year before, the UDC had convicted the junior of sexual misconduct based on only his own testimony; his accuser had blacked out. The Brown Daily Herald then plastered his name and alleged crime on the front page of a special edition. Lack had slept with Klein, who claimed she'd been too drunk to consent. In her complaint, she accused Lack of essentially raping her. In his lawsuit, he accuses her of libel.

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Jody Ericson can be reached at jericson[a]phx.com.