SEXUAL ASSAULT at Brown University

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by Jody Ericson

In his report on the incident for 20/20, ABC news reporter John Stossel said Lack was a victim of Brown's rampant political correctness. Called "When No Means Yes," Stossel's report aired in late March, with an opening sequence taped at what appears to be a party. Hands around beer cups and smooth young hips. Loud music. What if you get drunk and have sex with someone?, the scene implies. Then Stossel says, "There's a chance your partner will say it was rape."

In February of 1996, Lack walked into a friend's room to borrow a CD only to discover a drunk young stranger lying on a bed next to a puddle of vomit. Klein, then a freshman, followed Lack back to his room for a glass of water and eventually came on to him, he says.

According to Lack, Klein did not seem upset when she woke up the next morning in his bed. She even told him to call her. But a month later, she reported the encounter to university officials, and Lack was found responsible.

A native of rural Iowa, Lack was not a well-known student on the Brown campus. He wasn't a high-profile athlete, bringing glory to the university and exciting its alumni, and he wasn't related to anyone famous. Some wonder whether the outcome would've been different if he had been.

Consider the case two years ago involving a pair of varsity football players. The two athletes had been accused in the beatings of a handful of students in a fight at Spat's, a pub on Providence's Thayer Street which has since closed. During the mêlée, a cheerleader's nose had been broken, and a graduate student had been mercilessly kicked in the head -- in front of dozens of other students.

The UDC, in November of 1995, said the case wasn't strong enough for the council to render a guilty verdict.

That might surprise the Providence District Court, where the two athletes, Joseph Karcutskie and Jon Bourbeau, pleaded no contest to the charges three months later. Students were outraged at the UDC's handling of the case, particularly since the football players had been allowed to play for Brown in a key game right after the incident.

No doubt this case was complicated as well. In her official statement on the UDC ruling, the dean of student life, Robin Rose, said the university's investigation, involving both Providence and campus police, lasted 33 days, compared to an average of three weeks. Before finding the students not responsible, the UDC heard nearly 12 hours of testimony from 14 witnesses, and read statements from 27 witnesses. The testimony was confusing and contradictory, says Rose, because the beatings had occurred during a "classic barroom brawl." She goes on: "Students on both sides found it difficult to testify definitively about the events of that evening." According to Freid, not one conclusively identified the two athletes as the assailants. Rose adds that concerns that the university "was moving too slowly" or "offering special treatment to athletes" are "unfounded."

As to why the pair later pleaded "no contest" in District Court, an OSL dean said two additional witnesses had come forward to testify. (The UDC does not have the power to subpoena witnesses.)

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