SEXUAL ASSAULT at Brown University

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by Jody Ericson

If the pages of the Brown Daily Herald are any indication, the campus has become polarized, with large numbers of students doubting that the council issues fair decisions. Two open meetings were held on the topic, but were sparsely attended -- evidence, says a university spokesman, that the campus is hardly divided over the issue. That is certainly a reasonable interpretation. But there is another, equally reasonable interpretation, amply reflected in the pages of the Brown Daily Herald: that students don't trust the good faith of the administration in this area.

Even some faculty members have been drawn into the fray. Take David Josephson, a music professor who had been advising Adam Lack on his case. In November, the two sexual-assault cases dramatically collided when Josephson was overheard at Al Forno, a local restaurant, talking about the alleged rape from September. In a loud voice, Josephson referred to the alleged victim as a "psychopath" and speculated on intimate details about the case to a female companion who had nothing to do with it.

Clearly a dangerous pattern is unfolding at Brown. Instead of the gray area that Katie Roiphe refers to in her book, most students see either black or white, victim or perpetrator. In the process, Josephson and others have been made into heroes. To the OCR, the professor called himself a "leader of a counterrevolution" at Brown -- a sympathetic figure for all the frustrated young men who are tired of the school's politics.

In an interview with the Phoenix, Josephson said he'd never asked for all the attention; he'd just wanted to help Adam Lack. But things spun out of his control.

Josephson says one man asked him to form a men's defense group, while others passed on awful rumors about the alleged rape in September and other incidents. "I was stalked on campus and on the streets," he says. "I got e-mail and letters, anonymous and signed."

That night at Al Forno, Josephson finally let loose. The conversation was supposed to be about "scholarly" issues, but his dining companion "could tell my heart wasn't in it."

According to three sworn statements, one from a journalist and former French ambassador, the music professor gossiped about the alleged victim's health records, which included STD and pregnancy tests. He was overhead saying he'd been "able to prove that she was a liar" and that he'd "helped the charged student have the case dismissed."

Fed up with the way the Office of Student Life handled sexual-assault cases, Josephson also lashed out at associate dean Toby Simon. He called Simon a "feminazi," according to the sworn statements, and he alleged she'd been fired from Brown over her involvement in the Lack case. (Simon refused to comment on Josephson, but said she is resigning from her job in May.)

The OSL is supposed to support both parties in a UDC case, says Josephson. Instead, he contends, deans like Simon act like a state prosecutor, presenting the alleged victim's case on behalf of the university.

"Adam Lack rightfully saw the Office of Student Life as the enemy," says Josephson. "Adam Lack has been made into a pariah."

The music professor says that at Brown and other universities, "indoctrination has replaced education." What Josephson wants is "reasonable equity."

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