Thank you, Gretchen Cook!

I'm just going to paste in this brilliant article that Ms. Cook wrote, which talks about how colleges and Universities, citing some great cases, keep victims silent when it comes to campus rape. I've spoken with Wendy Murphy at length - and she's right. Read on:

"Tactics to Minimize Rape Reporting on the Rise

Catherine Bath, program director for Security On Campus, Inc. says that data
collected by her King of Prussia, Pennsylvania-based nonprofit group indicated
the number of campus rapes has remained relatively steady over the decade.
What she does see, however, is an alarming increase in the tactics schools use to
minimize reporting.

"We've seen victims outright discouraged from reporting rape because they've
been told they could be found guilty of drinking or having sex in the dorm," says
Bath. She adds that campus rape victims are "afraid of even going through the
campus judicial system, for fear of being sanctioned."

Two such cases have been in the headlines recently. Last year, Boston University
student Meghann Horner reported a sexual assault and told campus authorities
she had smoked marijuana with her assailant. The university cleared the alleged
rapist but charged Horner with illegal drug use. Those charges, later overturned,
came on the heels of protests over the treatment of another Boston University
rape victim. In that case, Kristin Roslonski was suspended for drinking on campus
after she had reported being raped by a fellow student. Roslonski has filed a $1.4
million civil suit against Boston University.

Wendy Murphy, a Boston attorney who has worked with campus rape victims for
10 years, cites other strategies schools use to discourage rape reporting. These
include: insisting victims turn over all information on psychological counseling or
medical exams prior to the assault and waiving any confidentiality rights to those
files; instituting strict statutes of limitations--most college victims will not
immediately report the assault; erroneously warning victims that if they get a rape
evidence kit done they will have to press charges even if they later change their
minds; and pressuring victims to accept a campus mediation process in lieu of
outside judicial recourse.

Murphy says that last hurdle--of pushing campus mediation--is the most
egregious. "What victims need most in these cases is access to outside counseling
and representation," she says.

In another recent case, Georgetown University student Kate Dieringer reported
she was drugged and raped in 2001, her first year, by a student who was acting
as her student-orientation advisor. The school held a hearing on the charges, but
demanded Dieringer sign a confidentiality agreement before she could be informed
of the outcome--and know whether her alleged assailant would be allowed to
return to campus.

Georgetown's Office of Student Conduct not only let the accused rapist off, but
the office's director labeled Dieringer "a woman scorned." Outraged that the
confidentiality agreement kept her from pursuing the charges elsewhere, Dieringer
filed a complaint with the U.S. Department of Education charging that the
agreement violated the Clery Act, which requires campuses to inform victims of
their right to outside counsel. Dieringer's case is still pending."