{"id":13975,"date":"2021-09-20T15:49:29","date_gmt":"2021-09-20T15:49:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nrlawyers.com\/chinese\/?p=13975"},"modified":"2021-09-20T15:49:29","modified_gmt":"2021-09-20T15:49:29","slug":"the-dangers-of-being-male-on-a-university-campus","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nrlawyers.com\/chinese\/the-dangers-of-being-male-on-a-university-campus\/","title":{"rendered":"The Dangers of Being Male on a University Campus"},"content":{"rendered":"

Neuberger & Partners LLP<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

University students are staging a protest<\/a> over what is seen as a failure to address sexual assault on campus after shocking claims on social media and four official complaints made at Western University within the first week of school.<\/p>\n

The university had previously been ridiculed for demanding an end to student parties for health and safety reasons. One response<\/a> to their threat to expel students was to call them \u201ctone deaf.\u201d The university had also pre-warned<\/a> that student behaviour was putting \u201cour entire year in jeopardy.\u201d<\/p>\n

The robust policies that are in place in most universities have long been government mandated and, though they may be frustrating for complainants, they are very dangerous for those students who find themselves accused of sexual misconduct.<\/p>\n

For example, the Policy<\/a> at Western University makes a point of referring to complainants as \u201cSurvivors\u201d throughout their Policy and Procedures<\/a>. One would expect the footnote on that term to clarify that the label \u201cSurvivor\u201d does not not presume the allegation to be true. Instead, the explanation is only to assure \u201cSurvivors\u201d that they can also choose their own term such as \u201cvictim\u201d or \u201cthrivor.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the policy definitions, \u201cComplaint\u201d is described as the \u201csharing of information concerning an act of Gender-Based and Sexual Violence by a Survivor with the intention of initiating a formal process identified in the Policy.\u201d A \u201cComplainant\u201d – the appropriate term – is described as \u201cA Member of the University Community who has filed a Complaint. Thus all \u201cComplainants\u201d are deemed \u201cSurvivors,\u201d \u201cSurvivors\u201d are defined as \u201cA person who has experienced Gender-Based and Sexual Violence.\u201d<\/p>\n

Farewell to the presumption of innocence.<\/p>\n

Although we can all agree that gender based violence is a serious issue and students must be protected with\u00a0 measures in place to protect students and educate on the issues of sexual violence, elimination of due process and the presumtion of innocence ought not to be sacrificed and yet it is.\u00a0 Immediately upon receiving a complaint, the \u201cRespondent\u201d (accused) can be subjected to a variety of interim measures \u201cincluding but not limited to\u201d a variety of restrictions including banishment from campus. These measures are said to not be \u201cpunishments\u201d but would clearly affect the accused\u2019s ability to pursue his education prior to any finding of guilt.<\/p>\n

Like some other universities, Western\u2019s policy allows complaints to be made anonymously or by third parties but adds a codicil\u00a0 that \u201cthe University\u2019s ability to respond may be limited by the information available or its ability to provide a fair process to the Respondent.\u201d<\/p>\n

This has been the case so far regarding claims<\/a> made on the social media platforms Instagram, TikTok and Reddit stating that up to 30 women were \u201croofied\u201d at one of Western\u2019s residences. Social media users tend to take the #believe approach and university investigations don\u2019t guarantee much better.<\/p>\n

Many universities refuse to provide the accused with complete information about the accusations. Western\u2019s procedure allows the Investigator to provide only a summary of the complaint. The accused can refuse to participate but it will not prevent the university from proceeding with the investigation and making a decision.<\/p>\n

Additionally, like some other universities, Western allows for complaints to be made even if the alleged victim is not a student at the university. An investigation will be launched if the complainant was a member of the university at the time of the allegation, if the accused was a member at the time of the allegation or if he is a member at the time the complaint is made. There are no time limits on complaints.<\/p>\n

If the accused decides to leave the university, Western\u2019s policy allows the university to continue the investigation without their participation.<\/p>\n

It is hard to imagine what more the protesters want from the university in terms of a complainant friendly policy. They are already assumed to be victims at the time of a complaint. The accused can already be banned from campus the moment a complaint is made. It\u2019s possible that students just need to be better informed about the university policy to understand how easy it is to have an accused person thrown off campus.<\/p>\n

In terms of incentive, an alleged victim can choose to merely \u201cdisclose\u201d an alleged incident without making a formal complaint and still access numerous forms of academic or personal relief without question. These include but are not limited to: the ability to switch residences, permission to submit assignments late, write a make-up exam or withdraw late from a course without penalty. It can hardly be said that a person would have no reason to fabricate a sexual assault allegation under this policy.<\/p>\n

For those who are accused, the consequences of an allegation are life changing from the moment a complaint is made.\u00a0 Not only is their academic career ruined, the potential for facing false allegations in criminal court is real.\u00a0 Anyone accused of such an allegation should seek the assistance of experienced legal counsel before making any decisions. Participation in a university investigation does not preclude the complainant from pursuing criminal charges as well.<\/p>\n

One further issue that continues to remain a concern is misleading information that universities put out regarding the definition of \u201cconsent\u201d and intoxication.\u00a0 Most of the information provided to students suggests being drunk eliminates the ability to provide consent which is not the law.\u00a0 This misleading information can and often leads to a biased view of an interaction leading to a false allegation.<\/p>\n

Again, protection of students from any violence is vital.\u00a0 Protection of our children when away at university must remain a priority of the universities and police.\u00a0 That said, we strive for the same protection of members of our community at large and still demand due process and the presumption of innocence to be respected.\u00a0 The same must apply to university investigations and proper information on the law must be provided to students.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Neuberger & Partners LLP \u00a0 University students are staging a protest over what is seen as a failure to address sexual assault on campus after shocking claims on social media and four official complaints made at Western University within the first week of school. The university had previously been ridiculed for demanding an end to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":13976,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13975","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sexual-assault"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nrlawyers.com\/chinese\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13975","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nrlawyers.com\/chinese\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nrlawyers.com\/chinese\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nrlawyers.com\/chinese\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nrlawyers.com\/chinese\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13975"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.nrlawyers.com\/chinese\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13975\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13977,"href":"https:\/\/www.nrlawyers.com\/chinese\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13975\/revisions\/13977"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nrlawyers.com\/chinese\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13976"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nrlawyers.com\/chinese\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13975"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nrlawyers.com\/chinese\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13975"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nrlawyers.com\/chinese\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13975"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}