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Last spring, Harvard altered its disciplinary policy governing peer disputes to require corroborating evidence before the Administrative Board will launch a full review of a case. This will greatly reduce the number of sexual assault cases the University actually investigates; obviously, in many of these cases, corroborating evidence is difficult to obtain before an investigation even begins. For this reason among others, Harvard’s new policy is a tragedy for sexual assault victims. However, one anonymous student’s recent appeal of the decision on Title IX grounds—which prohibits discrimination in education...
...relevance of Title IX in this case is questionable. According to the Office of Civil Rights in the Department of Education, which oversees Title IX compliance, its guidelines only cover sexual harassment, not sexual assault. The complaint alleges that under Title IX, sexual harassment cases must be handled in a “prompt and equitable” way, and that this change prevents the University from doing so. Assistant Dean of the College Karen E. Avery ’87, however, says the University is committed to providing fair and expeditious procedures to sexual assault victims...
Harvard would do well to respond to the complaint on its own rather than continuing to fight its own students. The complaint is correct that sexual violence affects women much more than men and that the school’s failure to address sexual assault cases promptly can poison the educational environment for female students. Regardless of its Title IX grounding, this complaint ought spur Harvard to cease its legal squabbling and instead revamp its entire system of dealing with sexual assault allegations...
Harvard was correct that its old system was failing—a failure that took years of lobbying for Harvard to recognize. The new policy, however, takes a step backward and instead reduces the responsibilities of the school in responding to sexual assault by making it more difficult to bring cases before the Ad Board. Rather than making the disciplinary process harder for victims, Harvard should enable itself to deal with all sexual assault cases. Instead of throwing up its hands when victims of sexual assault seek help, Harvard should establish a separate board to hear these painful and complex...
...Crimson Key drilled tour guides about the history of Harvard, and their guides expertly addressed general questions about student life, but they also answered questions about uncomfortable topics—final clubs, sexual assault and the Core—honestly. That must continue; the admissions office should not take this as an opportunity to present an unrealistic, whitewashed view of Harvard’s problems. The new tour guides should answer even the prickliest of questions openly and honestly, in order to give prospective students an accurate impression of life at Harvard...