One of the provisions of a bill that New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed into law last month is a new police unit that specializes in campus sexual assault.
Now that the $4.5 million program is taking effect, some advocates for alleged victims are saying that having professionals investigate allegations is going to harm “survivors,” Reuters reports:
Proponents see New York’s new police unit as a way of improving universities’ response to rape reports, from services offered to victims to disciplinary investigations.
“We think it is important that this unit exists, that victims have support and information that they ordinarily would not have,” said Alphonso David, counsel to Cuomo.
He said the state police unit could get involved at any point in a campus case.
Guess which mattress-based activist group is frowning:
“Students do not trust state police to respond effectively to reports of gender-based violence,” said Zoe Ridolfi-Starr, a Columbia University graduate and campaign director for Carry That Weight, an advocacy group for people who have suffered sexual assault and domestic violence. …
“The police are not in a position to be training campus officials on how to handle sexual assault cases because they cannot do so themselves,” Ridolfi-Starr said.
Why get people involved who investigate crimes for a living?
Meghan Racklin, a New York University student, said some survivors prefer to have an avenue to report an assault other than the criminal justice system.
“They’re asking for their right to education in a place that is safe and fair, and that’s not the same as a criminal proceeding,” she said.
By “safe and fair,” Racklin apparently means “no questions asked.” How typical of the modern college student to not want her worldview – including an unbounded definition of “sexual assault” – challenged.
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