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Discussion Topic: Student upset at how OSU handled sexual-assault case involving wrestler
Freddy Carr added to this discussion on May 8, 2012
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Student upset at how OSU handled sexual-assault case involving wrestler
She says suspension of alleged assailant isn’t tough enough
By Encarnacion Pyle
The Columbus Dispatch Tuesday May 8, 2012 7:58 AM
An Ohio State student can’t believe that the university expelled a student for graffiti but gave a one-year suspension to the man she says raped her in her dorm room.
“It is horrifying to find out that the university does not have a zero-tolerance policy for rape,” the woman said. “What kind of teaching institution supports such heinous behavior and violence toward other students?”
The Dispatch is not identifying the students, because the case involves allegations of sexual assault and no criminal charges have been filed.
The public wouldn’t even know about the woman’s case if she and her family hadn’t appealed to OSU President E. Gordon Gee and university trustees to treat sexual assault as automatic grounds for expulsion.
Ohio State is prohibited by federal student-privacy laws from discussing specific incidents and cases, but “We take the issue of sexual assault on our campus community very seriously,” said Dave Isaacs, OSU’s Student Life spokesman.
In an email to the woman’s family on Friday, Gee said, “Please know how deeply saddened I am by your feelings of pain and frustration. ... While I can appreciate that you are not satisfied by the results of the hearing, the reality is that (the male student) is facing very serious consequences."
The woman and witnesses told university officials the following: A man who lived a floor above her in Steeb Hall entered her dorm room while she was sleeping and raped her on March 3. She was awakened after 12:30 a.m. by a man who had climbed into her bunk bed. He forced himself upon her, penetrating her with his fingers as she struggled to fight him off. She had left the door unlocked because her roommate hadn’t returned yet.
She also told authorities that she managed to push the man off her bed and call for help. He ran out but left his black tennis shoes and a Boston Red Sox baseball cap. She said she didn’t know him.
Witnesses said the male student had been written up that night for being extremely drunk. They saw him punch a man in the face and try to kiss a resident adviser who asked his friends to put him to bed.
The man didn’t return several phone calls to a number listed for his parents’ house. He was first moved to another dorm after the incident and then temporarily suspended pending the outcome of a student-conduct hearing. He also voluntarily withdrew from the OSU wrestling team.
University officials held a hearing on Wednesday and found him in violation of university rules on “sexual misconduct: physical contact or other nonphysical conduct of a sexual nature in the absence of clear, knowing and voluntary consent.” He was also cited for alcohol abuse, endangering health or safety and disorderly or disruptive conduct, and was suspended for a year.
The university hearing is separate from any criminal investigation, and police are still investigating the incident, said OSU Police Chief Paul Denton.
Isaacs said each student-conduct case is handled on its own merits.
“Disciplinary sanctions for sexual misconduct may include suspension or permanent dismissal,” he said, “and the majority of cases also include educational sanctions that can help the accused student make better future choices.”
The university also provides counseling and other support services to victims, Isaacs said.
Ohio State reported to the federal government that there were 12 forcible sexual offenses on the campus in 2010, the last year for which statistics are available. Seven of those incidents occurred in dorms.
The woman’s father said Ohio State failed to protect his daughter and that the resident adviser should have called campus police when the man was drunk and acting out of control.
He said he thinks the university went light on the perpetrator because he was a wrestler on scholarship. The father added that his family expected OSU to expel the student because campus authorities had told them about kicking out a student for painting graffiti on two campus buildings this year.
“We just wanted him to be dismissed or at least suspended for four years so (our daughter) would feel safe and she would have completed her five-year degree,” he wrote in an email to Gee.
Gee replied that the man’s role as an athlete had “no bearing whatsoever in the decision-making process.”
The woman said the incident and how it was handled has left her feeling depressed and unable to sleep. She said she plans to transfer to another school in the fall.
epyle@dispatch.com
http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/local/2012/05/08/student-upset-at-how-osu-handled-sexual-assault-case.html
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Discussion Topic: Student upset at how OSU handled sexual-assault case involving wrestler
Mark Niemann added to this discussion on May 8, 2012
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Discussion Topic: Student upset at how OSU handled sexual-assault case involving wrestler
Fred Feeney added to this discussion on May 8, 2012
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Interesting...I would think the problem is that until the kid is charged...tOSU has nothing to go on.
Unlike the graffiti, where he was charged.
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Discussion Topic: Student upset at how OSU handled sexual-assault case involving wrestler
Gary Sommers added to this discussion on May 8, 2012
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If they had "nothing to go on", why was he suspended?
They must have had something, or was the suspension premature and/or improper?
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Discussion Topic: Student upset at how OSU handled sexual-assault case involving wrestler
Mark Niemann added to this discussion on May 8, 2012
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Quote from Gary Sommers's post:
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"If they had "nothing to go on", why was he suspended?
They must have had something, or was the suspension premature and/or improper?"
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Did I miss breaking news from Ohio State?
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Discussion Topic: Student upset at how OSU handled sexual-assault case involving wrestler
Bob Preusse added to this discussion on May 8, 2012
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in light of this statement, so who is he? was he really "on scholarship"? is this statement true?
"He also voluntarily withdrew from the OSU wrestling team."
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Discussion Topic: Student upset at how OSU handled sexual-assault case involving wrestler
Gary Sommers added to this discussion on May 8, 2012
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Quote from Bob Preusse's post:
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"in light of this statement, so who is he? was he really "on scholarship"? is this statement true?
"He also voluntarily withdrew from the OSU wrestling team.""
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Gee, what a magnanimous gesture. (sigh) He should also shortly be involuntarily withdrawing from free society.
And no Mark, quite pridelessly there has been no breaking news from Columbus.
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Discussion Topic: Student upset at how OSU handled sexual-assault case involving wrestler
Mark Niemann added to this discussion on May 8, 2012
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Quote from Gary Sommers's post:
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"I am out.
Guys, keep thinking Smith had nothing to do with this, and I will be back when he is gone."
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Did I miss breaking news from Ohio State?
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Discussion Topic: Student upset at how OSU handled sexual-assault case involving wrestler
Brady Hiatt added to this discussion on May 8, 2012
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Mark, the only thing I miss when a man's word could be trusted.
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Discussion Topic: Student upset at how OSU handled sexual-assault case involving wrestler
Freddy Carr added to this discussion on May 8, 2012
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Quote from Gary Sommers's post:
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"If they had "nothing to go on", why was he suspended?
They must have had something, or was the suspension premature and/or improper?"
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From the article:
University officials held a hearing on Wednesday and found him in violation of university rules on “sexual misconduct: physical contact or other nonphysical conduct of a sexual nature in the absence of clear, knowing and voluntary consent.” He was also cited for alcohol abuse, endangering health or safety and disorderly or disruptive conduct, and was suspended for a year.
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Discussion Topic: Student upset at how OSU handled sexual-assault case involving wrestler
Gary Sommers added to this discussion on May 8, 2012
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Quote from Freddy Carr's post:
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"
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Quote from Gary Sommers's post:
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"If they had "nothing to go on", why was he suspended?
They must have had something, or was the suspension premature and/or improper?"
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From the article:
University officials held a hearing on Wednesday and found him in violation of university rules on “sexual misconduct: physical contact or other nonphysical conduct of a sexual nature in the absence of clear, knowing and voluntary consent.” He was also cited for alcohol abuse, endangering health or safety and disorderly or disruptive conduct, and was suspended for a year."
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So it seems like, unlike what Fred said, they had PLENTY to "go on".
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Discussion Topic: Student upset at how OSU handled sexual-assault case involving wrestler
Mark Niemann added to this discussion on May 8, 2012
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Quote from Gary Sommers's post:
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"I am out.
Guys, keep thinking Smith had nothing to do with this, and I will be back when he is gone."
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Did I miss breaking news from Ohio State?
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Discussion Topic: Student upset at how OSU handled sexual-assault case involving wrestler
Brady Hiatt added to this discussion on May 8, 2012
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Quote from Mark Niemann's post:
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"
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Quote from Gary Sommers's post:
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"I am out.
Guys, keep thinking Smith had nothing to do with this, and I will be back when he is gone."
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Did I miss breaking news from Ohio State?"
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Mark, the only thing I miss when a man's word could be trusted.
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Discussion Topic: Student upset at how OSU handled sexual-assault case involving wrestler
Mark Niemann added to this discussion on May 8, 2012
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It says the incident happened on march 3rd... Weren't the B1Gs that weekend???
Does not the whole team travel? Maybe not, I guess.
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Discussion Topic: Student upset at how OSU handled sexual-assault case involving wrestler
Bob Preusse added to this discussion on May 8, 2012
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well Mark, thats why in my previous post i asked "is this guy really on scholarship" as the Dispatch article said he was??
from the Tressel investigation a year ago, i recall this particular reporter did the inaccuracy filled car-gate investigation for the Dispatch which accused alot but contained inaccurate info and proved nothing. ...s/BobP
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