Now the narrative [by "Jackie," the alleged University of Virginia rape victim] appears to be falling apart: Her rapist wasn't in the frat that she says he was a member of; the house held no party on the night of the assault; and other details are wobbly. Many people (not least U-Va. administrators) will be tempted to see this as a reminder that officials, reporters and the general public should hear both sides of the story and collect all the evidence before coming to a conclusion in rape cases. This is what we mean in America when we say someone is "innocent until proven guilty." After all, look what happened to the Duke lacrosse players.
In important ways, this is wrong. We should believe, as a matter of default, what an accuser says. Ultimately, the costs of wrongly disbelieving a survivor far outweigh the costs of calling someone a rapist. Even if Jackie fabricated her account, U-Va. should have taken her word for it during the period while they endeavored to prove or disprove the accusation.
The presumption of innocence is an anchor of liberty. But liberty just ain't that important when Political Correctness is running the show.
"Ultimately, the costs of wrongly disbelieving a survivor far outweigh the costs of calling someone a rapist."
You'd at least think that when making such an argument the author would, you know, make the argument. The statement is not self-evident; it could easily be the opposite (and as Bill points out, that is our constitutional principle since at least 1895).
That was the worst op-ed / article I have ever read in anything resembling a respectable publication. I am somewhat encouraged that the comments to it are almost uniformly negative - there appears to be at least some semblance of sanity in the rest of the world.
The entire controversy over the so-called "rape culture" has bothered me more than the other "controversies" du jour namely Ferguson, MO and the incident in Staten Island. I think this is because while I'd never start a fight with a police officer, I am a white male who was in a fraternity and I can empathize with the plight of a lot of these students accused of sexual assault.
I did a little research on the "rape culture" theory today and I can safely say it doesn't exist. The most common stat in support of the theory is that 20% of all women in college are sexually assaulted at some point. As a frame of reference, that is the estimated rate of women who are raped in the Congo and Rwanda. The number is derived from one study with a sample size of about 150 at one university in the Northeast with an extremely broad definition of sexual assault. Like the infamous exoneration list, it doesn't hold up to any scrutiny, let alone common sense.
During my research, I stumbled upon an interesting factoid that there is a developing niche market for litigators who sue universities for expelling male students who are found "liable" for sexual assault against female students in campus kangaroo court, I mean tribunals. Even more interesting, is that of insurance claims made by universities pertaining to sexual assaults since 2006, 72% of the dollar amount of claims have been paid in settlements to male students challenging their "sentence".
Being extremely bored today, I decided to look up a few cases on pacer to see what the basic fact patterns are and how these cases develop procedurally. Basically, they all involve some sort of sexual encounter which initially is consensual but later the female claims was not. Charges are brought against hapless male who is tried in tribunal with the functional legal acumen of the JV Mock Trial team at a 4th tier law school.
Male is then expelled. If he is smart, he obtains counsel who files suit, and requests a TRO against the university which appear to be almost always granted(i.e he is allowed to remain in school). University files a 12(b)(6) which is denied for the most part. Some discovery squabbles, namely the alleged victim refusing to be deposed, and then out of nowhere you see the stipulation dismissing the case due to settlement.
The bottom line the rape culture is a canard. For whatever reason, "feminists" have decided expelling and branding young men who did nothing wrong as rapists is somehow advancing their agenda which I guess is getting back at men (usually white, but by no means exclusively) for past transgressions or something. It needs to stop. It denies the accused due process, probably denies some real victims justice and makes a mockery of what is a very serious crime(if committed). In fact, the only winners seem to be the lawyers suing the schools.
A good article from Slate on the topic:
http://www.slate.com/articles/double_x/doublex/2014/12/college_rape_campus_sexual_assault_is_a_serious_problem_but_the_efforts.html