Date Rapes Costing Colleges Tens of Millions - “A Perfect Storm"

WASHINGTON - June 30, 2014 - PRLog -- WASHINGTON, D.C. (June 30,  2014): A detailed study of campus sexual assaults suggests that they may have already cost colleges and universities more than $100 million, and the huge costs are almost certainly going to balloon as the Administration continues to pressure educational institutions to convict more students, notes public interest law professor John Banzhaf, who was one of the first to point out the growing number of male students fighting back by going to court and/or videotaping their sexual encounters.

         According to a Risk Research Bulletin put out by insurance company United Educators [UE], student-on-student sexual assaults - which UE termed “a perfect storm” of "alcohol, mental health, and sexual violence" - cost its members more than $36 million in losses from 2006-2010.

        Since the UE represents only about 1,200 educational institutions - including independent schools and public school districts, as well as colleges and universities - and because the number of complaints and campus adjudicatory proceedings exploded only after that time period, it is likely that the sum of losses at all colleges and universities to date is much higher and will continue to grow.

        The bulletin also reported a number of important factors regarding the problem.

    ■ First, 96% of student-on-student sexual assaults involved acquaintances, so women attending colleges and universities should be much more concerned about friends than strangers.

    ■ Second, in 92% percent of the claims with losses, the accuser was under the influence of alcohol, and "more than 60 percent of accusers were so intoxicated that they had no clear memory of the assault."  This would make it very difficult to uphold a finding that the accused was guilty, especially if he does claim to remember what happened and that it was consensual, says Banzhaf.

    ■ Third, "prior to the assault, 33% of the accusers battled mental health issues." This factor alone could be used to undermine the accuser's credibility, even if no alcohol was involved, suggests Banzhaf.

    ■ Fourth, fully 75% "of the student sexual assault claims resulted in litigation.”  The most common causes of action were negligence, breach of contract, Title IX violations, intentional infliction of emotional distress, fraud, defamation, due process violations, and breach of the covenant of good faith and fair dealing.

        Males have already used legal action successfully at Brown (2X), Central College, Denison,  Duke (2X) , George Washington, Holy Cross, Occidental, Saint Joseph, University of the South, and Xavier.

       Meanwhile, law suits filed by students convicted by their universities of rape and/or sexual assault are pending against Bucknell, Cincinnati, Columbia, Delaware State, Depauw, Drew, Kenyon, U of Michigan, Philadelphia U, Swarthmore, Vassar, Williams, and perhaps others.

        In addition to court suits, in which judges may soon require a number of important protections - like the right to have an attorney and to cross examine - as a matter of constitutional law, male students are also being warned to begin videotaping their sexual encounters as evidence that the act was consensual.

        Interestingly, the great majority of the states do not criminalize videotaping without sound, and the laws in those which do are full of limitations and loopholes, says Banzhaf.

JOHN F. BANZHAF III, B.S.E.E., J.D., Sc.D.
Professor of Public Interest Law
George Washington University Law School,
FAMRI Dr. William Cahan Distinguished Professor,
Fellow, World Technology Network,
Founder, Action on Smoking and Health (ASH)
2000 H Street, NW
Washington, DC 20052, USA
(202) 994-7229 // (703) 527-8418
http://banzhaf.net/ @profbanzhaf