Dept. of Education Rules that Secretive Disciplinary Proccedings violate the Campus Sexual Assault Victim's Bill
When Kate Dieringer
learned that the fellow student whom she had accused of raping her in
her first month at Georgetown University would be suspended from the
college for a year rather than expelled, she was outraged. "I wanted to
tell everyone," she said. Yet she couldn't: In order to learn the
results of the young man's campus disciplinary hearings in the spring
of 2002, she had signed a form promising not to share them with anyone,
except for her parents and one close adviser. Such confidentiality
pledges have been standard on many college campuses. But in response to
a complaint filed by Dieringer, the U.S. Department of Education told
Georgetown this week that its policy violates a federal campus crime
law. The decision could encourage victims to shine a light into
the often secretive workings of collegiate disciplinary systems -- and
even warn fellow students about their alleged attackers. The Department
of Education's order apparently applies only to cases involving sexual
assault, as governed by a 1992 law known as the Campus Sexual Assault
Victims' Bill of Rights, which requires that victims receive
information about disciplinary proceedings without any conditions or
limitations. [more] or [more]
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