After an eight-month investigation, Harvard University’s sexualassault policy will include more lenient evidence requirements.
The policy came under scrutiny after a Harvard student saidrequiring victims to provide independent evidence such aseyewitnesses or a medical report was unfair and could lead theuniversity to throw out cases due to a lack of physicalevidence.
Northwestern also has measures to make sure students filingassault complaints do not have to depend on eyewitnessaccounts.
Weinberg senior Laura Millendorf, co-director of Women’sCoalition and co-chair for the upcoming Take Back the Night event,said NU’s system for hearing sexual assault claims was developedspecifically to give credibility to character witnesses.
The Sexual Assault Hearing and Appeals System is one of the mainways assault cases can be resolved. The system is a student andfaculty panel that decides if there is sufficient evidence toprosecute the case.
Millendorf said the eligibility of character witnesses in SAHASmeans NU students can have their case prosecuted without havingeyewitness support.
“This type of system makes the threshold for what’s necessary tosay if one is convicted of a crime much lower,” Millendorfsaid.
Besides SAHAS, claims at NU can be resolved through a mediator,said Mary Desler, associate vice president for student affairs. Thestudent also can file a police report, seek medical attention, gofor counseling or seek administrative options.
Desler said many schools do not have the mediation option, wherean arbitrator hears both the victim’s and the accused’s storiesseparately. The mediator then works with the two sides to come to aresolution that satisfies both parties.
She said NU uses an even-handed approach when it comes to sexualassault claims.
“We would take seriously any complaint that came forward aboutsexual assault and investigate it,” said Desler.
Taking student concerns seriously is what led Harvard officialsto examine their evidence policy for sexual assault cases.
Soon after the student filed the complaint, Harvard changed thewording of the policy from “sufficient independent corroboration”to “supporting information,” a broader definition that wouldrequire less evidence to have a complaint heard. �
Wendy Murphy, the Harvard student’s lawyer, said she isconcerned the improvement in the wording of Harvard’s policy willnot translate to an improvement in how the policy is practiced.
“This is all very, very much dependent on implementation,”Murphy said. “If the policy is watered down, but in practice it isheld to a much higher standard, then that won’t work.”
The Coalition Against Sexual Violence, a Harvard group thatsupported the investigation, said more changes need to be madebefore group members will be satisfied with the policy.
Alexandra Neuhaus-Follini, a Harvard junior and coalitionmember, said the current policy is a more flexible version of theoriginal, but she said members of the group are worried aboutimplementation of the policy.
“We’re better off than we were last June, but it’s still a badpolicy,” Neuhaus-Follini said. “It still doesn’t erase our concernthat some students won’t be granted a full investigation.”
According to Murphy, sexual assault is a bigger problem oncampuses than many colleges want to admit. She said students atmost colleges, not just Harvard, are intimidated, frustrated andscared to come forward.
Desler said the process can be difficult for administrators too.She said NU officials who hear a case in SAHAS can have a hard timemaking a decision, especially when both sides have differentopinions.
“It’s hard because a lot of times, unfortunately, the cases comedown to he said/she said,” Desler said. “Sometimes we can’t decidewho’s telling the truth.”
