February 2015 - Save - Leading The Policy Movement For Fairness and Due Process On Campus

Contact: Gina Lauterio
Email: info@saveservices.org

SAVE Applauds Penn Law Professors for Principled Civil Rights Stance

WASHINGTON / February 20, 2015 – SAVE, a national sexual assault organization, is highlighting the courageous action of 16 University of Pennsylvania law professors for protesting a new campus sexual assault policy. The Open Letter charges the new university policy lacks “fundamental fairness” in avoiding wrongful decisions of wrongful conduct: http://media.philly.com/documents/OpenLetter.pdf

The faculty letter denounces the university’s policy for concentrating power to investigate claims of sexual assault in the hands of an Investigating Officer, turning the campus disciplinary hearing into little more than a rubber-stamp exercise.

The letter also reveals the perverse pressures being brought to bear by the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights. “The threat of loss of federal funding risks coloring the proceedings,” the law professors wrote.

An ever-growing number of successful lawsuits brought by expelled students against their former universities points to a worrisome problem of false allegations of sexual assault, SAVE notes. One study reported 41% of campus rape claims were found to be false: http://sf-criminaldefense.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/KaninFalseRapeAllegations.pdf

“The recent UVA-Rolling Stone debacle has been a tragic setback for rape victims,” notes SAVE spokesperson Sheryle Hutter. “Rape victims should never have to worry that they won’t be believed, and universities must begin to address the problem of false allegations by restoring due process protections.”

Last October, faculty members of the Harvard Law School issued a statement similarly criticizing the university’s new Sexual Harassment Policy: http://www.bostonglobe.com/opinion/2014/10/14/rethink-harvard-sexual-harassment-policy/HFDDiZN7nU2UwuUuWMnqbM/story.html

On March 13 at 10am, SAVE will hold a press conference at the National Press Club in Washington DC on “Campus Sexual Assault: Assuring Justice for Victims and the Accused.” Persons wishing to attend should RSVP here: aphilal@prosecutorintegrity.org

Stop Abusive and Violent Environments is working to promote effective solutions to campus sexual assault: http://www.saveservices.org/

Contact: Gina Lauterio
Email: glauterio@saveservices.org

SAVE Denounces President Obama’s Misleading Portrayal of Domestic Violence

WASHINGTON / February 10, 2015 – A leading domestic violence organization is criticizing President Obama for use of highly misleading claims on domestic violence. In a taped message to viewers of the Grammy awards Sunday night, President Obama called for an end to “violence against women and girls.” The President did not mention the problem of domestic violence against men and boys, even though males are equally likely to be victims of female-perpetrated abuse.

The problem of female-perpetrated violence has been documented in hundreds of studies. A research summary by Jennifer Langhinrichsen-Rohling, PhD of the University of South Alabama reported that females were more likely than males to be the perpetrators of unidirectional violence, by a two-to-one margin.

One compilation of 286 scholarly investigations concludes, “women are as physically aggressive, or more aggressive, than men in their relationships with their spouses or male partners:” http://www.csulb.edu/~mfiebert/assault.htm

SAVE has previously requested the Obama Administration to rely on accurate information in its domestic violence efforts: http://www.saveservices.org/camp/biased-briefing/biden-the-view/

In December the Department of Justice reported that each year, less than one percent of college women are victims of sexual assault. Nonetheless, the White House website still displays a Fact Sheet that states, “One in five women is sexually assaulted in college:” http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2014/04/29/fact-sheet-not-alone-protecting-students-sexual-assault

“Victims of partner abuse are not served by deceptive misrepresentations of the truth,” notes SAVE spokesperson Sheryle Hutter. “Administration officials should assure that anti-abuse programs are based on fact, reason, and science, not gender ideology.”

SAVE has compiled Seven Key Facts About Domestic Violence: http://www.saveservices.org/key-facts/

Stop Abusive and Violent Environments is a victim-advocacy organization working for evidence-based solutions to domestic violence and sexual assault: www.saveservices.org