Dive Brief:
- The president-elect of the Association for Student Conduct Administration board accused her male colleague and predecessor of taking advantage of her at a conference in December, saying the association failed to protect her.
- The Chronicle of Higher Education reports that Jill L. Creighton made her sexual assault public in an open letter to ASCA members following Jason Cesares’ resignation from his board position, as he still planned to attend the association’s upcoming conference.
- The assault accusation and allegations by Creighton that ASCA did not do its part to protect her have rocked an association whose membership is tasked with responding to similar allegations from students on their own campuses.
Dive Insight:
The allegations by Creighton against Cesares within an organization that counts both of them as members — Cesares as current president-elect, Creighton as president-elect for the 2016-17 academic year — reflects the complicated set of allegiances colleges and universities must navigate as they consider the accusations from students against their peers. As a victim of sexual assault, Creighton’s disappointment in not being protected by the organization to which she and her alleged abuser both belong is the same disappointment that has brought so many students to file Title IX complaints against their colleges. For his part, Cesares denies the accusation of sexual assault.
As many colleges struggle to improve the climates on their campuses relating to sexual assault, and improve preventative measures as well as response plans, the rights of the accused are being championed by those who believe higher education institutions have gone too far. Young men have won a handful of cases against their institutions. And while some may argue colleges and universities are ill-equipped to handle such cases, federal regulations require them to.