It’s been quite a year in higher ed when the biggest stories to rock campuses are about sexual assault and football.
When the Department of Education and the White House weigh in to make sure young women are protected and afforded equal treatment, it’s a sure sign that there’s a grave need for some priority realignment on campus.
But as the year closes, higher ed shouldn’t get too smug over what appears to be reversals in some high-profile rape cases at Florida State and Virginia.
Virginia got lucky that Rolling Stone had some holes in its reporting. It doesn’t mean Virginia doesn’t have a much larger campus rape problem.
And don’t let the free pass to Jameis Winston on the Florida State student code fool you.
When the penalty is merely exoneration or expulsion, the stakes are a lot lower than a criminal court’s felony rape charges.
So when the worst thing that could happen in the decision is that Winston doesn’t get to start in the Rose Bowl on Thursday, what’s a retired Florida Supreme Court chief justice hired to hear the case supposed to do?
