Newspapers / University of North Carolina … / Sept. 4, 2018, edition 1 / Page 2
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THE BLUE BANNER EDITORIAL EDITOR-IN-CHIEF SARAH SHADBURNE SSHADBUF1@UNCA,EDU NEiS EDITOR MAGGIE HADDOCK MHADDOCK@UF4CA,EDU ARTS 8 FEATURES EDITOR TAYLOR SEXTON TSEXTON@UF4CA,EDU OPINION EDITOR KATIE DEVOE KDEVOE@UNCA,EDU SPORTS EDITOR SARAH SHADBURNE SSHADBUR@ UNCA.EDU PHOTOGRAPHY EDITOR EMMA JORDAN EJORDAN@UNCA,EDU ADVERTISING MANAGER TIFFANIE BOONE TBOONE1@UNCA,EDU FACULTY ADVISER MICHAEL GOUGE MGOUGE@UNJCA,EDU The Blue Banner is UNO Asheville’s student newspaper. We publish each Tuesday except during summer ses sions, finals week and holiday breaks. Our office is in Karpen 019. The Blue Banner \s a designated forum for free speech and welcomes letters to the editor, considering them on the basis of interest, space and timeliness. Letters and articles should be emailed to the editor-in-chief or to the appropriate section editor. Letters should include the writer’s name, year in school and major, or other relation ship to UNCA. Include a phone num ber to aid in verification. All articles are subject to editing. NEW POLICIES THREATEN SAFETY OF SURVIVORS OF SEXUAL VIOLENCE EDITORIAL STAFF thebluebanner@unca.edu One would not hear of a burglary, a accused finally have ground to shooting, a murder, and assume the stand on, as accusations of sexu- information provided is more likely al violence are followed by stress than not false. Yet with unfounded reports in the United States falling between two and eight percent according to the Federal Bureau of Investigation, sexual assault remains an anchor for skeptics to steady themselves in their decision on who to believe. Education Secretary Betsy De- Vos continues to make incredible and other emotional strain. DeVos blatantly prioritizes institutional headaches and protections for the accused instead of the vulnerable and violated survivors searching for relief in their injustice. These new policies would make it much more difficult to hold perpetrators accountable, leaving survivors to fend for themselves on progress toward the perpetuation of a campus where they do not feel rape culture on college campuses. safe. Despite the encouragement of While current university standards provide only so much recourse as an educational process and not a legal process, DeVos prepares new policies reinforcing the rights of those accused of sexual violence and reducing the liability for insti tutions such as colleges and univer sities. According to The New York Times, who obtained DeVoss pro posed policies, the new parameters would restrict instances in which institutions of higher education would be required to investigate, require a higher standard of proof in cases chosen for investigation and allow for the definition of sex ual harassment to be altered into a more restrictive framework. increased remedial resources, no such variety can mend the violation survivors experience twofold: first by their perpetrator, then by their institution who allows the perpetra tor to stay. According to the Rape, Abuse and Incest National Network, two college women experience sexual assault for every one robbery. But, are two survivors believed by their institution compared to the one who was robbed? DeVos and others who view sexual violence as a liability for institu tions and alleged perpetrators alike grotesquely overlook the survivors who deserve support from their institution, a community who committed to them when they were The policies seem reasonable—by admitted. Institutions of higher executing these new guidelines, universities and colleges receive less legal recourse from students attempting to tamper with a peace able community. Moreover, the education should be a safe place for all students, not just the accused, but this is often not the case even before DeVoss proposed guidelines become an unfortunate reality.
University of North Carolina at Asheville Student Newspaper
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