There are people who say that someone who claims they were raped should always be believed. There are even some people who think women are either incapable of lying about being raped or that women are too morally pure to stoop to telling falsehoods about such a heinous crime. One example:
Things women do lie about: what they ate for lunch. Things women don't lie about: rape.
— Lena Dunham (@lenadunham) August 4, 2017
However, contrary to what the extraordinary scholar (best known for walking around an HBO set naked and admitting to diddling her little sister in her own book) may think, it does happen.
For example, take the story of young Koh Tsuruta, formerly of Augustana University, as reported by The College Fix:
The Argus Leader reports that Koh Tsuruta and the South Dakota private school have jointly agreed to dismiss his federal lawsuit against the university for expelling him. Neither lawyer is talking, so it’s not clear whether the action counts as a settlement in which Tsuruta obtained any financial consideration or otherwise favorable terms.
Still, it seems pretty likely he came out with something substantial, because the judge in the case approved Tsuruta’s lawsuit (actually his second against Augustana) to move forward less than two months ago, after Augustana’s unpersuasive motion to dismiss.
The Argus Leader reported then that Judge Karen Schrier said the student “has pleaded sufficient facts to support his claims” that Augustana employees “weren’t properly trained in investigating and adjudicating allegations of rape” and they ignored witnesses in his favor.
They wouldn’t have even known about the allegations without Tsuruta, he claims: He was the one who told Augustana that he had been accused of rape. His accuser only told police “a month later at the school’s behest.”
She said Tsuruta chased her down as she tried to leave his apartment. That’s an important nugget that the incompetent investigators ignored, particularly because she wasn’t exactly a credible person.
There’s just one problem with that tidbit. Tsuruta lost most of his feet in an accident several years prior to this. In other words, he can’t chase anyone, anywhere.
Further, the woman in question is reportedly a serial accuser who has claimed she was sexually assaulted by multiple men and even is alleged to have threatened to report an ex-boyfriend for rape.
But women never lie about being raped — right, Lena?
This, of course, is the problem with the current standards for rape cases under Title IX. The universities are woefully untrained to investigate such heinous crimes, yet the Obama administration required them to do that. As a result, they do not look at key bits of information, such as Tsurata being unable to chase anyone, because they don’t think it’s relevant. They don’t understand how to conduct a criminal investigation.
Yet they’re required to do just that, so what do they do?
Well, let’s be blunt. Siding with the accuser is unlikely to cause the federal government to yank their funding, even if the whole thing is even more of a fantasy than Lord of the Rings.
Even though Augustana University is a private school, it still receives money via federal student loans and grants. That means Uncle Sam still gets a say.
And it means that guys like Tsuruta may continue to get hosed in the process.
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