By Diana Furchtgott-Roth
Rape is a serious matter. That is why it is unfortunate that a bipartisan group of senators is exaggerating the problem of rape on campus and proposing legislation that encourages academic institutions to throw out due process for the accused.
On Wednesday, eight senators, including Democrat Claire McCaskill of Missouri, Democrat Kirsten Gillibrand of New York, Republican Kelly Ayotte of New Hampshire and Republican Marco Rubio of Florida held a press conference to announce the bipartisan Campus Accountability and Safety Act, which would give academic institutions strict guidelines on dealing with campus assaults. Democrat Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut, another cosponsor, described the proposed law as “an enforceable bill of rights.”
The White House stated in a January 2014 report, Rape and Sexual Assault: A Renewed Call to Action, that one in five women has been sexually assaulted while in college, an assertion repeated by Gillibrand during the press conference.
But this figure does not match data from the Department of Justice’s Bureau of Justice Statistics, released in October 2013, which show rape/sexual assault rates of 1.3 per 1,000 people in 2012, both reported and unreported rapes. It assumes a crisis where none exists, and interferes in university affairs for no cause.
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