Lux et Veritas

My alma mater, Yale, today announced that, so far this year, six individuals have been found guilty of "nonconsensual sex," most commonly known as rape to you and me.  Not one of them was expelled.

I have always been a proud alumna of Yale.  Until today.

This news is maddening and sickening, sending a message that sexual violence (or violence of any kind really) is tolerated and accepted.

Yale was required to release this report (a biannual summary of complaints brought to the University's Committee on Sexual Misconduct) in response to a 2011 federal Title IX investigation into the University's handling of sexual violence on campus.

Even as I read about these complaints two years ago, I may have raised an eyebrow, but I turned a blind eye.  I had an amazing experience at Yale.  Many of the people I love most in this world I met at Yale.  I earned an excellent education -- one that would have been even better had I went to class a bit more often and studied a bit harder, but hey, coming to Yale from a small town, part of my education was staying up all night talking to people I never would have met had I stayed in my tiny hamlet of a hometown.  People so unlike me and like me at the same time.  It was mind boggling and my world cracked open because of it.  My experiences at Yale enriched my life in so many ways, and the friends I made there continue to do so every day since that late August day I first set foot on campus.

Growing up, well, let's face it, poor, maybe working poor as a stretch, I knew that education was my ticket out of poverty.  And Yale made it possible for me to achieve that education with generous scholarship funds.  Sure, I still have loans of my own that I'm paying off, but Yale made my dreams of higher education a reality with generous financial aid and work study, and I have always been grateful for it.

This is why this report, in black and white released by the University itself, is heartbreaking to me.

Now, I'm not naive.  I saw enough "legacy" students at Yale to know that the University is not entirely pure, students whose families had attended for generations, and whose family money had essentially built the very University they were attending.  I would talk to some of them and think of poor, smart kids I knew, and many more I didn't know, who would never have a chance to attend a place like Yale.

So perhaps what makes me most sick is thinking that this may have had something to do with money.   Well that and reputation.  What will make this go away quickest and most quietly?

The University says these matters are complicated, but, by finding these individuals "guilty," isn't that enough to warrant expulsion?  How can the University, in good conscience, allow these individuals to stay on campus alongside the victims the University itself has found them guilty of victimizing?  And aren't we afraid at all they might assault again?

Of the six, only one was suspended allowed to return to the University in a year.

With stats telling us that one in four college women are victims of rape, or attempted rape, I assume at least some of these victims are women.  At Yale, I certainly knew women who were raped -- in fact, I knew several, and I know for a fact not all of those rapes were reported.  RAINN (Rape Abuse and Incest National Network) reports that 54% of rapes across the board are unreported.

Now, sexual violence is not isolated to Yale, but, as an alum, I expected more of my alma mater.  Yale is one of the most respected universities in the world, producing the next generation of leaders, not rapists.  And, as a leader, it is the University's duty to send a strong signal that sexual violence is unacceptable and will not be tolerated.  They owe that not just to these victims, but to all attending students and their families, faculty, community, alumni, and, well, the world.  This was Yale's opportunity to step up to the plate, to shine a light into the darkness of sexual violence, reveal the truth, right any past wrongdoings, and be a leader. 

Instead, these six people found guilty of perpetrating "nonconsensual sex" (again, read: rape) will graduate with the same Yale diploma that I did.

Hoping for lux et veritas, instead I'm left thinking, "Et tu, Brute?"

It's not too late for Yale to take a stand here, and I hope that those who feel as strongly as I do about this will make their voices heard.  I want Yale to make me feel as proud today as I did the day I got my acceptance letter.  I want this too for these victims and for future generations who can attend Yale knowing that their University puts their safety and well-being above all else so that they can go about becoming the leaders and thinkers this world needs.