President David Boren has recommended changing the university’s sexual assault policy. As it stands, victims of sexual assault only have 30 days to file a student code complaint.
Boren’s recommendations include increasing the statute of limitations to 180 days to — as he put it — go along with the federal statute of limitations for sexual-assault. While the increase is a step in the right direction, Boren’s request is far from adequate.
Sexual-assault victims have both physical and mental scars. Allowing them only six months to emotionally ground themselves and file sexual assault charges with university police is a joke.
Victims shouldn’t be forced into action until they are prepared to — not when an establishment says they should.
OU should strive to protect its students at every possible moment. Forcing students recovering from a traumatic experience to come forward in such a short time frame fails to accomplish this goal.
If a female was sexually assaulted and impregnated, by the time she gave birth she will have missed her window for filing charges by three months.
Forcing a student who is already emotionally distressed, dealing with course work and who may be dealing with the physical effects of sexual assault in a span of six months is unacceptable.
The statute of limitations for rape in Oklahoma is 12 years — more than 24 times the amount of time Boren’s requested extension is. There should be no limit on when you can file charges. Just because an established time frame has ended doesn’t mean the damage has gone away.
Sexual-assault victims are often reluctant to discussing their experience, and by limiting their window to file charges OU is silencing the silent. Sexual assault is too serious an issue to limit a victim’s response.
OU should be considered a safe haven for all of its students. But an establishment that forces an emotionally unstable individual to come forward and talk about what is possibly the worst experience of his or her lives seems anything but protective.
We urge Boren to reevaluate his recommendations for changes to OU’s rape policy. We hope he would recommend changing our policy to mirror our state’s statute of limitations.
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swiggy3000 1 year, 1 month ago
I must say you have a very confusing title to the article. From it assumed you were against the proposed changes. Could have used a better title and while I agree 12 years would be nice in a perfect world the fact is most people aren't in college 12 years. So maybe making it four years would be better but really I think 6 is a step in the right direction and instead of just criticizing him admit that it's a small step in the right direction.
summ6457 1 year, 1 month ago
I agree with swiggy. What is the point of changing it from 30 days to 180 days if he is still gonna get crap for not making the period of time long enough. He is trying to benefit the students at the University, but instead you are focusing on the fact that he set a time restraint at all. Pointless editorial that fails to praise Boren for recommending a change at all. A "step in the right direction" as you stated, could be more than enough to help many victims on campus now and in the future.
noonespecial 1 year, 1 month ago
Why does the university's policy even matter if the victim can still wait 12 years under state law? Doesn't state law trump OU policy or did I miss something...?
jsnodg 1 year, 1 month ago
"There should be no limit to when a person can file charges" I wanted to mention this because I feel that it is imperative to both the victim and the system to respect the statute of limitations as there are investigations and evidence to collect. As implication is not execution there is a due process for each person, we couldn't have girls showing up accusing wwhoever of whatever from twenty, or even twelve years ago. You must consider the cost of business. The system provides venues for justice but you cannot force the victim into confession. That is equally cruel. While I beleive that rape and sexual assault are very serrious issues and the perpetrators deserve justice as much as their victims, Boren's motion is significant. 600% increase to the time available for a victim to file. Sexual assault reform will come at the light stroke of a woman, acting strongly in a time of weakness and violation. Justice is available for those who act, I encourage all wwoman to step forward and expose your attackers, the weight of the crime falls on them and not yourself. Hurt them back with the biggest weapon you have, the system, use it.
lsexton 1 year, 1 month ago
Students should probably be made aware that grievances re: sexual harassment, assault, or rape are meant to be filed with the Office of Equal Opportunity. All of its policies and grievance procedures are at http://www.ouhsc.edu/eoaa/PoliciesandProcedures.asp, and its grievance procedures apply to faculty, staff, and students. The window for filing a complain with the University Equal Opportunity Officer (located in Rm 102 in Evans) is already 180 days....Definitely the fact that there's a 30-day window included in the Student Code is confusing and needs to be clarified, but a lot of the discussion on this appears to be misdirected...
oudunks 1 year, 1 month ago
It is exhausting to come here every week and see President Boren's reputation being tossed around like a rag doll. You've made one of the university's greatest assets out to be the enemy. Poor guy is in a "Damned if you do, damned if you don't" situation with you guys.
It seems like your argument is that Boren extended to federal government standards but not the standards set by Jordan Ward, and that upsets you. We all can assume that this can still be filed under the 12 years the state allows. No need to harp on Boren here.
I'm really ready to have this semester over with and get this editorial board out of here.
briareus 1 year, 1 month ago
Thirty days is more than long enough. If you don't know whether or not you have been sexually assaulted before thirty days have passed, the objective facts are so uncertain to preclude the possibility of a fair prosecution for the accused. False rape charges are common, and extending the statute of limitations beyond thirty days will encourage more false accusations.
radiant_enigma 1 year, 1 month ago
@briareus: The issue isn't whether women "know whether or not [they] have been sexually assaulted." The issue is that it's a deeply traumatic experience, and going forward to the police or other authorities forces them to relive it. It takes an enormous amount of strength at any time (demonstrated by the fact that most rapes go unreported), and is especially difficult immediately after the event.
Although, yes, sometimes it can be difficult to know whether an event qualifies as "rape" or "sexual assault." Was it rape if she was drunk? Was it rape if he was her date? Was it rape if she had previously consented to sex? Was it rape if she was too frightened or confused to fight back? Was it rape if the woman forced herself on the man? Victims genuinely struggle with these types of questions, but the idea that being uncertain about where to dry the line would automatically "Preclude the possibility of a fair prosecution" is absurd.
And, yes, false rape charges do occur, but don't throw around arguments that they are "common" and therefore the statute of limitations should not be increased until you do a little research into their actual frequency. Assumptions are not facts.
radiant_enigma 1 year, 1 month ago
Oh, and just in case you would like some stats?
Depending on the study, 16-39% of rapes are reported to the authorities, while 2-8% of rape charges are unfounded.
That means that, for every 100 people who are raped, at most 3 people are unjustly accused (and the number may be closer to 3 per 1000.) Yes, those people can face the repercussions for their entire lives, and it is something that we should take seriously...but there is a far, far greater risk that guilty people will not go to jail (often leaving them free to rape again) than for innocent people to be falsely accused.
braceyourself 1 year, 1 month ago
"@briareus: The issue isn't whether women 'know whether or not [they] have been sexually assaulted.' The issue is that it's a deeply traumatic experience, and going forward to the police or other authorities forces them to relive it."
Can we stop interchanging "men" for "rapists" and "women" for "people?" You do this OVER AND OVER in your comments, and as a male that was raped, I'm really not okay with that. This is a human issue, not a gender issue, and I'll ask you to keep your sexism out of it. We should be trying to eradicate sexual assault/rape entirely, and that includes acknowledging that ANYONE can be a sexual predator, and ANYONE can be targeted.
radiant_enigma 1 year, 1 month ago
@braceyourself: You're right. I actually originally wrote a longer comment that also got into the issues facing men as rape victims, but I changed it for the sake of brevity. That was a poor, insensitive choice, and I apologize to you and anyone else who was upset by it. I'll work to be more aware of my word choice in future comments.