Thanks, Tribune, for sexual assault coverage

Congratulations on your coverage of the Cal Poly sexual assault investigation, and in particular on Joe Tarica’s column commenting on this issue.

Needless to say, sexual harassment and sexual assault are difficult crimes to prove, and institutions of higher education try to balance justice with learning. However, as the Cal Poly case illustrates, far too many women suffer first from an assault, then from fear of reporting and being disbelieved, then from a judiciary process that often demands they be in contact with the perpetrator, and then from sanctions that may either 1) punish the survivor (for example by demanding that the survivor change living arrangements or class schedule) or 2) provide no punishment for the perpetrator.

Rather than upholding the Title IX guidelines of the Department of Education regarding such cases, Betsy DeVos aims to further victimize survivors by imposing an unreasonable burden of proof on them. The American Association of University Women (to which I belong - Atascadero chapter) strongly opposes this change in guidance. Thank goodness Joe Tarica does, too.

For those who question the reality of such charges, I would direct you to the fine book by Jon Krakauer, “Missoula,” which follows a yearslong case at the University of Montana.

This story was originally published October 27, 2017 at 8:02 AM with the headline "Thanks, Tribune, for sexual assault coverage."