What College Freshmen Need to Know

Over 500 lawsuits related to defeating wrongful accusations have been filed since 2011

A nonprofit dedicated to promoting due process rights for students accused of misconduct on campus released on Tuesday a guide that may be of value to students and parents alike.

The guide was created by former academic and researcher Jonathan Taylor, head of Title IX For All, which has tracked lawsuits related to wrongful accusations of stalking, excessive flirting, and sexual misconduct for almost a decade.

Taylor has been the first line of support to over 500 individuals over the past decade, speaking and corresponding with victims of wrongful and false accusations and their families as well as providing consultancy services.

While men and women may both face wrongful accusations, Taylor leaves little room for women who face the same fate. We have to face reality, and the reality is that false accusations primarily destroy the life of men.

WHY THIS GUIDE MATTERS

Students wrongly accused of rape and sexual assault have been barred from education, lost their jobs and careers, suffered extreme harassment and threats, suffered chronic depression, suffered vigilante violence, have been killed, and have killed themselves, Taylor tells me.

While Taylor often seems like an anonymous figure behind an email, he actually taught English at some universities and has been active in the Title IX reform community for quite some while.

Over the last decade, Taylor has taken a microscope to legal documents, searching larger databases to uncover Title IX lawsuits by wrongly accused students. Over 850 lawsuits have been filed since Taylor started tracking in 2011.

AVOIDING BAD BEHAVIOR

Men face real accusations, wrongful accusations, triumphed up accusations, as well as victims and accusers who collude with each other. In the court of law, men are given due process and access to a lawyer to prove their innocence. But on a college campus?

No dice.

“In a perfect world, men should not have to take steps out of fear that they will suffer a false sex-assault accusation, and this guide would be unnecessary. We do not live in that world” warns Taylor to parents of prospective freshmen.

While I highly recommend you read the entire guide, one major warning is that young men should avoid dating women who are already dating someone or otherwise romantically involved. This actually surprised me, and I’ve been reporting on the lack of due process in Title IX investigations for almost a decade.

Turns out, a 2018 Dutch study found that most false rape accusations were motivated by the need to “cover up other behaviour.” Out of 58 women, 14 (nearly 25%) in that study admitted they used a rape allegation as an alibi.

“The false allegation was used to cover up adultery, lateness, or skipping school” explained the study authors, Peter J. Van Koppen. Considering that adultery also causes drama in general, males should avoid trying to dip their toes in other men’s shoes.

Students at religious colleges should also be alert — purity culture is known to engender false accusations. This is because premarital sex is against some school’s codes of conduct, such as at Brigham Young.

“Male students have filed lawsuits alleging that they were falsely accused by female students who hoped to avoid responsibility for breaking these [purity policies] once their consensual sexual activity became common knowledge” explains Taylor.

One parting piece of advice is obvious to most of us, except 18-year-olds on campus: treat your partner with respect and don’t gossip-monger, even if you think it will get you more respect. Bragging to the bros can also lead to issues down the line.

“Whenever possible, we recommend that you keep sexual matters private between you and your partner. You don’t have anything to prove to anyone.”

“Also, students should refuse the advice of those (including online male dating “coaches”) who tell them that a good dating strategy involves telling women what they want to hear, having sex with them, and then ghosting them. It is not.”

Send me tips on Twitter: @Toni_Airaksinen