36 Comments
An article published today in The Nation revealed a disdainful message which a Title IX compliance officer accidentally sent to a student activist instead of to the officer’s colleague.
The student was one of a group of college Democrats working with administrators to make a flowchart which would clarify what rights and resources survivors of sexual assault were entitled to. According to the article:
After four months of negotiation, university administrators agreed to publish the flowchart online, but when they did, students found that the administration had cut crucial information, including which academic and living accommodations survivors were entitled to and what evidence would be admissible at university sexual misconduct hearings.
The student then emailed administrators to ask that, in the future, students be allowed to have direct contact with decision makers and be included in the final decision-making process. The Nation obtained the following email, sent by Virginia Ryan, a university Title IX compliance officer, to the student, instead of to her colleague Michael Dunn, Columbia’s Deputy Title IX Coordinator and Director of Investigations:
According to the Nation:
Ryan has not replied to requests for comment. In an email to the student afterwards, Ryan apologized, claiming that “the tone and content” of her message was not meant to convey “intent to ‘handle’ students.”
The Nation also published the student’s response to Ryan’s accidental message:
This incident adds a number of clashes between the administration and Columbia’s anti-rape movement, including the recent cancellation of the Bacchanal Fall Concert.
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36 Comments
@Anonymous When former president Mickey Soviet married several of his students, what did you expect from these gran grubbers?
@Anonymous You have a 90 day jurisdictional timeline. You have until September 5 th to submit this email and ask for investigation into violations of the administration of Title IX. OCR will require training and place Columbia under sanction and monitoring. 90 days from May 5 th. If your complainant has been denied or administratively closed resubmit with this Ryan email. Should you require assistance I am glad to help.
@Anonymous The Ryan email needs to be forwarded to the OCR Senior Investigator and Attorney as addendum to case file. It is evidence. Ryan has just opened your case.
@The contradiction between CU admins using “rape culture” as an excuse to cancel Bacchanal and the reality of their annoyance with the pervasive activists is pretty revealing. It tells us what we already knew: CU only cares about its image, not the wellbeing of the students.
Everything event they hold (puppies during exams?) or mass policy emails are meant for photo ops and op eds. The biggest point I could make to a prospie is that Columbia doesn’t care about you, only about alumni donations the factors affecting it like admissions numbers.
Yet another example of the administration’s incompetence. Then again, if they were actually useful human beings they would be doing something useful other than shuffling papers and making students lives more difficult than necessary.
@Anonymous if there was an article for every rude email sent from an administrator to a student leader, the journalism industry would be thriving.
@Blumpkin You know why I’m here, FHRITP.
@For reals Holding onto an embarrassing email (for the admins, that is) for months just to release it at the start of the school year is pretty slimy shit. These people have really jumped the shark (actually that happened with the Salem Rape Lists, but whatevs).
@doesn't matter! that doesn’t change anything about the content of Virginia’s message
@Because One low-level admin definitely represents an entire bureaucracy. This whole story is steaming bull shit.
@actually actually she was recently promoted to barnard general counsel
@One word NSOP
@Am I the only one?... This whole absurd “story” is exactly like many of (note: not all) the others surrounding this issue for the last year on campus. The email recipients were *glad* to get this email because it becomes a chip for them. They want the admins to release all of that “data” because they hope and assume there will be stinky stuff in it that they can wave around to press the admins to further tilt the scales toward “survivors”.
I respect people who want a better campus and educational experience, but more and more it seems these people instead want A Crisis for their own purposes (whether it’s building their activist credentials or, heck, getting to headline for US Senator speeches).
@No, you're not This. Thank you.
@Disagree That is ridiculous. If they were so “glad” to get this email, why wasn’t it released right when it happened? This happened months ago…
@One word NSOP
@ForReal This is dumb. Least scandaless scandal ever
@In the middle I think activists shouldn’t feel so entitled to administrators’ time when it’s a lot to expect, but also that Virginia should explain things to them rather than putting herself on a pedestal and not telling them why. I’d wager that she doesn’t even get face time with the people the activists want to spend so much time meeting with.
@mm hmm Yeah, why should students get a significant decision-making vote in the process to reform the messed-up issue that administrators have been covering up and screwing up for years? It’s not a big deal!
@Wow Actually had to go back and reread to realize that one line email was the subject of the ‘scandal’. Come on guys — can only imagine what they’d do with a for real salacious leaked email.
@Anonymous Who are the decision makers, seriously? Is it just Presbo? Everything decision at Columbia seems to be made by no one and everyone. I guess the Title IX directors don’t make these decisions? Or do they, and that was the point of the email?
Also how do neither this article nor The Nation one link to the flowchart?
@Bye, bye Fire her ass, now.
@I also have disdain for Virginia Ryan.
Seriously, who uses a BlackBerry 10?
@Anonymous Am I the only one who finds this not that horrible?
The official, who’s a human being and gets frustrated, is surprised that some people don’t understand why an accuser can’t be part of a final decision-making process. That would be like having a complainant sit in with with an in-session jury pressuring them to vote guilty. Violation of due process much?
I think Virginia Ryan said it best: wow.
@I agree But the Rape Activists don’t care about due process. They care about showing they can assert power and get on the news. It’s all an ego trip for them.
@Katrina You need to read carefully before you post comments.
“some people don’t understand why an accuser can’t be part of a final decision-making process”–that wasn’t even the issue at hand…
Please retake Lit Hum then come back
@Anonymous Katrina, you’re right, that wasn’t the issue at hand. But you don’t have to be so rude about it!
@Anonymous “The student then emailed administrators to ask that, in the future, students be allowed to have direct contact with decision makers and be included in the final decision-making process.”
How is it not the issue at hand? Ryan was responding to this.
@CC 15 The decision about the content of the spreadsheet.
Not about determination of responsibility or sanctioning.
@Anonymous George Joseph is an amazing campus activist, but I find his articles — like this one, and the one in the Guardian (where he interviewed the people behind the rapist lists at the end of last semester), a little disingenuous.
Shouldn’t he be disclosing his affiliation with the people and movements he’s covering? After all, it allows him the tremendous access he has, and makes him far from an unbiased reporter. I’m not saying he shouldn’t be writing, or acting as a source for national media, but there should at least be some kind of disclaimer involved — as much as that hurts the credibility of the article.
Also: I am horrified but sadly not super surprised at this.
@Anonymous total conflict of interest.
he’s not a reporter, he’s clearly an activist. that’s okay. but he can’t have it both ways.
@Katrina Yea I wish he hadn’t decided to publish this at all. Would have been better for him just to sit on this and keep his activist constitution pure.
@Anonymous lol.
did you see the guardian piece? too late for that.
the thing is, he only got this beacuse he is one of em
@Uh I second the comment about reading comprehension skills on behalf of the 22 people who upvoted this. It’s not the final ADJUDICATION decision, it was in the final decision-making for policies and information support, such as the flowchart. These are all things on which the activists have spent months researching and developing.
@Virginia Ryan is so bloody incompetent. Not the first time she’s sent the wrong email to someone. Earlier this year, she sent me an email that she was supposed to send to the respondent.
@Anonymous I don’t know what to say about the administration at this school anymore. It’s hopelessly pathetic.
@Anonymous Columbia has rape tourette’s