The media’s atrocious coverage of campus sexual assault myths–from uncritically broadcasting fake stories of rape to promulgating false and debunked statistics pushed by the Obama administration to further its “war on women”–has created an interesting phenomenon in response. Good reporters are seeking to “re-report” the stories, in the hopes of setting the record straight and minimizing some of the incredible damage the accusations have done. Cathy Young is one such reporter, and she has a disturbing story at the Daily Beast today that is about more than just flimsy accusations; it’s a chilling example of a United States senator’s abuse of power.
Young re-reports the story of Paul Nungesser, a German student at Columbia University accused of sexual assault by a former friend, Emma Sulkowicz. The case has become one of the more famous of this crop of stories for two reasons. The first is that Nungesser was cleared of all charges even in a campus disciplinary process weighted against him, so Sulkowicz has taken to trying to bully Nungesser out of school by carrying a mattress around campus. (It is ostensibly an “art” project, but Sulkowicz has said she’ll stop if Nungesser leaves school.) The second is because Sulkowicz was embraced by New York Democratic Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, who targeted Nungesser precisely because he was found innocent and even invited Sulkowicz to this year’s State of the Union as her guest.
By any remotely reasonable standard, Gillibrand’s actions should horrify those who care about basic rights. Unfortunately, the most likely outcome is that this kind of mob mentality will only help her career, since the left has fully embraced turning its declared enemies into “former people,” whether they are philanthropic libertarian business leaders or male college students.
It’s important to note that these stories should not lessen anyone’s sympathy for victims of sexual assault. And one irony of this particular case is that Nungesser agrees: “My mother raised me to be a feminist,” he had previously told the New York Times. Young’s report makes it easy to believe that. It’s also easy to see why Nungesser was cleared. I recommend reading the whole article, which lays out the timeline quite clearly.
The facts were on Nungesser’s side to such an undeniable degree that even a university hearing rigged in the complainant’s favor had to rule for Nungesser:
Nungesser has his own gripes about the hearing. Among other things, he says he was never allowed to present the Facebook exchanges, which he regards as strongly exculpatory, to the panel: The hearing, he claims, had to focus exclusively on the facts of the alleged attack in an attempt to decide whose version of this event was more credible. Despite this, and despite a low “preponderance of the evidence” standard which requires adjudicators to find in favor of the complainant if they believe it is even slightly more likely than not than the assault occurred, Nungesser was cleared. In late November, the university upheld that decision, rejecting Sulkowicz’s appeal. Nungesser says he now felt free to pursue his earlier plans to spend a semester in the Czech Republic studying at a Prague film school. But he was about to face a new trial—in the media and in the court of public opinion.
He has been the subject of threats, of course, but has been able to retain some anonymity. That anonymity doesn’t help as much in personal relationships, however, where he comes clean about the process he’s been going through. He has a new girlfriend, who Young also talked to for the story. “It’s not like an easy decision for me, to stay with Paul,” she told Young. “But I do because I have overwhelming trust in him.” Even when cleared, the charge carries a stigma. (This is true also because he was cleared of two additional such accusations by women who were encouraged by Nungesser’s critics to lodge similar charges against him.)
And that stigma is something that Gillibrand seems only too happy to facilitate. So much for the rights of the accused, innocent until proven guilty, etc. Gillibrand is participating in a particularly atrocious attack on basic justice in which activists are aiming their fire at those cleared of charges so they can discredit even the innocent. As Young writes:
Last April, a press release from the office of Sen. Gillibrand on the problem of campus sexual assault quoted Sulkowicz as saying, “My rapist—a serial rapist—still remains on campus, even though three of the women he assaulted reported him.”
That is an incredible charge, especially when he was already cleared. But Gillibrand amplified it. Such acts are unimaginably irresponsible when undertaken by ordinary citizens. When you put the power of the state behind them–which is what Gillibrand was doing, since she’s been drumming up support for her preferred government action on the issue–they become cruel and authoritarian. Nungesser has been cleared of wrongdoing and yet Gillibrand is still using the power of the United States Senate to ruin his name. It’s shameful, and it should stop immediately.
The post Kirsten Gillibrand’s Cruel Assault on Justice appeared first on Commentary Magazine.
