COLUMN: Expulsion of Rapists is a Public Safety Issue
I’d like to give hugs to the members of the editorial board of this newspaper, but I also have a duty to comment on things that are misleading. On Wednesday, Central Michigan Life published an editorial called, “Give Survivors a Say” in regards to whether or not their rapist ought to be expelled.
I have two responses for this, one as an organizer of the protest to expel all rapists, and another as a public safety issue.
I have gotten dozen of emails, and so have other organizers of the protest speaking out in favor of this movement. I have not had one survivor come forward to me saying anything negative about the campaign to expel all rapists.
In fact, I have heard from survivors who went through the disciplinary proceedings who practically begged the school to expel their rapist so that they may not return to campus. Every single time the school let the rapist come back to campus at some point or another, usually after one year.
Which leads me to my second argument. Public safety. I have posted time and time again my resolution that I wrote as a member of the Student Government Association includes a study by Lisk and Miller which demonstrates that of 120 rapists, over 1000 acts of violence were committed.
Expelling rapists from campus is not just a symbolic move to say that Central Michigan University does not tolerate this sort of behavior, but it’s a public safety issue. If a person who is found responsible for rape is allowed to come back onto campus, that is opening Pandora’s box to more crime being committed. If Central Michigan University really stood by “Take Care CMU,” the responsible decision, to protect other students, is to remove the offender from campus.
Survivor’s voices are so incredibly important. I myself am one. But what the Wednesday editorial failed to recognize is the danger of having known sexual offenders on campus. It is not safe, and it is not ethical. Every survivor who I have talked to who went through the disciplinary process had wished their attacker to be expelled and not able to return to campus.
Expelling rapists is a public safety issue. Students accused of rape deserve the highest hearing with utmost integrity, but when found guilty, it is the moral duty of the school to permanently remove these offenders from the university.
