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On June 6, members of a student organization at The Ohio State
University sent the president of the school over 500 letters
requesting that the university admit to failing to respond
appropriately to a rape case in 2002.
"You, like a person, should have the integrity to stand up and admit
when you've made a mistake," said Jennifer Yoder, co-chair of Women
and Allies Rising in Resistance, a student organization dedicated to
fighting violence against women.
Yoder addressed a group of around 30 at a press conference held for
the letter send-off. University officials hovered in the back of the
room, and a camera was sent from university relations to record the
event. University spokeswoman Elizabeth Conlisk asked for a copy of
Yoder's speech, and headed to a back room to speak off the record to
reporters, declining comment on the lawsuit.
In 2002 on OSU's campus, a student named Jeremy Goldstein sexually
violated another student. OSU's response, after finding him in
violation of OSU's sexual misconduct policy, was simply to move him to
another dorm, alerting no one in the new or old dorm as to the reason
for this move, making a conscious and intentional decision to permit
the risk of Jeremy Goldstein to be a continued presence on campus.
Only one month later in his new dorm he raped another woman, Jane Doe.
Despite reporting the assault, telling Ohio State that the
perpetrator's name was Jeremy, that he had been recently moved into
Smith Hall, and exactly where he was living there, OSU refused or was
unable to make the connection that this was indeed the same Jeremy who
they had just moved to Smith Hall for sexually violating another
woman.
The complaints about Goldstein continued to pour in, including four
complaints on his new floor of harassment or fear of his
temper/demeanor, and an incident in which he punched a woman in the
face in broad daylight in front of the dorm. As a result of code of
conduct violations Jeremy Goldstein was shuffled to three different
dorms, and eventually to an apartment just across the street from
campus.
Despite OSU's acknowledgement of the risk Goldstein posed, he was not
suspended and barred from campus until August 26th, 2003, over 16
months after Jane Doe's complaint. In the time between her complaint
in February of 2002 and his intermediate suspension in August 2003,
OSU spent much of the time ignoring Jane Doe, calling it "empowering
the victim to make her own choices." In September of 2003 Goldstein
was permanently expelled from The Ohio State University, and was later
convicted in a criminal court of gross sexual imposition.
OSU's only public statement about the case has been to send media
copies of a recent motion to dismiss the case. The motion claims no
responsibility in the case, indicating that the plaintiff, Jane Doe,
could have prevented the assault herself had she made better choices.
Yoder found this to be a victim-blaming response. "It alarms me that
the motion is very similar to a response from a defense attorney for a
rapist."
Goldstein is on probation, attending Baruch College in New York City.
Jane Doe now attends school at Kent State.
--
Jennifer A Yoder, co-chair
Women and Allies Rising in Resistance
7:30 p.m. Tuesdays
4th Floor Ohio Union
