CLUH Issues Date Rape Report

Insisting that a specific statement of dissent must be registered before date rape can be legally recognized, the Civil Liberties Union of Harvard (CLUH) issued this month a revised response to last spring's Date Rape Task Force report.

CLUH's statement is the latest episode in the debate that began last February, when the Date Rape Task Force--established in 1990 by then-Dean of the College L. Fred Jewett '57--defined rape as sex without specific consent.

"CLUH insists that if there is no clear evidence that dissent was expressed, if no threats, intimidation, and/or coercion were employed, and if the alleged victim did not lack the ability to dissent, any notion of due process requires that no guilt of any sort be found," said CLUH's statement.

CLUH's original response, issued last spring, supported the Task Force definition of date rape. The revised position continues to endorse the majority of the Task Force's recommendations, but differs on the question of explicit consent, the CLUH statement said.

"The main issue is vagaries in definition and due process with the Ad Board," said Joshua E. Burstein '93, CLUH co-director.

CLUH Co-Director Jol A. Silversmith '94 said that in order to be fair to both sides, it is unacceptable to "twist the tables" and create a situation of "guilty until proven innocent" by requiring proof of consent.

"We don't think it's fair to punish someone if they didn't know what they were doing was wrong," Silversmith said.

Silversmith said that because on a college campus both the accused and defendant belong to the same community, the Administrative Board should attach great importance to due process and high legal standards on the Administrative Board.

"Just because the College can use lower standards of evidence and procedures doesn't mean that they should," Silversmith said.

But Minna M. Jarvenpaa '93, copresident of the Radcliffe Union of Students (RUS) said that RUS continues to endorse the original task force definition of date rape.

According to Jarvenpaa, the Administrative Board should maintain a high standard of conduct, but should not be forced to implement the same legal proceedings as a court of law.

"The Ad Board doesn't have to have legalprocedures," Jarvenpaa said. "They should expecthigher conduct than in the courts."

Jarvenpaa stressed the importance of educatingstudents about the issue of date rape.

"The most important thing the College can do isto educate students about the issue, so they knowabout the definitions and they know if they havetransgressed them or not," said Jarvenpaa

"The Ad Board doesn't have to have legalprocedures," Jarvenpaa said. "They should expecthigher conduct than in the courts."

Jarvenpaa stressed the importance of educatingstudents about the issue of date rape.

"The most important thing the College can do isto educate students about the issue, so they knowabout the definitions and they know if they havetransgressed them or not," said Jarvenpaa