Editorial: Challenging issue

Educating students and working to change attitudes are an important part of the effort to curb sexual assault on campus.

Kansas University is by no means the only U.S. university struggling with the problem of sexual assault among its students. However, recent attention focused on a KU case is drawing the kind of attention that no university wants.

Critics are claiming that KU officials aren’t doing enough to punish a student who was accused of raping a fellow student in October 2013. Their concerns are based on recent news reports about the case that present mostly one side of the story. Confidentiality laws prevent KU officials from disclosing information about the case, but it seems safe to say that KU officials may have some additional information that could temper the criticism they currently are receiving.

Federal law requires universities to investigate reports of sexual assault. Like all state universities in Kansas, KU has procedures in place to conduct those investigations and take action based on its findings. KU, Kansas State University and Washburn University are among 76 schools nationwide whose policies for handling sexual assault reports are being investigated by the federal government. The Kansas Board of Regents also has indicated it wants to review policies at its state universities to see how they are working.

A federal and state review of the university policies is fine. Everyone should be on the same page when it comes to dealing with what has become an all-too-common problem on university campuses. However, it’s important to realize the challenges universities face when they are placed in a quasi-judicial role of investigating, judging and doling out punishment for alleged sexual assaults. Many, if not most, of these reports are never the subject of legal prosecution, but universities are expected to determine the truth of the situations and issue appropriate punishments. They are expected to sort through accounts that often are clouded by alcohol consumption and arrive at judgements that protect the rights of both the accuser and the accused. It’s not an easy task.

Nonetheless, no school can afford to be viewed as being unconcerned about sexual assault or too lenient in dealing with those who commit it. KU officials point out that students have indeed been suspended or expelled for sexual assault, but, as Chancellor Bernadette Gray-Little said last week, it’s neither desirable nor possible for KU officials to monitor the activity in every student room or party. Gray-Little’s request that KU students “look out for each other and be willing to take action when you know something is wrong” is a practical approach that could lessen the number of sexual assault cases the university is called upon to investigate.

As noted at the outset, KU isn’t the only university dealing with this issue. This is, in fact, a broad societal issue that impacts young people both on and off of university campuses. Likewise, the need to change attitudes and educate young people about alcohol use and what constitutes consent in a sexual situation is a responsibility not only of universities but also of family members and peers. Universities have an important role to play but a broader societal change also is needed.