Something happening on campus that I don't think we've discussed

[Tom McAndrew]

sadly, a rash of sexual violence claims. Barron and other admins held a virtual town hall on the subject a week ago. I didn't participate, so I can't give a personal evaluation of what they said, how they did, etc. However based on articles about the event, I thought their comments and approach were, to be charitable, atrocious.

Penn State President Eric Barron addresses university sexual violence climate during virtual town hall

Penn State President Eric Barron hosted a virtual town hall Monday to address sexual misconduct in the university community.

www.collegian.psu.edu

It appears that there have now been 22 reported sexual offenses this semester at Main.

 

[Midnighter]

sadly, a rash of sexual violence claims. Barron and other admins held a virtual town hall on the subject a week ago. I didn't participate, so I can't give a personal evaluation of what they said, how they did, etc. However based on articles about the event, I thought their comments and approach were, to be charitable, atrocious.

Penn State President Eric Barron addresses university sexual violence climate during virtual town hall

Penn State President Eric Barron hosted a virtual town hall Monday to address sexual misconduct in the university community.

www.collegian.psu.edu

It appears that there have now been 22 reported sexual offenses this semester at Main.

 

[Alphabets]

May no act of ours bring shame.

 

[PSU73]

Well, all I know about this is the article you attached. It seems like the idea is to study this and to educate.
And geez, way to set the bar low with this comment:
,” Barron said. “I go, ‘Stop all sexual assault…’ and really that isn’t the answer. The answer is we have to do better.”

 

[TheBigUglies]

This is very sad

 

[psu31trap]

I must admit, that’s a rather harsh article. The one individual who discussed “culture” clearly went out of her way to besmirch the University’s reputation.

 

[GrimReaper]

That's pretty pathetic. If PSU can't address the issue more forcefully than that, it ought not to put its incompetence on public display.

 

[SouthHalls410]

First post, long time reader (circa 2009). PSU Alum, PSU parent. Maybe, just maybe the university needs to seriously rethink the types of students they are admitting to especially Main Campus. They can do all the classes, the education, the awareness etc they want., but many of these students are going roll their eyes, go out and party and sadly these sex crimes will still occur. Sadly, this trend may continue as all universities fight for warm bodies to fill their class seats.

 

[Psu00]

That's pretty pathetic. If PSU can't address the issue more forcefully than that, it ought not to put its incompetence on public display.

If there’s one thing Barron and company have done well over the years it’s put their incompetence on public display.

 

[PSU73]

If there’s one thing Barron and company have done well over the years it’s put their incompetence on public display.

...and if "and company" is the BOT who hired Barron and who is ultimately responsible there's no real change we can expect as they are the picture alongside the definition of a cabal.

 

[TiogaLion]

Does anyone really believe that University Park is a dangerous place for students to be? How about more dangerous than most other schools? I'm a parent with students at school right now and we discuss life on campus and in-town regularly. My daughters tell me they, and their friends are never afraid at school. That's how I remember it as well.

The statement about culture is absolute BS. I see our Rutgers friend above seems to agree with this take.

Parents with students at University Park; Could you please call you child(ren) and discuss this article. I love to hear there feedback. I'll call mine as well and report back.

 

[GrimReaper]

If there’s one thing Barron and company have done well over the years it’s put their incompetence on public display.

That's easy; all he has to do is show up.

 

[JohnJumba]

A virtual meeting? There's a constant associated with this administration... avoid all direct contact with students, alumni and the public. Ala the BOT meetings.

I'd be interested to know what these "crimes" constituted and were composed of. Was there some sort of physical contact? Were the acts verbal or written? Were communications involved? None of that is directly addressed.

"Students" believe the University isn't doing all it can. Which students? How many? Something isn't passing the nose test here.

 

[BW Lion]

Without benefitting from fully transparent and objective adjudication of all 22 incidents, I am not (nor is any one else) in a position to label these alleged incidents as a “rash” outbreak of sexually violent behavior.

I would have hoped that we all learned from previous “rushes to judgement”.

Is Tom Mc desiring to become the next Vicky T?

 

[PSUFTG]

A virtual meeting? There's a constant associated with this administration... avoid all direct contact with students, alumni and the public. Ala the BOT meetings.

I'd be interested to know what these "crimes" constituted and were composed of. Was there some sort of physical contact? Were the acts verbal or written? Were communications involved? None of that is directly addressed.

"Students" believe the University isn't doing all it can. Which students? How many? Something isn't passing the nose test here.

Speaking of direct contact with students, alumni and what not - did anyone see the Board of Trustees meetings on Thursday, where Barry Fenchak posed a question to the Board?

 

[TiogaLion]

A virtual meeting? There's a constant associated with this administration... avoid all direct contact with students, alumni and the public. Ala the BOT meetings.

I'd be interested to know what these "crimes" constituted and were composed of. Was there some sort of physical contact? Were the acts verbal or written? Were communications involved? None of that is directly addressed.

"Students" believe the University isn't doing all it can. Which students? How many? Something isn't passing the nose test here.

Plus 1,000 on the bolded part.

 

[TiogaLion]

Speaking of direct contact with students, alumni and what not - did anyone see the Board of Trustees meetings on Thursday, where Barry Fenchak posed a question to the Board?

I missed Barry's question. Could you please post.

 

[JohnJumba]

With around 40K students at the Main Campus, there were 22 claims made? A real crime wave is in progress.

Must be some sort of sex Jack the Ripper on the loose. Time to bring back Mitchell and call out the FBI.

 

[Nohow]

Leave it to this board to downplay such problems.

 

[BW Lion]

Leave it to this board to downplay such problems.

No one is downplaying anything, but it is clear that the phrase “due process” has no part in your obviously limited vocabulary.

 

[BobPSU92]

I blame football, as we all should.

ROOT. OF. ALL. EVIL.

 

[Nohow]

No one is downplaying anything, but it is clear that the phrase “due process” has no part in your highly selective vocabulary.

And the word “misogyny” has no part in yours.

 

[TiogaLion]

No one is downplaying anything, but it is clear that the phrase “due process” has no part in your obviously limited vocabulary.

Well, I've got one person on ignore here and since I can't/won't see who you're replying to I'll guess you've found him.

 

[BW Lion]

Well, I've got one person on ignore here and since I can't/won't see who you're replying to I'll guess you've found him.

I think I’ve already figured out the goofball’s former moniker ( on the old board).

At some point in the next few weeks we need a cross referencing poll. That would be fun.

Example:
Who was the poster now posing as X on the old board?

 

[JohnJumba]

And the word “misogyny” has no part in yours.

How's Skunkbear doing?

 

[TiogaLion]

With around 40K students at the Main Campus, there were 22 claims made? A real crime wave is in progress.

Must be some sort of sex Jack the Ripper on the loose. Time to bring back Mitchell and call out the FBI.

Mitchell brings back good memories. I assume PSU is the only school actually reporting to the old Clery Act reporting requirements. The reporting was recently pulled back because Universities and Colleges could not/would not put the resources in place, however Penn State already had the resources in place. I'll assume they are still reporting. Here's a few of my favorites right from the Reporting Handbook.

"It is not necessary for the crime to have been investigated by the police or a
campus security authority, nor must a finding of guilt or responsibility be made to include
the reported crime in your institution’s crime statistics."

"A retracted statement or withdrawal of a complaint alone is not sufficient evidence to prove that the crime did not occur."

"Once a student has been referred for disciplinary action, a record has been initiated and the referral must be counted. Disciplinary referrals cannot be unfounded."

Essentially, anything that anyone thinks made them uncomfortable is reported as sexual assault. It makes no difference if the act or words had anything to do with sex in any way. If it made someone uncomfortable, and it is reported, even by a third party, it MUST be reported as sexual assault. Further, "the victim" can not undue a report in any way. Think about that for a moment...if the victim later decides that they had misread the other person they can NOT change the report. It will not be modified in any way.

 

[Alphalion75]

I'm not sure this is the medium to discuss this issue....anyway

 

[step.eng69]

"Students" believe the University isn't doing all it can. Which students? How many? Something isn't passing the nose test here

I certainly agree

 

[LealandLoyal]

With around 40K students at the Main Campus, there were 22 claims made? A real crime wave is in progress.

Must be some sort of sex Jack the Ripper on the loose. Time to bring back Mitchell and call out the FBI.

I’d bet good money that if you took a sample of 40,000 18 to 22 year olds anywhere in America, you would get 10 times that number of sexual assaults during the same time period. Prove me wrong.

 

[JohnJumba]

Mitchell brings back good memories. I assume PSU is the only school actually reporting to the old Clery Act reporting requirements. The reporting was recently pulled back because Universities and Colleges could not/would not put the resources in place, however Penn State already had the resources in place. I'll assume they are still reporting. Here's a few of my favorites right from the Reporting Handbook.

"It is not necessary for the crime to have been investigated by the police or a
campus security authority, nor must a finding of guilt or responsibility be made to include
the reported crime in your institution’s crime statistics."

"A retracted statement or withdrawal of a complaint alone is not sufficient evidence to prove that the crime did not occur."

"Once a student has been referred for disciplinary action, a record has been initiated and the referral must be counted. Disciplinary referrals cannot be unfounded."

Essentially, anything that anyone thinks made them uncomfortable is reported as sexual assault. It makes no difference if the act or words had anything to do with sKiex in any way. If it made someone uncomfortable, and it is reported, even by a third party, it MUST be reported as sexual assault. Further, "the victim" can not undue a report in any way. Think about that for a moment...if the victim later decides that they had misread the other person they can NOT change the report. It will not be modified in any way.

Mitchell did not add anything that Penn State had already been doing for decades. My problem with that jackass, aside from the money wasted on his bullshat, was that just about anything constituted an assault/crime/claim.

Scrawling on a stall wall? Crime. Making a phone call? Crime. Looking in windows with binoculars? Crime. Looking at someone and making them feel uncomfortable? Crime.

It's a miracle there were only 22 claims.

 

[psu31trap]

Mitchell brings back good memories. I assume PSU is the only school actually reporting to the old Clery Act reporting requirements. The reporting was recently pulled back because Universities and Colleges could not/would not put the resources in place, however Penn State already had the resources in place. I'll assume they are still reporting. Here's a few of my favorites right from the Reporting Handbook.

"It is not necessary for the crime to have been investigated by the police or a
campus security authority, nor must a finding of guilt or responsibility be made to include
the reported crime in your institution’s crime statistics."

"A retracted statement or withdrawal of a complaint alone is not sufficient evidence to prove that the crime did not occur."

"Once a student has been referred for disciplinary action, a record has been initiated and the referral must be counted. Disciplinary referrals cannot be unfounded."

Essentially, anything that anyone thinks made them uncomfortable is reported as sexual assault. It makes no difference if the act or words had anything to do with sex in any way. If it made someone uncomfortable, and it is reported, even by a third party, it MUST be reported as sexual assault. Further, "the victim" can not undue a report in any way. Think about that for a moment...if the victim later decides that they had misread the other person they can NOT change the report. It will not be modified in any way.

Just curious, is this information sealed once the student graduates or is it accessible by outside sources if requested?

 

[PSUFTG]

I missed Barry's question. Could you please post.

It doesn't appear to have been archived into the meeting records kept on the Board of Trustees website, which, I suppose, should come as no surprise. The only available archives appear to be from the non-interactive scripted presentations at the large meeting.

Barry Fenchak's comment came during a presentation, given to the Board, about how to counter the growing public perception regarding Higher Education, essentially the belief among Americans that higher education is no longer providing a worthwhile and affordable education. Probably to no one's surprise, this has become an increasingly popular opinion - and is a concern to Universities like Penn State.
The presentation was primarily led by a public-relations group from the AAU (AAU is a trade group representing and certifying, mostly, large universities). During the discussion following the presentation, Barry asked if they - Penn State Administration and Board - might better expend their energy by addressing those issues that their customers find to be problematic (costs, waste, curriculum, and the other issues that were discussed as being causes of great concern among prospective students, parents, and others), rather than trying to convince their customers that those issues were either unimportant or non-existent (which had been the direction of the discussion prior to Barry speaking). That was the gist of it.

Aside from the very uncomfortable looks on the faces of some of the Trustees, one in particular, when Barry began to speak - I am sure they didn't expect that - it was interesting to see how foreign the idea was to the members of the Administration and Board, and especially President Barron. President Barron made a few "counter-comments" that dramatically illustrated just how out of touch he is (or pretends to be). The idea that they should try to improve, rather than try to control public perception, was clearly outside of their comfort zone.
It would be nice to see more conversations like this on the Board of Trustees, as opposed to the normal unanimously self-congratulatory babble, and I don't know why we don't.

 

[JohnJumba]

It doesn't appear to have been archived into the meeting records kept on the Board of Trustees website, which, I suppose, should come as no surprise. The only available archives appear to be from the non-interactive scripted presentations at the large meeting.

Barry Fenchak's comment came during a presentation, given to the Board, about how to counter the growing public perception regarding Higher Education, essentially the belief among Americans that higher education is no longer providing a worthwhile and affordable education. Probably to no one's surprise, this has become an increasingly popular opinion - and is a concern to Universities like Penn State.
The presentation was primarily led by a public-relations group from the AAU (AAU is a trade group representing and certifying, mostly, large universities). During the discussion following the presentation, Barry asked if they - Penn State Administration and Board - might better expend their energy by addressing those issues that their customers find to be problematic (costs, waste, curriculum, and the other issues that were discussed as being causes of great concern among prospective students, parents, and others), rather than trying to convince their customers that those issues were either unimportant or non-existent (which had been the direction of the discussion prior to Barry speaking). That was the gist of it.

Aside from the very uncomfortable looks on the faces of some of the Trustees, one in particular, when Barry began to speak - I am sure they didn't expect that - it was interesting to see how foreign the idea was to the members of the Administration and Board, and especially President Barron. President Barron made a few "counter-comments" that dramatically illustrated just how out of touch he is (or pretends to be). The idea that they should try to improve, rather than try to control public perception, was clearly outside of their comfort zone.
It would be nice to see more conversations like this on the Board, and I don't know why we don't.

It's kind of on his Facebook page but you have to read into it.

 

[BW Lion]

It doesn't appear to have been archived into the meeting records kept on the Board of Trustees website….

I’m semi-surprised to learn that PSU’s BOT is engaged in information filtering.

Who would have guessed they were capable of stooping to such levels?

 

[lions1995]

I am sure that someway Barron and the BoT will blame the football and make sure that they are sanctioned.

 

[NL2017]

Defund Barron.

 

[ApexLion]

Leave it to this board to downplay such problems.

They sense a rash of white guys getting blamed for sex crimes by me too cancelers. Therefore they have to start to impugn the women. Yes. while the free board is fantastic at offering tips on sealing driveways, picking the right grill and offering travel advice (it really is), the constant blind spot on here is the supposed nose/eye tests on all things involving women and men. It's like sitting at the bar and listening to coal miners talk about their wives when we all know who really runs their households.

 

[Midnighter]

What is the 'standard' for institutions (academic or otherwise) to 'prevent' sexual assault? Educational programs? More counselors? Clearly defined standards of conduct for students as well as a crystal clear definition of sexual assault? This is certainly a problem, but how much can Penn State (or any institution) actually 'prevent' sexual assault (which appears to be one of the suggested areas for improvement for PSU)? I would assume most of these assaults occur off campus where it is less easy to monitor the behavior of students. I don't know what dorm policies are, but even in the military you have to sign in female/male guests to all male/female floors or barracks. I know in the military, it is a massive problem, but a lot of that is cultural that has been decades in the making and very difficult to unravel. The difference there is a big stick and ability to punish such behavior (UCMJ provides opportunity for punishment even if a standard for assault hasn't been met legally).

So, while I agree Barron's answers are a bit flaccid, I'd like to know what other schools do and what their success stories are.

 

[laKavosiey-st lion]

Honestly FFS.

 

[TiogaLion]

Just curious, is this information sealed once the student graduates or is it accessible by outside sources if requested?

I have no idea what happens to the data. The only way to "unfound" an accusation and therefore have a record changed is to "prove" innocense, which is almost impossible,
I got the quotes right out of the Handbook on campus safety and security reporting which was created based on the Clery Act. Penn State is perhaps the only University to have actually attempted to follow the rules thanks in large part to Sandusky/Fina/etc/etc/etc/Mitchell. I can't imagine they've modified the procedures even though the Clery Act reporting is no longer required because all the other colleges and universities refused to apply the resources.

https://www2.ed.gov/admins/lead/safety/handbook.pdf