Virginia’s sexual crime laws and related University policies given the known accepted facts in Cornellgate, are unacceptable. They need to be significantly strengthened. The victim needs to be the top priority. We need to revisit the definitions of consent, the use of drugs in these situations especially where there is the intention of inviting multiple attackers. We need to immediately revisit the current policy which leaves too much discretion at the university level.
I will presume those reading this column know the basic facts. It is the biggest story in the nation except for the midterm elections. Thus, it is reasonable to presume if one has not been interested in following Cornellgate, you will not be reading this column.
In American law there are important rights given the accused. A local county prosecutor says he previously investigated the facts. He claims to have refused to bring criminal charges, in part, due to the lack of credible evidence required for conviction under state law. The state Attorney General is currently reinvestigating Cornellgate. Therefore, as a lawyer, I will adhere to the presumption of innocence. Due process is required as it should be.
Therefore, I use Cornellgate for this reason: I am confident given the accepted known facts, what happened will prove to be a morally bankrupt scandal from frat house to the University President residence. Heads will roll.
Cornellgate is yet another troubling example of our society’s lack of moral outrage especially among our elites. Such lack of outrage is only possible when you have a bankrupt moral code. This rot starts at the top. It started with Lewinskygate. Former President Clinton was never sent it for his line to the public. public. The enablers around him destroyed all the other women who knew his true nature. As a New Yorker, I’ve always been able to see the connection between Clinton avoiding censure and the ultimate rise of Donald Trump. Once the presidency loses moral authority, our system is in great danger. I wrote of this at the time so you can look it up.
A frat house at one of the top universities in America thinks it’s normal to have a woman in a bedroom with any number of guys ( 7 participants in Cornellgate) standing around deciding the role they will play in what happens. They are what, debating the morality of different choices of potential conduct?
You would think in America…in the 21th century…guys at an elite university would know 7 on 1 is morally wrong on every level. You would think their formal education would make this crystal clear. Or do they just leave moral teaching to the head of the frat house?
You would also think the leaders of an elite institution would have the requisite moral outrage when they learn what happened at their university.
Let’s cut to the chase: 7 guys, one woman in a Cornellgate situation…there is no moral justification for it. NONE. No matter the facts.
It doesn’t matter whether the victim – of any gender – is cold sober and willing.. It doesn’t matter whether she agrees to do it for money. In a civilized society, this is not conduct we condone. This should be especially true on a college campus training our future leaders.
Cornellgate – 7 guys, one woman – is simply wrong. Full stop.
Whether the conduct is criminal depends on the law. But the criminal law is not and has never been considered the moral code in any just society. Let’s remember in America slavery was legal. Rape or sexually abuse of a slave didn’t bring any criminal punishment. During the era of segregation, no white man was ever convicted of raping a black woman.
Indeed, I believe the law anywhere in America for the longest time said a husband could not legally rape his spouse irrespective of the facts.
Criminal laws are passed by politicians. Thus, as with most complex legislation, back room compromises which often include a governor to prevent a veto, are the normal. The ultimate law enacted is what it is.
Moreover, let’s be honest: There is no possible true justice for any woman who has been attacked by seven men. A rapist or sex offender only gets a limited jail sentence. In Virginia, they now get their rights back automatically without even an insincere apology. But rape or sexual abuse victims get a lifetime sentence. They never get back what was lost.
Therefore, the worst aspect of Cornellgate for our society may be this:
There was at the time no more outrage by government or university officials at what happened to the victim. The idea justice for the victim is based on the outcome of potential criminal or civil proceedings in a court of law defies centuries of sex crime history. It defies simple logic.
The criminal law is not intended to provide justice to victims. In theory, our criminal law provide sufficient punishment in the eyes of society to those found responsible by a jury under the appropriate statute. The resulting sentence either spelled out in the law or left to the discretion of the judge.
But 90 to 95% of all cases are decided by plea bargain, not a jury. The criminal punishment is determined by a deal between a defense lawyer and a prosecutor. While a judge can reject such deals, they rarely do. No knowledge person suggests this is justice for the victim.
Let’s be honest: Cornellgate can happen, perhaps has happened more times than we Virginians dare imagine, right here in Virginia.
Cornellgate will continue to happen until we come to our moral senses: 7 guys, one woman, Cornellgate style is not an equation our society should ever accept under any and all potential circumstances. We have failed to make this crystal clear.
If this 7 on 1 equation is solely for depiction in a film with paid participants or other first amendment protected endeavors, then what occurs is subject to first amendment requirements. Such depictions do violate the moral code of any number in our society. But we as a society with a first amendment – a unique concept even all these centuries later – have said this is for each of us to decide. Unless those participating in this art form exceed the protections of the first amendment. At which point the government exercises its constitutional right to step in.
But Cornellgates are not celloid film projects gone rogue.
Thus, society must express its moral outrage from jumpstreet.
In that regard, the University authorities in Virginia must be required to impose a strict justice defined by the state government. The current policy of leaving university justice to the whims of university officials just failed the state of New York. We can’t risk this happening any longer in Virginia.
The seven guys are not denying they participated in one way or the other in Cornellgate . In Virginia, therefore we need a strict state policy saying they all should have been immediately expelled from the a VA university.
To be even more direct: It doesn’t matter whether the woman gives her consent. Surely a just society has to be able to raise its future fathers to understand 7 on 1 is not acceptable in America.
Let’s be clear: Seven on one is not about sex.
Moreover, the theory a woman controls her body and therefore can consent to 7 on 1 is nonsense as a matter of a society’s moral code.
7 on 1 is simply unacceptable in a just society. End of story.
We need universities to teach this simple moral equation.
To repeat: This is not gonna interfere with the sex lives of anybody in college. Because seven on one is not about sex. Do you really have to take psych 101 to know this?
The morality of the situation doesn’t change whether the seven are ultimately convicted of any criminal charges. It doesn’t change whether any of the seven are found liable under any civil lawsuit. Therefore, even if they never face any criminal or civil punishment in a court of law, this outcome likewise doesn’t change the moral code.
Bottom line: In a Cornellgate situation, all participants or those who fail to report need to be expelled from any Virginia university and banned from any campus in the state of Virginia forever. A zero tolerance. Naturally, if anyone accused denies such a role, they are entitled to due process. But once their participation, or failure to report is established, they need to be immediately expelled.
Cornell officials were instead OK with parsing out different levels of punishment for different levels of participation.
This is a morally bankrupt equation. All those university officials should be immediately fired by the governing authority over Cornell University. The Governor of New York should investigate these officials not just the students. Have we all already forgotten Penn State?
Secondarily, as indicated, Virginia needs to significantly tighten up our criminal laws and civil laws governing such circumstances. There are too many loopholes. But in the end, no matter how well written, such laws will inevitably give considerable discretion to those government officials responsible for legal Implementation. This is the reason it’s important to elect the right people to these positions. But those decisions are made by local voters, not dictated by state legislators.
Some of the participants were allowed to stay in school provided they wrote an essay on sexual harassment. I mean, you can’t make this stuff up!
Let me ask you this: Suppose seven guys beat up your brother.. Would the law find the beaten down OK because your brother consented to be beaten up?
Of course not. You can’t give your consent to being attacked that way. This isn’t self defense.
That we have university leaders who don’t get it is a greater threat to our society than AI.
Cornellgate is not at bottom about the sex lives of college students. It’s not about alcohol. It’s not about consent. It’s not about frat house living. It’s not the failure of the local prosecutor to charge crimes. It’s not at the bottom really about morally bankrupt men and an innocent victim.
Rather: The leaders of an elite university failed to display the moral outrage a just society expects given the known facts. For some reason, the leaders of an elite institution don’t understands seven on one is morally wrong no matter how you parse the facts. For some reason, they didn’t expect students at an elite university to understand this basic moral concept.
To paraphrase singer Lorrie Morgan: What is there about seven on one in a Cornellgate situation you don’t understand?
PAUL GOLDMAN is former Chairman of the Virginia Democratic Party, a former candidate for mayor of the City of Richmond, and author of “Remaking Virginia Politics.”
