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Carleton President Stephen Lewis Jr. explains that he is acutely aware of the problem of rape on campus, which is why the sexual-harassment policy was created in the first place. He believes the four students objected not so much to the procedures as to the outcome. All were advised of the option of going to the police. "These women chose to go to the university hearing board but didn't like the result, and now they're suing," says Lewis, who arrived on campus in the fall of 1987, after two of the alleged rapes took place. "We understand they're upset, but that doesn't mean they're right. I accept fully that Amy and Kristene believe they were raped, but the hearing boards concluded that they hadn't been." If the men, who were found guilty of lesser charges, had committed forced sexual intercourse, he says, they would have been expelled. "It's like a court of law. When the accused is acquitted, you can't then sue the jury."
This month Representative Jim Ramstad of Minnesota filed a bill in Congress -- the "campus sexual-assault victims' bill of rights" -- that guarantees students the right to have assaults investigated by police and to live in housing "free from sexual or physical intimidation." Under a law already passed, beginning in 1992 colleges will be required to make campus crime statistics public. That will give parents and prospective students a chance to make informed decisions about the risks they are willing to take with their safety. More important, the law may encourage colleges to be more vigilant about crime in their midst and more protective of young people in their care.