Opinion | Jane Doe's Least Bad Option
- Jane Doe ditched Cornell after allegedly getting raped at a frat party, becoming another statistic in the campus assault exodus.
- Columnist admits Title IX is a hot mess but is the only game in town — because the criminal justice system is even more useless.
- Feds leaned on colleges to be sex crime investigators, and now universities are playing judge, jury, and executioner with a 'more likely than not' standard.
- The whole system is a dumpster fire of procedural chaos, but without it, victims would be left rotting in a justice system that couldn't care less.
- Student says 'peace out' to higher education — because apparently, surviving trauma means your diploma gets put on hold too.
Brief Summary
A 20-year-old coed gets allegedly violated at a frat bash, files a complaint, and then makes like a ghost on Cornell's campus — because the system supposedly designed to 'help' her is a bureaucratic nightmare that still leaves victims holding the bag. The whole circus has a columnist doing mental gymnastics about why a federal law from 1972 is both broken and utterly necessary.
Why This Matters
For the average Joe and Jane, this is the cold, hard truth that college is not just about beer pong and soul-searching; it's a legal minefield where your safety can hinge on a Title IX coordinator who's read the handbook. This case is a wake-up call that the definition of 'justice' on campus is so squirrelly that everyone walks away feeling shafted — and that's the best-case scenario.