A presidential candidate thinks the police should handle “a very serious crime” as rape. But, the reason why the comments from Bernie Sanders may be “controversial,” as he acknowledged, is because these are incidents of rape and sexual assault which take place on college campuses.
Sanders made these comments while at the Black and Brown Presidential Forum in Iowa, as Fusion reported. While he was not surrounded by his fellow senators for there to be any sort of debate, Sanders’ view is likely to put him at odds with other Democrats.
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As he explained his stance:
That point is reasonable, but Democratic Senators have come out against legislation involving law enforcement. Sen. Claire McCaskill, a Democrat from Mo., is one of Sanders’ colleagues who disagrees to the point where she personally contacted fraternity presidents to express her disappointment that they would support the above-mentioned bill.
The problem goes beyond if solving campus sexual assault should be a partisan issue (which it shouldn’t be), and if it’s appropriate for Sen. McCaskill to have personally contacted college students to essentially chastise them for which legislation their organization choose to support (which it’s not). The problem is solving campus assault itself.
Any hesitation for involving the police is understandable, and more sensitivity could always be used. But involving law enforcement may be the fairest option for not only the alleged victim, but the accused as well.
Not only may school investigations may fail victims through the example Sanders points to, “of women who have been assaulted or rape sitting in a classroom alongside somebody who raped them,” but those who are accused. The incident at Georgia Tech where an expelled accused student had to file a lawsuit to be reinstated is only a recent example.
Sanders may very well be on to something here. The Hill reported that his campaign did not respond to clarify such comments, but here’s hoping he won’t back down under pressure.
