Sex Assault Victims Can Speak Out On Campus

• Dept. of Education Rules that Secretive Disciplinary Proccedings violate the Campus Sexual Assault Victim's Bill

When Kate Dieringer learned that the fellow student whom she had accused of raping her in her first month at Georgetown University would be suspended from the college for a year rather than expelled, she was outraged. "I wanted to tell everyone," she said. Yet she couldn't: In order to learn the results of the young man's campus disciplinary hearings in the spring of 2002, she had signed a form promising not to share them with anyone, except for her parents and one close adviser. Such confidentiality pledges have been standard on many college campuses. But in response to a complaint filed by Dieringer, the U.S. Department of Education told Georgetown this week that its policy violates a federal campus crime law.  The decision could encourage victims to shine a light into the often secretive workings of collegiate disciplinary systems -- and even warn fellow students about their alleged attackers. The Department of Education's order apparently applies only to cases involving sexual assault, as governed by a 1992 law known as the Campus Sexual Assault Victims' Bill of Rights, which requires that victims receive information about disciplinary proceedings without any conditions or limitations.  [more] or [more]