Good article. The campus should be better educated on this, but the allegations made by the victim seem very fishy. Especially those by the random friends from months/years ago.

I hope some REAL evidence comes forth in the near future and this isn't just forget about. A story by a girl does not give anyone the right to attack a fraternity, the Greek system, or men in general. Let's remember the Duke case. Everyone was quick to jump the gun, suspend students, and degrade the athletes due to the same stereotypes casted on Sigma Chi. But in the end, it was discovered a rape never occurred and the accusations were completely unjustified.

The members of the fraternity have just as many rights as the victim and until more than just a story is published, no one has the right to judge.

We need to ditch the platitudes about rape that are repeated with zombie-like repitition. Everyone does or should agree that, generally speaking, rape is second only to murder in stealing the dignity of a human being. It is for this reason that rape convictions garner lengthier sentences than any crime other than murder.

But can we, once and for all, cut the cliché about rape? First, stop pretending that most people blame the victim. When your mother told you as a little kid not to go into dangerous neighborhoods, does that mean she was suggesting that if you are assaulted after foolishly going to that neighborhood that the perpetrator would not be at fault? Of course not; and no thinking person things that about rape. The fact is, a tiny percenttage of men commit rape; the vast majority of the rest of us do not excuse this behavior, nor do we think an inebriated woman is "fair game." But even big, strong college guys are wary about going into certain neighborhoods at night, as well they should be; why are young women so fearless about getting plastered with men they don't know? Does that excuse the perpetrator who commits rape? Hell, no. It is common sense. It would be great if we lived in a world without rape; but we have always had a tiny criminal element who will rob, batter, kill and, yes, rape innocent people.

Second, every rape allegation must be taken very seriously and examined objectively. But can we stop referring to a rape accuser as a "victim" just as we wouldn't refer to an alleged fraud victim as a "victim." Rape is a terrible thing, but not every rape claim was a rape. Objectively verifiable data indicates that at least 9 percent and probably closer to half of all rape claims are false. (See S. Taylor, KC Johnson, Until Proven Innocent.) When we rush, leap and cavort to judgment that a rape occurred based on the say-so an accuser before any investigation, that automatically assumes that some male is a rapist. This, as you can imagine, is especially problematic when the accuser actually names a specific male who turns out to be innocent. We live in a culture where innocent young men are jailed for days and weeks and months for alleged acquaintance rape based on nothing more than the word of a lone accuser. I don't think most people realize this goes on, but it is common. While rape accusers are afforded anonymity, the name of any male named by any accuser is reported all over the news and the world is invited to titillate to his humiliation. Again, this is extremely problematic when it turns out the accused was innocent. Many falsely accused men have had their reputations destroyed by a false claim. Some have killed themselves. Others are killed by an angry boyfriend of the accuser. Most lose their girlfriends or wives, their jobs or businesses, and at least a portion of their sanity. Sadly almost every one of them says they have a difficult time trusting women after that. Men falsely accused say that the experience is by far the worst thing that's ever happened to them. When it comes to rape, in a host of ways, we need to start respecting the presumed innocent far more than we do. As it is, they have become collateral damage in the war on rape. Most such accused men are teens to early twenties. Again, some readers might erroneously take what I am saying to mean that we should coddle rapists or blame victims. Exactly the opposite. Let's allow the judicial process to decide who's a victim and who's a rapist, and stop making such judgments in the court of last resort, the newspapers. And if a rape occurred, let's continue to treat it with a seriousness second only to murder. Pierce Harlan http://falserapesociety.blogspot.com/

There may be, in few occurences, "false rape accusations." However, in the situation of the victim that came forward to the Badger Herald, it is clear that rape occured. We may not know who the specific perpetrators are, but we do know that this woman woke up in the Sigma Chi house with her pants off late at night. We know that she went to the hospital the next morning and was told that she was violently raped by multiple people. Regardless of who the specific perpetrator was, this victim was raped in the Sigma Chi house. There needs to be a focus on what this means for the Sigma Chi fraternity that their house was a place that a violent rape occured. They need to take responsibility for this and recognize how this still places them into a situation in need of evaluation and acknowledgement.

No matter what, the facts are that a woman was violently raped. We must focus on supporting her and work to prevent further assaults from happening.

Pierce, if you find people repeating these platitudes with "zombie-like repitition" maybe you should read some of the comments on the other articles and see what we're up against. Most people do NOT react in the way they should, they DO blame the victim or question her ability to know if she was raped or if she consented. This has been happening this way forever. And you ARE blaming the victim, she was not in a dangerous neighborhood, she was at a frat house, full of people, with girls that she knew. When was the last time you went to a bar with people you didn't know very well? Has there ever been a miscommunication and they left you? This is not the same, it could have happened to anyone, and by equating it with walking around in a dangerous neighborhood you are blaming the victim.Finally we don't know if she was getting plastered - she was drugged and she had no control over that.

Before we start to worry about the men who are being falsely accused - you should remember that no one has been accused of rape - and most rapes don't ever get into the court room, and when they do, they rarely end in a prison sentence. So your examples are a rare case when the overwhelming majority of people affected by rape are women that either cannot come out or are not believed when they do. NOT men who are falsely accused. Unfortunately we live in a culture that does not respond to rape, does not make a strong effort to catch these criminals, and does not punish them. Even if you do go to jail, it is a 4 year sentence - about the same as if you were dealing marijuana. So get your facts straight.

Obviously the police and the campus haven't been doing enough to stem this problem, hence why she felt the need to share her story to warn others from it happening again.

Good Article

Not facts, just what she said someone else said. <-- If that is hard sentence to read then the facts are probably not as simple either.

Thank you Pierce Harlan. It's nice to read a comment that doesn't say that when it comes to a rape accusation, you're guilty until you can prove your innocence.

Pierce Harlan's attitude is among the most dangerous of all.

Mister False Rape Society a few comments up: While I don't doubt that detriment has come to falsely accused people, I think that your cause in defending accused men in this forum fails to weigh the net good of sexual assault victims (not FRAUD victims) stepping forward. Think of total harm done by false accusations compared to the total harm done by sexual assaults (both reported and not). According to your comment, at the low end, 50% of reports would be true. That's 50% victims of a violent crime versus 50% men simply accused of one.
As a woman, I had a very strong reaction to the initial story and its important aspect: that women are in danger in our community. The crime described is horrific and repeated. It is vital that light is shed on this fact and we as a community as justly as possible try to decrease this threat.

No sane person will blame a 5 year-old for walking into a busy street, but the child ought to know better. One must know their limits, and not drink too much, because there are bad people out there who might want more than just your wallet. If we are to curb the number of rapes in our community, should we educate women on things we ought to know? Or just sorority girls?

The raped occurred. The only thing that is alleged are the people who did this. The people who doubt this actually happened are disagreeing with a medical professional and blaming the victim. Someone chose to commit violence against this woman, she did not do anything to deserve it.

11:11am - "we do know that this woman woke up in the Sigma Chi house with her pants off late at night. We know that she went to the hospital the next morning and was told that she was violently raped by multiple people"

We actually don't know any of that. For all we know, she never went to the hospital or the doctor said she was not raped.

"Believe none of what you hear and only half of what you see" - there is always more to a story and this one is far from cut and dry.

according to the FBI, rape is no more often falsely reported than ANY other crime. 9-50% is a gross overestimate.

Thank you for putting this out there. I can attest that mayself, and many more included, were eqaully distrubed to see the lack of compassion regarding the alleged rape. It affects everyone.

word to the 11:28 post

It will all be much simpler when Sharia Law is implemented.

Pierce Harlan - is this really the best "cause" you could think of? You make me sick.

"Pierce Harlan - is this really the best 'cause' you could think of? You make me sick."

Then I must be doing my job.

You and your ilk can't respond to my post with facts or objective reason; you are upset that I have pointed out facts that cannot be denied or refuted, and this interferes with your victim metanarrative.

Sorry, false rape claims are an epidemic in this country. Your dismissal of an entire class of victims -- thousands of men and boys each year falsely accused -- is morally grotesque. So, yes, you and your ilk make me sick, too. http://falserapesociety.blogspot.com/

Pierce is actually right - innocent until proven guilty. I want a rapist (or rapists) caught ASAP, but going on a witch hunt and falsely accusing doesn't solve the problem, it just ruins lives.