Discussion List for campus-based and allied personnel working to end gender-based violence on campus.

Dear colleagues;

The Chronicle of Higher Education has a new piece out about the pervasive and 
on-going problem of on-line gossip sites such as Juicy Campus and the 
responsibility of schools to redress the problem of sexual harassment at 
these sites.?? It is an important story and a worthy read - but I want to 
point out an interesting issue.

The writer - Jeffrey Young, wrote the piece after my case at Hofstra was 
decided.? I spoke with him at length and sent him materials, including the 
complaint I filed with OCR - which was a first of its kind complaint and 
addressed the issues with creative legal analysis and due respect for the 
unique nature of the questions involved in terms of schools' responsibilities.

The story he wrote relied on my work and my conversation, to some extent, and 
yet his story makes no mention of the fact that I represented the Hofstra 
student in her OCR case, or that I am filing an appeal on her behalf.? In 
fact, he wrongly indicates that my client is being represented by "Security 
on Campus".

Although I work with Security on Campus all the time - serve on their 
advisory board - and am a strong supporter of their excellent work, they are 
not representing my client - though I asked them to work with me and to 
provide policy-based support for my appeal.

I mention this because it seems particularly important that students know 
there are private attorneys out there volunteering their services to provide 
advocacy in these kinds of cases - and yet the Chronicle of Higher Education 
failed to convey this to its readers, making me wonder whether the article 
was designed to deter students (and advocates such as yourselves) from 
locating free legal services from activists and impact litigators such as 
myself.

Perhaps it was just poor editing - but in any case - I want to make sure this 
list is aware that free legal service do exist - and I encourage you to reach 
out to me and other such attorneys for help if the need arises on your 
campuses.

Wendy Murphy