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

I wrote a piece on the Al Gore case when it first came out.

It's fairly clear she's credible - but she doomed her chances at justice when she refused to show up for two police interviews and her attorney told cops at the time that she was not interested in proceeding criminally and would handle it as a "civil" tort case.

This is the flip side of extortion - the idea that someone should pay a victim for silence.  And it takes two to tango so both sides are equally culpable.  I'm not suggesting anything about the underlying events - only that when money is the first topic of conversation in the aftermath of criminal harm, most cops and prosecutors back off - not only because the influence of money is very harmful to credibility - but also because ops and prosecutors want no part of being used to leverage a big payday.

This problem grew in popularity after Michael Jackson notoriously paid his 1992 child rape victim 20-plus million dollars to refuse to cooperate with the District Attorney.  In any other type of case, that payoff would have been prosecuted as corruption/obstruction of justice.  But too many people supported Jackson - and victim advocates didn't have the guts to criticize Jordan Chandler (the victim) and his family for engaging in corruption.

It happened again in the Kobe Bryant case.  He paid the victim somewhere around ten million and she refused to testify.  She dragged the prosecutor along for almost two years - continually saying she would testify - and on the eve of trial - after the prosecutor had spent tons of money investigating and preparing the case - she changed her mind.  

The prosecutor should have said "you have no choice".  You can take the money but you will also take the stand.  She was a witness in a criminal case - not her own personal litigation - the public's case against bryant.  she has no more power to dictate that the case be dismissed than did bernie madoff's victims have authority to take a payoff from him in exchange for their silence.

Gore's situation is the byproduct of a system that passively indulges corruption in sexual violence cases.  Whey wouldn't the victim's lawyer try to turn it into a money-making scheme - and leverage the criminal charges to ramp up his profit?  If bryant's and jackson's victims can do it - why not gore's?  

The result in Gore's case should be a warning sign to victims and advocates alike.  Don't think about money in the aftermath of violence - think about justice.  The victim can always file a lawsuit in civil court in the future.  There's no reason to focus on profit first - and as these cases demonstrate - there are lots of reasons not to do so.

The Gore victim might have actually had a chance at justice had she not approached the case as a cash cow right out of the gate.

Once the money-motive infects the process, the prosecutor has a politically palatable reason to reject the case.  As if prosecutors need any MORE incentives to decline violence against women crimes.

The better course is for any person victimized by violence at the hands of a wealthy or famous somebody - to say NOTHING about money.  If the perp or his lawyer makes an offer - report it to law enforcement as its own crime: witness intimidation/obstruction of justice.

This kind of evidence lends weight to victims' credibility - but if the victim either makes the first move or indulges a perp's offer of a cash payoff in exchange for silence, there's little hope that justice will prevail.

Victim advocates in particular have to get off the "cash for silence" bandwagon.  They openly supported the victim's corruption in the kobe bryant case - saying things like "at least she'll get SOMETHING".  I can understand this sentiment - but it is short-sighted and unsophisticated.  Moreover, it indulges the far worse problem that rich perps get away with crimes against women while poor ones go to jail because they can't afford payoffs.  A two-tiered justice system serves no one well - but women's and victims groups endorsed the idea openly during bryant's case - which necessarily incentivizes other victims to try the same thing in their cases.  If corruption is OK with everyone in bryant's case - why wouldn't it be OK in Gore's case?  

It makes more sense to avoid payoffs altogether in criminal cases.  Victims should press ahead - and if they're so inclined after the criminal case has run its course, they can file a civil suit thereafter.  The criminal and civil systems are not mutually exclusive - nor should the criminal system be used as a tactic to squeeze more money out of a wealthy offender.  But because advocacy groups endorse corruption, women as a class have less access to justice.

Wendy Murphy

-----Original Message-----
From:
To:
Sent: Sun, Aug 1, 2010 11:02 pm
Subject: sapc Digest Sun, 01 Aug 2010

sapc Digest Sun, 01 Aug 2010

Table of contents:

1. letter re burden of proof in title ix hearings - 
2. Job announcement - "Kaplan, Claire (cnk2r)" <>
3. Al Gore Case - "Foubert, John" <>


----------------------------------------------------------------------

Date: Mon, 26 Jul 2010 08:55:20 -0400
From: 
Subject: letter re burden of proof in title ix hearings


 Dear colleagues;

As some of you know, I filed a complaint letter with OCR re U.Va. a few months
ago.  I recently learned that OCR accepted the case for resolution which means
they will likely answer the burden of proof question soon.

This won't be the first time OCR answers the question, but it will be an
important case nonetheless because the posture of the complaint (as have been a
few of my other OCR cases) is such that it will be decided as a policy
statement - as opposed to a ruling on facts from a live controversy.

As far as I know, there has never been a ruling in any OCR jurisdiction that
upholds the clear and convincing evidence standard, though several have upheld
the preponderance of evidence rule.

I'll let the list know as soon as I get the U.Va. ruling.

Wendy Murphy


------------------------------

Date: Thu, 29 Jul 2010 18:03:51 -0400
From: "Kaplan, Claire (cnk2r)" <>
Subject: Job announcement

I would appreciate it if you could post our Assistant Director position
opening at the University of Minnesota - Twin Cities -The Aurora Center
for Advocacy and Education. Please use the following link to apply:

https://employment.umn.edu/applicants/jsp/shared/frameset/Frameset.jsp?time=128
0408705081


JOB DESCRIPTION
Assistant Director - .8 FTE
The Aurora Center for Advocacy and Education
Office of Student Affairs
Twin Cities Campus - University of Minnesota

May 2010


This position reports to the Departmental Director of The Aurora Center for
Advocacy and Education in the Office of Student Affairs.  The position is an
annual renewable 80% F.T.E. Professional & Academic Appointment; subject to
annual performance evaluation.

 Primary Responsibilities (include, but are not limited to, the following):

Grant Writing, Administration and Management (25%)

 *   Responsible for coordinating and writing federal and foundation grant
proposals
    *   With Director, plan for programming that can be funded through federal
dollars
    *   Coordinate and write External Memoranda of Agreement with community
partners including: The Tubman Family Alliance, The Hennepin County District
Attorneys Office, The Ramsey County District Attorneys Office, The Minnesota
Dept. of Health, The Sexual Violence Center and The Domestic Abuse Project.
    *   Serve as principal grant writer, fulfilling all requirements and
special conditions of funding agencies
    *   Work with SPA to navigate the proposal submission process through EGMS
 *   Serve as Principal Investigator and Project Director for grant from the
Department of Justice whose projects include the development and maintenance of
a legal advocacy program, creating and implementing a research-based violence
prevention program, improving services for and outreach to underserved
populations, and increasing outreach to faculty and staff.
    *   Manage budget for grant-funded projects
       *   Approve and track spending for $1.06 million in federal grant monies
       *   Responsible for securing Grant Adjustment Notices when necessary
    *   Responsible for all reporting requirements for federal grants
       *   Collect information on grant projects, process and progress
       *   Write progress report and submit using GMS
       *   Respond to requests from Congress and other governmental bodies for
information on grant projects and progress
    *   Develop and supervise community partnerships
       *   Create and manage project collaborations with community agencies
such as MNCASA, Tubman, and The Domestic Abuse Project
       *   Develop and manage collegial working relationships with government
agencies such as District Attorneys Offices in Hennepin and Ramsey County and
the  Minnesota Dept. of  Health
       *
    *   Serve as primary contact for all other grant related work, including:
       *   Work with SPA to coordinate budget changes and requests for
programming changes
       *   Respond to requests from other universities for information on TAC's
grant-sponsored programming
       *   Serve as consultant to other universities regarding grant writing,
management, and programming

Outreach, Education and Curriculum Development  (30%)

 *   Supervise development of TAC educational presentations and trainings
    *   Supervise Violence Prevention Educator
    *   Develop curriculum for presentations by TAC's violence prevention
educators
    *   Stay current on violence against women, violence prevention, and peer
education literatures in order to integrate best practices in TAC educational
programming
 *   Responsible for conducting volunteer recruitment and training
    *   Plan and coordinate training including the selection of additional
resource trainers, the training site, and training content.
    *   Design curriculum for 40 hour training
    *   Facilitate training for advocates and, with Violence Prevention
Education Coordinator, co-facilitate training for peer educators
    *   Plan and Co-facilitate Special Projects Volunteer training and Men
Against Gender Violence orientation
    *   Facilitate Aurora information sessions
 *   Develop and conduct trainings for faculty, staff and students (such as
for: Disability Services, all student athletes, and the Departments of Physical
Therapy, Social Work, Psychology, Women's Studies and Sociology)
    *   Be flexible to accommodate requests for educational presentations,
attend special events (day, evening, weekends)
 *   Develop and conduct presentations for national conferences based on work
at TAC in the areas of violence against women with disabilities, violence
prevention, creating a course for credit, evaluating prevention programs, and
other topics as appropriate
    *   Creatively design and carry out presentations that reflect a
diversified approach and sensitivity towards meeting the unique needs of
victimized populations;  address societal influences and how all forms of
oppression are perpetuated in our culture.
 *   Work with the Career and Community Learning Center to track and support
students seeking the Public Engagement Certificate
 *   Work with director to develop new partnerships within the university
    *   Manage internal collaborative work with:  the Fairview University
Emergency Room, Disability Services, the Institute on Community Integration,
the Rape Aggression Defense program (Rec Sports), University Athletics
 *   Represent TAC on appropriate University and Community committees





Program Development (15%)

 *   Manage and review the Coordinated Community Response and the Sexual
Assault Response Protocol
 *   Serve as contact regarding related University Policies
 *   Work with director and other staff to design, develop and implement
best-practices programming
    *   Partner with other university offices in an effort to reduce violence
against women and other oppression on campus
    *   Use recent research to develop models of service delivery that reflect
best practices
    *   Manage programs and projects are under the purview of the Associate
Director
    *   Review, improve, and develop informational brochures

Program Evaluation (10%)

 *   Responsible for all program and evaluation and collection of performance
indicators
    *   Client demographics: Develop and maintain database to track variables
needed for decision making and annual report; develop client intake form
    *   Client satisfaction: Create satisfaction survey and maintain database
    *   Leadership development: Develop and annual survey to track the
leadership accomplishments and development of volunteers.
    *   Training effectiveness/Volunteer competence: Create an  evaluation of
volunteer competence and readiness in order to assess the effectiveness of
volunteer training
    *   Prevention program effectiveness:  Develop an assessment to gauge the
effectiveness of The Green M&M Project curriculum and other curricula developed
by TAC
 *   Coordinate with other units in Student Affairs regarding their evaluation
efforts
 *   Implement evaluation plan(s), collect and analyze data
    *   Use Access, Excel, Minitab and/or SPSS to provide analysis of data
collected
    *   Make recommendations to director based on evaluation results

Supervision (10%)

 *   Provide supervision to Violence Prevention Education Coordinator

Other (10%)

 *   Act as contact for all media requests
 *   Act as mentor for student volunteers and interns
 *   Serve as staff liaison on appropriate University of Minnesota committees
or planning groups for policy development and special projects
 *   Provide advocacy for clients when primary advocates are unable to do so
    *   Demonstrate and maintain professional boundaries in working with
volunteers and clients
    *   Maintain a strict policy of confidentiality
 *   Other responsibilities as deemed appropriate.



Requirements

 *   Master's degree in related field
 *   Practical experience and theoretical knowledge of violence prevention and
women's issues, victimology issues generally, and sexual and domestic violence
specifically
 *   Understanding of an oppression-based model of violence against women
 *   At least 5 years of experience working in the field of violence against
women in the nonprofit, public policy, or educational sector
 *   Extensive experience as a trainer, facilitator, and/or presenter
 *   Excellent public speaking skills
 *   Facility with Microsoft Word, Access, and Excel
 *   Proven success at grant proposal writing
 *   Strong communication and interpersonal skills; ability to work
cooperatively and collaboratively with University and community agencies and
organizations
 *   Proven record of successful work with students, faculty, staff and
community people from diverse cultural and educational backgrounds
 *   High tolerance for ambiguity
 *   Ability to absorb large amounts of conflicting information and make sound
judgments


Preferred Qualifications

 *   At least 4 years experience in grant management in a large organization
 *   Familiarity with Sponsored Projects Administration and the Electronic
Grants Management System
 *   Experience providing advocacy to survivors of sexual assault, relationship
violence, and stalking
 *   Experience planning conducting evaluations for non-profits or educational
institutions
 *   Experience working for a large university
 *   Experience using a statistical software package (SPSS, Minitab)
 *


------------------------------

Date: Fri, 30 Jul 2010 19:55:49 -0500
From: "Foubert, John" <>
Subject: Al Gore Case

SAPC Folks,

I'm curious to hear what people think is our responsibility as sexual assault
educators regarding this case.

John

http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/gore-affair-district-attorney-case-criminal-prose
cution/story?id=11292348&page=1

**************************************
John D. Foubert, Ph.D.
Associate Professor/Program Coordinator of College Student Development
Anderson, Farris, and Halligan Professor of Educational Studies
Oklahoma State University
314 Willard Hall
Stillwater, OK 74078
(405) 744-1480
(405) 744-7758 fax

http://okstate.academia.edu/JohnFoubert
http://www.okstate.edu/education/ses/edle/csd.html<http://www.okstate.edu/educa
tion/ses/edle/csd/csd.html>
http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B003NCDDYM


------------------------------


End of sapc Digest Sun, 01 Aug 2010
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