The Party Line on the Task Force

I'd like to clear up what I fear is becoming an accepted misapprehension about the Administrative Board's reactions and response to the report of the Date Rape Task Force.

Contrary to the November 17 page one headline, "Ad Board Rejects Task Force Report," the board has embraced the great majority of the recommendations of the Task Force, some of which were adaptations of (then) current Ad Board practice.

In fact, the board adopted many of the recommendations when the report was still in draft form and had been distributed to the board to keep us apprised of the Task Force's progress.

Some of the more notable of the Task Force recommendations now part of standard Ad Board practice are: sexual misconduct and sexual assault cases are now ordinarily referred to a subcommittee of the Ad Board for investigation; the accused student receives a formal "charge letter" outlining the incident and asking for his/her response; the student charged and the student bringing the charge write initial statement without either having seen the statement of the other; the subcommittee report to the Ad Board states a recommendation, and both students receive copies of the report before the board meeting; the board advisers of both students abstain from voting on the case; both students (not just the student charged) have the option of meeting with the board when the board takes up the case; the board uses "the preponderance of the evidence, with the understanding that the nature of the evidence must be strong, reasonable and substantive" as the standard for the burden of proof; and both the student bringing the charge and the student charged are informed of the board's decisions.

Aside from these changes in the procedures for hearing cases, the board also adopted the Task Force suggestions that the board make access to the victim/witness advocate available to all students bringing sexual misconduct or sexual assault charges; that the College provide more intensive training and orientation for the board on matters of sexual assault; and (as is now the law) that the College report incidents of sexual assault to the Harvard University Police Department and the Cambridge police, for inclusion in aggregated statistics on incidence of such crimes.

As you reported, however, the board did not back the Task Force recommendations concerning adding students to the committees hearing these cases (something the board does not have the authority to do), and the definition of date rape (the "expressed yes versus respected no" debate).

In short, the board applauds the work of the Task Force, and has been working to take the spirit as well as the substance of its findings into practice. Virginia L. Mackay-Smith '78   Secretary to the Ad Board   Special Assistant to the Dean of the College