re: Mizzou Admits They F*cked Up Sexual Assault Case of Student Athlete

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Anderson was not made aware that it was a football player, it was well over a year since the incident, and Sasha was being hospitalized at the time.

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I'm not concerned with whether Anderson was told it was a football player. I don't know why the athletic ability of the alleged perpetrator would have any bearing on investigatory requirements.

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[T]he reality of the situation is that for Anderson, who wasn't asked for help by Sasha, to notify the University thereby launching an investigation would have violated Sasha's trust and would have made things worse for a girl dealing with a very tough situation. Yes, maybe she was required to report it if she knew, but that wouldn't have been in the best interest of Sasha. I think MOST people would have put Sasha's interest before protocol in a situation like this.

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I think we disagree fundamentally. Reporting a rape should always result in an investigation.

Whether Anderson knew of the assault or not is disputed, but the correct reaction to being told of a sexual assault is always to report it.

There are basically two failures at work here:

1. The university's failure to author and implement policies on how to handle allegations of sexual assault when they become aware of one as well as policies on how to investigate those allegations. In the words of the university's General Counsel "[Missouri] probably dropped the ball."

2. Anderson's (potential/possible) failure to take appropriate steps in reaction to being told of a sexual assault of a student athlete.

The first failure is undisputed. To the extent that the thread title is accurate, this is what it refers to. General Counsel said that Missouri dropped the ball. HR said that Missouri had no policies in place "addressing the questions of how University employees should handle information of a possible sexual assault upon a University student of which they become aware, and what procedures should be followed by the University to investigate."

This isn't a lack of a policy to handle "an outlier situation." This is a complete lack of policy regarding the reaction to and investigation of sexual assaults on University students.

Even assuming Anderson knew of the rape, no policy existed to guide her in a proper response or subsequent investigation.

This is a failure of the University.

The second failure is disputed. Evidence exists that Courey reported the rape to Anderson. Anderson disputes that she heard the word rape. If Anderson was told about the rape, she failed to report it when she had a duty and responsibility to do so. Going back to failure #1, the University would be partially at fault for not authoring or implementing policy to guide Anderson.

Even assuming that the word "rape" was not used, Anderson was aware that Courey had a suicide attempt and Courey called her at 9:00 p.m. at night, on her cell phone, to discuss her status at the school and (using Anderson's version) Courey told Anderson that she hesitated to come back to school because "bad things happened" at Missouri.

You ask what I think the University should have done?

Launch an investigation into the alleged assault after Courey's death, when the University became aware of the alleged assault.

Implement the policies discussed in the 2011 Dear Colleagues letter that would have guided Anderson in her decision when Courey (according to Courey's diary) reported the assault to her.

My criticism would be no different if the school were Kentucky or any other college.

Pretending that this is all just a conspiracy against Missouri is silly. There was a real problem that should have been addressed prior to this happening. I hope it's already been addressed at Kentucky. If it hasn't and a similar story arises, you can bet your life I won't be responding to this type of thread with the garbage I've seen from some Missouri fans.