THE
NORTHWEST MISSOURIAN
V90 | N7
Thursday | October 9, 2014
SHAWNA KINGSTON | NW MISSOURIAN
The law designed to combat sexual assault leaves college students in compromising positions when drugs or alcohol enter the mix.
Title IX law leaves grey area DARCIE BRADFORD Chief Reporter | @darcie_jeanne_7
Under current Title IX law, there must be affirmative, verbal consent given before two individuals engage in sexual activity. Title IX law clarifies that if someone is under the influence of drugs and/or alcohol, they are not able to recognize or give consent. However, the law also states that if two individuals are drunk and engage in sexual activity, someone is still responsible for making sure there was given consent. This is becoming a large ‘grey area’ within the law. Vice President of Student Affairs and Title IX Coordinator Matt Baker describes the issue. “Right now, if both parties were drunk, whoever comes forward and says they’re a victim is the victim. Both people can be under the influence of alcohol, but one of them has responsibility, the other doesn’t,” Baker said. A prime example of this complicating aspect of Title IX lies in the case of King vs. DePauw University. According to the court documents, JB, a female student of DePauw University, reported on Dec. 8 that she had been a victim of sexual misconduct. JB had attended a party, consumed alcohol and woke up the next morning in Ben King’s bed. She then went to the emergency room and after she had a sexual assault ex-
amination, it was determined that she had slight vaginal tearing. JB later texted King to ask what had happened and he responded saying that they “had tried to have sex, but nothing actually ever happened.” Ten days later, JB pressed charges against King on the grounds that she did not give affirmative consent. However, in King’s statement, he said that “she asked him to try [having sex] multiple times.” Since both parties were intoxicated, the verdict of the case rested on who had more to drink and who had consumed less. A panel was consulted to determine who had consumed more alcohol. The Board found King “responsible for non-consensual sexual contact and sexual harassment.” King was expelled and filed an appeal three days later to the court claiming that he experienced gender-based discrimination during the trail. After the appeal King was allowed to return to campus. Dr. Baker says that while there is a panel to decide just how clear-minded an individual was, the amount of alcohol consumed is a difficult factor to include. “The thing that scares me a lot is if a person is under the influence, they can’t give consent. Does that mean one drink? Four drinks? Eight drinks?” Baker said. In a survey of 100 Northwest students, 78 percent of responses did not
agree with Title IX’s policy on where responsibility falls when both parties are under the influence. Forty-two percent believed that if both individuals were under the influence, then they should both be held responsible for what happened. This percentage of responses believed that if a sexual assault was reported and it was stated that both parties were under the influence that there should not automatically be a victim. Freshman Tessa Schwartzkopf said she believes both individuals should be held responsible. “Both individuals should be held responsible, for the simple fact that they are both in the same state of mind. If neither of them give consent but proceed to have sexual intercourse, they cannot blame one another,” Schwartzkopf said. Junior Kalyn Brown is also among the 42 percent and said she believes that the way the Title IX is written right now gives a lot of power to women. “I feel like this gives women the ability to be evil. I could go to the police station tomorrow and claim that someone raped me, and with a good story someone would get prosecuted,” Brown said. “I feel this is very corrupt and does not help to make women responsible for their actions.”
SHANE STEELEY Chief Reporter | @shane_steeley
Unresolved contract disputes between Viacom and Suddenlink caused the television service provider to drop all Viacom channels from its lineup last Wednesday. After almost five months of negotiation, Suddenlink apparently grew tired of Viacom’s suggestions and decided to discuss with other possible channel clients, without informing Viacom. The decision to pull Viacom channels was due to a lack of interest from customers to continue to pay for the channels, according to Suddenlink Senior Director of Corporate Communications Gene Regan. “Through phone and email surveys, social media polls, and calls to our care centers, our customers have consistently told us they do not value
the Viacom channels as much as they value others,” Regan said. “They do not want to pay significantly more to keep the Viacom channels, and they would like other channels added.” The networks that are replacing the previous Viacom channels will be good replacements for those that were dropped, according to Regan. “Suddenlink has had considerable success in reaching new agreements with the likes of AMC, Fox, Turner, Disney, Discovery, and many other channel owners. We had been negotiating with Viacom for a few months,” Regan said. “The truth is, Viacom has rejected all our offers, including one we made Tuesday, Sept. 30, the day our contract expired.” Yet Viacom feels that these assumptions are short sided and the numbers are skewed, especially when it comes to more specific channels like Comedy Central and Nickelodeon which are typically very popular for most Americans especially college students. Viacom Spokesman Mark
22% Agree
Jafar stated that Suddenlink’s actions backed Viacom into a corner by going into deals with other networks behind their back. After five months of negotiation, Suddenlink submitted an offer to Viacom on Sept. 23. When Viacom asked for more information, Suddenlink cut off ties and quit talking to Viacom for nearly a week, according to Jafar. “We tried for the next week in vain to get them back to the negotiation table to try to hammer some additional issues, ultimately so we could reach a fair deal for both of our businesses, but also so we could keep our shows on air for the benefit of our consumers,” Jafar said. “We have no desire for our customers and our markets to lose their programming so we accepted the terms of their proposal. What we heard back from them was they already had deals with a number of other programmers to take the positions our channels formerly occupied.”
78%
of students disagree with title IX consent policy
42%
of students believe both parties are held accountable
believe Neither are responsible
SEE CONSENT | A5
Suddenlink, Viacom go separate ways Television giants opt out of renewing contract
Student opinion on title iX consent policy
Homecoming committee reveals supremacy changes JAMES HENDERSON III Chief Reporter | @jendersoniii
Ninety years after Northwest held its first homecoming celebration, some students celebrate a new level of equality in competition for supremacy. The Northwest Homecoming Committee decided it should replace the traditional supremacy rules. In previous years, the competition was split into two categories: competitive and highly competitive. Inside of those categories, it was split between sorority or fraternity. This process worked for many years; however, Homecoming Committee President Mackenzie Magwire saw it as a way to
SEE CABLE | A5
exclude non-Greek organizations. “Last year, I was president of the (homecoming) committee and I saw a lot of gray area,” Magwire said. “What if a non-Greek organization deserved to win? Would they be allowed to compete with the Greek organizations?” The new scoring system will consist of major changes, while some things remain the same. Instead of being split between fraternity and sorority, as well as competitive and highly competitive, it will be split only between the two levels of competition. This will allow all organizations (fraternity, sorority and non-greek) to compete against each other.
SEE HOMECOMING | A5
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one is responsible
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