“I feel like in school they always worry about how it’s going to cover us, or how it’s going to make them look, or how difficult the situation is. We should protect the students. I feel like we don’t take that initiative often, and if we actually cared about the victims rather than just about the story of what it is, then we would have a safer environment. It would be really nice to have places where we can actually feel heard, and institutions like these where it’s very important to feel heard. The Cornell 7 incident, I can’t even describe how it makes me feel. We should start caring about how the people are actually going about their lives, about these situations. How are people moving forward? Cornell Seven. How is the girl doing? What is an essay doing for those guys?”
“Yeah, because of the whole rhetoric around Cornell 7, or the Cornell rapists. First of all, not 7, they’re rapists. I don’t think there should be different rules on campus, as there are the rules of law. I don’t think anyone should be able to shirk responsibility by writing an essay in order to get out of ruining their career. I think what you are doing at that age or at that particular instance, and in those situations, I think it’s indicative of what you would become or what you are going to become if you are allowed to, again, shirk the responsibilities or accountability of being a rapist. They try to save a kid’s career and livelihood, but not their character. I don’t think white people get that at all. They’re just like, ‘Oh, boys will be boys.’ I hate that so much. No. Treat them like you do every other Black boy, Black girl, Black everything.”
“I think that the rules change. I think that schools definitely try to do their best to keep things close. I honestly think that they don’t want the press hearing about stuff like that because it does change the image that the school has. I’d say that if that happens to you, do both: go to the school and go to the police for sure because, ultimately, the school will tell you that they’ll do everything that they can, but ultimately, I think that they’ll protect their image.”
“I think that the consequences should be the same. It is the same act of crime. Why should the location matter?”
“As a criminal justice major, I feel like it shouldn’t weigh differently, but it is weighted differently, especially based on whatever campus it is. I personally think it should weigh the same as if it were reported to the police, but oftentimes it’s not seen that way through the university or school itself, which I don’t agree with.”
“I feel like colleges don’t hand out enough of a punishment, especially after the Cornell 7 incident. I didn’t really get to see a ton of media coverage on it. I read like one article, but from what I saw, it seemed like the college didn’t really do anything about it. It was treated like an academic violation when it should have been treated as something serious.”
