Reporting on the current UNC "Honor Court" case the Huffington Post show's it apparent confusion over the use of the term "alleged":
The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill is under intense community backlash after news broke that Landen Gambill, a sexual assault survivor, faces possible expulsion for "intimidating" her alleged abuser.
No court that I know has actually found that Gambill was actually sexually assaulted. Gambill has not even bothered to file charges with the local police.
Let me re-iterate this:
There has been no police report of this alleged felony. Yet the Huffington post has decided to declare that Gambill is an actual factual "sexual assault surviver". How does the Huffington Post know this? Were they there? Are they in possession of forensic evidence that we don't know about? If not then the
onlu responsible way for the Huffington Post to describe Gambill is as an "alleged" or "possible" sexual assault victim. Why? Because Gambill has made a claim that has not been substantiated by any party. One cannot declare that someone is in fact guilty of a felony without providing proof. And no, simply saying so is not proof.
More:
she received the charge, she was told by a student with the Honor Court system that she could potentially be violating the Honor Code by speaking publicly about her rape.
Again, how does the Huffington Post know that Gambill was in fact "raped"? The sentence should have read [purported] or [alleged] rape.
I'm particularly disturbed, as I was when I was on Twitter at the total willingness of people to assume that a claim is true simply because it has been made. I would not sign a petition or anything else until Gambill at the very least reported the incident to the police. If she feels so strongly about the situation why hasn't she reported this person to the police?
Let's be clear: You don't get to call a man or woman a rapist (yes, women can rape. Shocking, I know), not report them to the police for the alleged offense and then stalk them. If Gambill wants "justice" she should start with a trip to the local police station.
This whole situation stinks and it's high time for proper reporting on this issue. I've seen it and it hasn't come from Huffington or any of these other "mainstream" sources.
