By Michael P. Riccards

Like so many who once loved academia, I was confused and shocked by the alleged gang rape case at Cornell University. Every day brings new disclosures and everyday’s  new disclosures become more sordid.

But as a former college president at three institutions, it confirms my deep feelings that colleges should not be judging their own conduct nor can a student disciplinary process deal with such cases.

Student disciplinary cases, like the University of Virgiana’s code, are meant to deal with once typical college offenses like cheating on exams or minor thefts from dorms. These codes are not meant to deal with rapes and assaults. 

The idea of having inexperienced student affairs associate deans deal with rape is incredibly out of date and a travesty of American notions of fair play. Charges of alcohol and drug induced behavior are much more than campus leaders can deal with. The appropriate response of a college president should be to immediately turn over the accusations and evidence to the state police for them to use their advanced criminal justice systems to judge the accusations. 

Whether women or men under the influence can exercise their freedom to choose is not a college question. Students who wish to engage in such activities are not the types of students great universities should recruit. Colleges don’t need fraternities or sororities any more. The colleges need an intermediate structure to help students fit in. That is no excuse for mind blind parties and the use of drugs. 

As a college president at three places I never touted the great contributions that Greek life made to the educational missions. My institutions had animal houses, and they were fueled by alcohol, sometimes drugs and often by athletes. The substances were obtained often against state laws.

Cornell is a great institution, but why are they taking such lowlifes? Not a single boy in that frat said, “Guys , we should not be doing that.” Did they have no sisters, no mothers? They were not involved in sex but in a physical assault on another human being. Not a single one said anything. Something is very wrong here. 

Once the graduating class in colleges had to take a course given by the college president called “moral philosophy.”  We presidents don’t do that because we spend too much time with the rich amoral people.  So a great president like Leon Botstein became a buddy of Epstein, Harvard’s Larry Summers was taking advice from the same disgusting human purveyor on his dating habits. And, yes, guys like me had to deal with people like Charlie Prince, who offered me a bank board seat if I would name the athletic building after him.

Michael P. Riccards, a former college president, is the author of 30 books, including a two-volume history of the presidency, The Ferocious Engine of Democracy, and a play about Abraham Lincoln. The opinions expressed in this article are the writer’s alone and do not reflect the opinions of the Jandoli Institute or St. Bonaventure University.

Categories: Jandoli Institute, Michael Riccards, Politics