12-12-2012, 05:12 PM
Sorry to reopen this a bit late. After reading the recent blog and the March article, I felt that one of the contributing factors to the controversy over the handling of the incidents is the appearance of conflict of interest of the law enforcement agency who was responsible for investigating. If it had been, say, the Indiana state police (or some such agency) conducting the investigation, there would be less chance that the school would have even appeared to influence the investigation.
If (when) such a situation happens at Stanford, would it be the Stanford University Dept of Public Safety that would do the investigation? Doesn't that allow for questions as to whether they are representing the law or the university, when the investigation could potentially reflect poorly on the University. It might be good if Stanford had predefined procedures for asking oversight by Santa Clara Sheriffs in certain situations. (As seen in one of the cases, a delay of 10 days in the investigation was apparently significant. Under predefined conditions, the oversight might kick in more quickly. If you have to wait for administrative wheels to turn, it may take longer, and those turns of the wheels might be mistaken for indication of substance to the claims.)
While this incident was about allegations against athletes, one can imagine similar or very different allegations made against other representatives of the University (coaches, professors, administrators,...).
I will also note that the controversy wasn't just over the investigations, but also about comments attributed to administration or supporters of the school.
If (when) such a situation happens at Stanford, would it be the Stanford University Dept of Public Safety that would do the investigation? Doesn't that allow for questions as to whether they are representing the law or the university, when the investigation could potentially reflect poorly on the University. It might be good if Stanford had predefined procedures for asking oversight by Santa Clara Sheriffs in certain situations. (As seen in one of the cases, a delay of 10 days in the investigation was apparently significant. Under predefined conditions, the oversight might kick in more quickly. If you have to wait for administrative wheels to turn, it may take longer, and those turns of the wheels might be mistaken for indication of substance to the claims.)
While this incident was about allegations against athletes, one can imagine similar or very different allegations made against other representatives of the University (coaches, professors, administrators,...).
I will also note that the controversy wasn't just over the investigations, but also about comments attributed to administration or supporters of the school.