Coltrane’s actions don’t match his words. They’re better.

One of the many inexcusable aspects of the UO administration’s handling of the March 8th basketball rape allegations was the the refusal to tell UO students what had happened. From what I can tell Mike Gottfredson, Robin Holmes and Dana Altman planned to keep it a secret forever.

Our students found out about it the same way everyone else did – from the sports reporters. Because of UO Professors Jennifer Freyd and Carol Stabile and their allies, that has now changed:

Date: January 21, 2015 at 5:41:57 PM PST
From: “UO Police Department” <[email protected]> Reply-To: [email protected]
Subject: Campus Crime Alert 2015-01-21

What is this notice? Campus Crime Alerts are released by the University of Oregon Police Department when certain crimes are reported on or near campus property, and in compliance with federal law. These timely warnings provide information about campus safety situations, and allow campus community members to take precautions for personal safety. All crimes should be reported as soon as possible to local law enforcement.

Please note this message may contain information that some may find upsetting.

The University of Oregon Police Department has received information that a woman not affiliated with the UO may have been drugged and later sexually assaulted late Saturday, January 17, while at a private social gathering in Watson Hall, a UO residence hall located inside Hamilton Hall on the UO campus. Attempting to cause another person to ingest something without knowledge or consent is aggravated assault, a felony crime.

This incident is unresolved and an investigation is ongoing. Anyone with information about this or similar incidents should call UOPD Detective Sergeant Kathy Flynn at 541-346-9694. Updates regarding this incident, when and if available, will be posted on the UOPD website at police.uoregon.edu. …

When I asked Scott Coltrane at last week’s Senate meeting what he would do differently if there was a repeat of the basketball incident on his watch, he said probably not much – he thought Gottfredson handled it well. Fortunately, in this case, Coltrane’s actions don’t match his words. They’re better.