Between 1997 and 1998, University of Dayton campus police records show that there were nine reports filed with the university’s public safety department alleging “unlawful sexual intercourse.” None of the complaints were forwarded to city prosecutors, according to the university, but were instead handled through the school’s internal and secret campus justice system.
This is just one of a number of revelations made regarding UD’s campus justice system in the February 28, 1999, issue of the Dayton Daily News. The front-page story notes that after the community newspaper began raising questions about the school’s practice last month, UD public safety officials forwarded reports of two 1999 sexual assaults to prosecutors who have said that they have enough evidence in both cases to seek indictments.
The Daily News story provides a rare, in-depth look at the problems created by secret campus courts and blacked out police reports. While the public will probably be surprised to hear of how schools bypass public courts by routinely funneling serious criminal cases into closed university judicial hearings, such problems are, unfortunately, well-known to student reporters, particularly those attending private colleges like the University of Dayton. And as the Daily News story points out, such cases often involve high-profile university athletes.