Parks & McKee on Intra-Fraternal, Sexually Predatory Behavior and Civil Liability

Gregory Parks & Ryan McKee have posted to SSRN Civil Liability and Intra-Fraternal, Sexually Predatory Behavior.  The abstract provides:

Sexual assault has been a critical issue within college fraternities. While the typical victims have been collegiate young women, some victims have been collegiate young men. That includes other college fraternity members. The conduct may include force, drugging, plying with alcohol, coercion, grooming, and quid pro quo arrangements. Power imbalances—e.g., hazing, dynamics between college and alumni members—may exacerbate the issue. This terrain, often unspoken and unacknowledged, is a difficult one for college fraternities to navigate from a moral and liability standpoint. In recent decades, sexual predator issues have bedeviled organizations like the Catholic Church, Boy Scouts of America, and Pennsylvania State University’s football program. Crucial missteps that these organizations made in dealing with sexual predators within their ranks parallel those that collegiate fraternities make. Ignoring the culture of predatory behavior, sweeping specific incidents under the rug, only dealing with the issue internally, and not holding powerful perpetrators and enablers accountable can create civil liability for organizations. Homophobia often leads organization members astray, leading them to assume that “openly” gay or bisexual members engage in more sexually predatory behavior than heterosexual members. However, that assumption is inconsistent with the research literature. Additionally, organizations that try to deal with this issue may fail to provide alleged perpetrators with the appropriate due process resulting in other forms of civil liability—i.e., defamation. As such, this manuscript highlights the difficulty and necessity of tackling this issue.