If you use Twitter, please tweet this to #eckerdcollege. Let’s make sure their school knows we’ll publicize when they discriminate against college men.

Have you ever heard that grand old story about people coming to America because they believe it to be “the land of opportunity”? That’s what I was taught when I was in elementary school. Apparently that’s not what they believe in at Eckerd College. Coming to us from The Tampa Bay Times:

[su_quote]ST. PETERSBURG — The invitation to foreign students on the Eckerd College website looks irresistible, with images of glistening beaches and sailboats knifing through the water. Over the past 40 years, “tens of thousands of students from all over the world” have learned English at an ELS Language Center on the Eckerd campus. They can eat in the cafeterias, swim in the pool, enjoy the waterfront or work out in the gym.

This week, however, Eckerd administrators reduced those liberties. “As of Monday, September 22, 2014, only female ELS participants will be permitted to reside in campus housing,” Lorisa Lorenzo, Eckerd’s associate dean for student life, wrote in an email sent Wednesday to all students…

…The ban also affects future ELS students and runs indefinitely, or at least until Eckerd and ELS administrators can work out an agreement that could allow male ELS students to return to a dormitory.[/su_quote]

The 2014-2015 student handbook shows that Lorisa Lorenzo is not only the Assistant Dean of Students, but is also the acting Title IX Coordinator. The college website also lists her as the Coordinator of International Student Affairs. That means the responsibility for this decision rests in large part upon her. But not exclusively on her, as we will see soon.

So why did they decide that a bunch of college men – struggling to find their identity in a new country, with few resources and friends – should have the roof yanked out from over their heads?

[su_quote]The sudden policy shift, undertaken by Eckerd and acceded to by ELS, follows a tumultuous August. Authorities last month dealt with violations ranging from alcohol and catcalls to two allegations of sexual assault reported by female Eckerd students.[/su_quote]

The phrase “authorities” is used very loosely here, as in no way does that mean the accusations were authoritative. The article continues:

[su_quote]Eckerd’s action was made after a freshman told campus security on Sept. 1 she was sexually assaulted three weeks earlier, St. Petersburg police spokesman Mike Puetz said. The student said she accepted a drink from a group of ELS students from Spain and subsequently blacked out. She woke up in her dorm room “in a state of undress,” Puetz said.

“A lot of her physical state seemed to suggest that she had engaged in some sort of sexual act to which she did not give her consent,” he said. She was interviewed and signed a waiver of prosecution.[/su_quote]

“Seemed to suggest”? How do you know anything she said was true when you are given nothing but her say-so? Also, I didn’t know that if someone signs a waiver of prosecution that automatically gives their accusation the credibility of a jury conviction. Who knew?

So how credible is the next case? Let’s take a look:

[su_quote]That incident was after another report from August by a different female Eckerd student, who asked the school not to report her assault to police.

“We can safely say that the level of seriousness in at least one of the incidents was part of the reason we have responded as we have,” said James Annarelli, Eckerd’s vice president for student life and dean of students.[/su_quote]

Oh I see. So neither case was prosecuted because the accusers themselves chose not to. Is it totally beyond the realm of possibility that they didn’t want to follow through with their accusations because they were lies, and an investigation would mean a greater probability that they would be caught?

As has been proven time and time again, false rape accusations are quite common and are made for all sorts of reasons: attention, revenge, jealousy, to provide an alibi, and so forth. The list goes on and on.

[su_quote]From 2010 through 2012, the college recorded 250 liquor law violations, 402 drug law violations and 15 sexual assaults. None of the sex offenses resulted in arrests.[/su_quote]

So fifteen accusations. No arrests. Fifteen false rape accusations by selfish or vindictive women? Fifteen accusations by hurting victims needing redress? Or a mix of the two? I guess we’ll never know, which makes acting in a punitive fashion seem incredibly stupid and unjust.

But I guess some people don’t act out of fairness or justice. Some people just do things to make themselves look good, and punish people based not on truth but on whatever they feel they can get away with. That about sums up the moral character of your average Student Affairs administrator.

Also, look at how the article throws around phrases like “none of the sex offenses resulted in arrests.” We don’t know whether these accusations were “sex offenses that actually occurred, but just happened to not result in arrests,” but that’s the language used here.

The next comment in the article captures the Orwellian double-speak nature of the conversation about gender on campus:

[su_quote]”We completely abide by Eckerd College’s decision on how to proceed in the investigation and their interpretation of Title IX policies and procedures,” said Alexandra Zilovic, the ELS senior vice president for operations and business affairs for North America. The private company provides English language education to foreign students.[/su_quote]

Their interpretation of Title IX, you say? Let’s read the text of that 32 year-old law one more time:

[su_quote]No person in the United States shall, on the basis of gender, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any education program or activity receiving federal financial assistance.[/su_quote]

If by “interpreting Title IX” Zilovic means “assuming Title IX means the exact opposite of what it really does,” then sure. But you know what side your bread is buttered on, don’t you Zilovic? So why would you contradict the Eckerd administration?

When was the last time the Eckerd administration punished black students collectively for the actions of a few? Or the last time they punished all their female students for the actions of a few college women? I think we all know the answer, but I’ll of course let a representative from Eckerd tell in the comments section us how they’ve used collective punishment and presumptions of guilt with people of other groups.

I won’t hold my breath.

So to all foreign students entering the country, and especially to those entering Eckerd College: welcome to the United States of Hypocrisy, sponsored by your local college.

And to the Eckerd administration: I do hope I will be adding your school to the lawsuits database in the near future.