Readers React: How therapy can help combat college sexual assault

To the editor: I am the mother of a college-aged daughter and a high school-aged son as well as a licensed psychotherapist who works with adolescents and young adults, so I read this opinion with special concerns. Young adults in a scenario described — where a sexual encounter begins consensually but progresses to intercourse without explicit consent — would benefit most from education and therapy, not excessive punishment. (“How to punish campus sexual assault,” Opinion, Nov. 24)

Still-developing brains, especially those under the influence of a substance, need help to understand choices and their consequences.

If one later regrets a sexual encounter, support in processing that is more helpful than being supported in the idea that one has been raped and ruining the college career of another. Likewise, the boy in this scenario can be helped to understand the consequences of casual sexual encounters that can become anything but.

Years ago, therapists overcorrected for years of disbelieved accounts of childhood sexual abuse. We’ve now swung the pendulum closer to the middle where it belongs, with careful interviewing and assessment techniques.

It seems the same needs to happen on college campuses so appropriate treatment and discipline can be determined.

Bethany Gauvreau, Culver City

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To the editor: So the Department of Education tasked college officials — who are interested in retaining federal funds — with making decisions that might cost them their federal funds? How did the department think that would work out in sexual assault cases?

Might a better model have been California’s suspected child abuse reporting law? Under it, any school employee is required to phone a hotline, and any investigating is done by well-trained law enforcement or social service personnel.

Why is determining punishment for a crime assigned by the Department of Education to anyone other than law enforcement?

Wendell H. Jones, Ojai

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