To the Editor:

Re “Some Faculty at Harvard Oppose Policy on Assaults” (news article, Oct. 16):

From reading some of the student responses to the letter written by Harvard Law School faculty members opposing the new policy on sexual assault, one would be led to believe that we face a choice between adopting the extreme measures found in this policy and maintaining the status quo. This is a false dichotomy.

As a society, we have a moral obligation to prevent rape and to bring those who commit this heinous crime to justice. We also need to ensure that the innocent do not have their lives destroyed by false allegations and wrongful convictions. We can — and must — find ways to do both.

Stop Abusive and Violent Environments has proposed an alternative approach that aims to address both these issues. Our Safety of Our Students Act, a proposal for federal legislation, would engage the criminal justice system to handle allegations of sexual assault on college campuses. Cases would be investigated by trained professionals, and findings of guilt or innocence would be made by impartial judges and juries.

We believe that this would be a far better approach than what is currently being done at many schools.