Rape case against Stanford football player raises questions about school’s hearing process

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A New York Times report detailing a rape case against a Stanford football player raised concerns over the university’s disciplinary process after the player went unpunished despite two majority votes that a sexual assault had occurred.

The case, published Thursday by the Times, involved a female sophomore student who had met the player at a fraternity party. Neither the woman nor the player — who is on Stanford’s roster for Friday’s Sun Bowl — was identified by the Times.

According to the Times, the two went back to her room where, she said, he raped her. He said they had consensual sex. The accuser sought to avoid the trauma of a police investigation, so she turned to the university’s in-house disciplinary board.

In two different hearings in 2015, the first marred by procedural errors, three of five panelists found that sexual assault had taken place on campus, the Times reported. The simple majority vote would have been enough to find the man responsible at many schools, but Stanford requires at least a 4-1 decision. Victims rights advocates told the Times the university was setting the bar too high.

This year, Stanford shifted the disciplinary process to require a unanimous verdict from a three-member board, causing some to question whether the university “has fallen short of leading on one of the thorniest issues of the day,” the Times wrote.

A New York Times report detailing a rape case against a Stanford football player raised concerns over the university’s disciplinary process after the player went unpunished despite two majority votes that a sexual assault had occurred. less A New York Times report detailing a rape case against a Stanford football player raised concerns over the university’s disciplinary process after the player went unpunished despite two majority votes that a ... more Photo: John Storey, Special To The Chronicle Photo: John Storey, Special To The Chronicle Image 1 of / 1 Caption Close Rape case against Stanford football player raises questions about school’s hearing process 1 / 1 Back to Gallery

The woman, who had received a second hearing after presenting evidence of errors in the first proceeding, remains angry and has temporarily left the school to avoid the player, the Times said.

“I realized that I got into this school and deserved to get an education here,” she told the Times. “He was a valued football player, but I had earned my right to be here, too. ... All I really wanted was a no-contact order. I wanted little things to make being on campus more bearable. I knew he was never going to get suspended or expelled. That’s what kept me moving forward.”

Stanford football head coach David Shaw, a member of the NCAA Commission to Combat Campus Sexual Violence, told the Times he was aware that a “proceeding was happening” involving the player, but that he didn’t know the charge. He said he saw no reason to suspend him from the team without more information.

Stanford claims its standard is rigorous to guard against wrongful judgments, while critics say the system is stacked against victims, according to the Times. The report stated that very few sexual assault cases that have gone through the university’s internal process in recent years led to any significant punishment for the accused.

Tom FitzGerald is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: tfitzgerald@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @tomgfitzgerald