About FACE: A Former Dean of Students Rethinks Sexual Assault Response | by Lee Burdette Williams | May, 2021 | Medium
To their credit, they did not walk away from me. They instead did stay and talk, tentatively telling me what had brought them to Phoenix. Their son was a student at a fairly selective university (they did not tell me which one). He had been accused of sexually assaulting a woman with whom he had a relationship that had recently ended. He was initially found not responsible, but she appealed, something the school had only recently decided to allow. He was then found responsible and expelled, in the middle of his senior year. Hesitant to salt their obviously still-open wound, I tentatively asked, What was different about the second hearing?
Eileen answered quickly. We don t know, and neither does our son, because he wasn t allowed access to the second set of case files.
That s not right, I said.
We didn t think so, so we ve hired a lawyer, but he s already missed too much school to graduate. And he s not sure he wants to go back. We found FACE when we started looking online for help.
Teresa seemed to shift her thoughts abruptly. What about you? Is this your first FACE event too? What brings you here?
Yes. I m actually one of tomorrow s presenters.
Oh. Which one? Eileen opened the folder she had laid on the high top table nearby. She quickly glanced again at my name tag which, like hers, had only my first name, then at the schedule in her open folder. I was listed as former student affairs dean. The friendly tone our conversation had taken, which I felt I had earned with some seriously hard work, disappeared. Nice talking with you, Eileen said, and then looked at Teresa. We should mingle. And without another word, they walked away, leaving me alone with my now-empty plastic cup.