A School's Sphere of Responsibility re Richmond and Indiana

[talon]

http://abcnews.go.com/WN/indiana-school-sued-student-athletes-suspended-sexy-pics/story?id=8975121

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/11/01/MNR41ACRGU.DTL

Schools can't have it both ways. They cannot deny responsibility for events that take place on their campus while demanding the right to punish students for non-school related activities.

It is, in fact, the reverse.

Schools are responsible for what happens on their campuses and at school-sponsored events, but they have no say at all over behavior and activities that happen off-campus and outside of school-sponsored events, including the internet, no matter how the child behaves or what the child does. If the child maligns the school with intent to cause harm, that falls under the law, and schools can pursue vengeance prosecute under the law in a court of law, but not at school until the child has been formally convicted since the actions did not take place at school. Pre-emptive punishment is just as wrong at school as it is anywhere else in the USA.

Had the Richmond rape occurred off-campus, I would absolve the school of responsibility. They cannot and should not be responsible for everything that students do everywhere they do it - only for what happens within their sphere of responsibility (on campus, at school-sponsored events, in the classroom...). Reports place the beating and rape at a campus courtyard located near faculty parking and school officials have said they were planning on placing security cameras and lighting there. That makes the school partly responsible for the rape, and fully responsible for protecting the remaining students while they are on campus and fully responsible for helping identitfy and locate any students involved and turning them over to the law.

On the other hand, the Indiana girls were at a private party taking place far from campus and well outside the school's sphere of responsibility. The pictures of the party were placed on personal websites using personal computers. It was not a school sponsored event, did not use school equipment, the school itself was not involved in any way, nor were the actions of the children intended to harm the school or cause damage to the school. No teachers were present. No slurs were cast on the school; it wasn't even mentioned. The school has no reason to be involved and certainly no authority to punish the girls in any form.