Is my dean threatening me?

[Med Ed]

FINE, I tell you guys the whole story. One of the girl in my class accused me of sexually assaulted her about 1 year ago. So the school open a Title IX investigation. It was a big mess, they interviewed like half the class and most my instructors. At the end they told me I did not violate school policy (in private meeting of course). So I asked the school to allow me to publicly clear my name since everyone in school already knew about the accusations. That is when they refused to let me do it, and emphasized that they will investigate against me again if anyone feel threatened by me simply clearing my name. They told me their top priority is to protect the complainants. But I asked them what is about my reputation that is damaged, and they already concluded I did not violate any policy.
I keep pressing for the permission from the school, that is when the Dean told me to "Chose your battle and your words carefully" and not answering me anymore.

It is so disturbing that everyone here assumed I did something wrong even though the school concluded I did not violate it is policy. If you guys, the unknown people, already made judgement; imagined how my classmates would treat me. And I still have to work side by side with my classmates. I simply want to clear my name for something I did not do. Where is my justice? If it happen to you guys, do you want to clear your name and claim back your reputation or bare the shame forever?

You keep saying you didn't violate school policy, but did you do something wrong?

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[Goro]

You keep saying you didn't violate school policy, but did you do something wrong?

Aye, there's the rub!

 

[abbsmeddoc]

Honestly I’d suggest transfer to another school because you are gonna have to get letters of recommendation from your school and if you have such a bad rep with everyone, it might not be a good idea to stay there. Just my 2 cents

 

[Osminog]

OP, it seems that you applied to medical school in 2014. Are you a graduate student? Post-bacc student? Medical student?

 

[ploidy]

If the story is true and you actually were falsely accused of assault I sympathize with you. Also, if @Goro is correct and there seems to be a language barrier you have to not immediately jump the gun but meticulously google every phrase that you think is aggressive (urban dictionary will help) to help you understand the real meaning. I have seen this happen plenty of times where people who their first language is not English but speak English fluently do not understand the full meaning behind words/phrases and automatically think they are attacks or aggressive.

My suggestion is to reply to the Dean apologizing and just being persistent on how you do not want a false claim to negatively affect your future. But... BUT, also explain the fact that you respect his decision to not clear your name publicly. Like others said don't worry about your peers opinion on yourself, it means very little to your career and future. The opinion of your Dean on the other hand is different.

Either way it goes apologize - it doesn't matter if you were in the right with the assault case, you were in the wrong to not respect the Deans decision.

 

[Osminog]

AMCAS and medical schools will never have to know about the dropped allegation.

There's actually a twist to this story: It turns out that OP is a current osteopathic medical student (according to his post history).

OP is arguing with the dean of his medical school.

 

[tiramisucheese]

There's actually a twist to this story: It turns out that OP is a current osteopathic medical student (according to his post history).

OP is arguing with the dean of his medical school.

Ooh this is getting good!

 

[Oso]

OP, it seems that you applied to medical school in 2014. Are you a graduate student? Post-bacc student? Medical student?
View attachment 232676

There's actually a twist to this story: It turns out that OP is a current osteopathic medical student (according to his post history).

OP is arguing with the dean of his medical school.

Ooh this is getting good!

 

[DokterMom]

It's clear that English is not your first language, so as @ploidy points out above, there are nuances of phrasing in communications TO you and FROM you that are probably contributing to the problem. If you have a close American-born friend whose maturity, judgement and discretion you trust, ask him or her for their help to keep your from blowing things up further.

Similarly, there are likely to be cultural differences as well that are fanning the flames. It could be that the root cause underlying the whole sexual assault accusation stems from cultural differences as well. (For example, the kinds of whistles, catcalls and 'handsiness' that were (are?) perfectly acceptable in Italy are NOT acceptable here.)

In any case, you are, right now, in the very fortunate position of having survived an accusation of sexual assault. Frankly, that IS a win. It's as big a win as you're likely to get. Take your win, mitigate your damages where possible, keep your head down and get your degree.

How to mitigate the damage? Ask your American friend. Talk (in person - no email) to the people you will be asking for letters of recommendation. Explain your side of the story and that you have been cleared by the university. IMPORTANT: Work with your American friend on phrasing so that you genuinely accept responsibility for the parts of this fiasco that are your fault - whatever they are. Do not cry unfair. Do not make excuses. Do not blame-shift. And cast your residency net VERY, VERY broadly, assuming there will be some 'taint' in your dean's letter and/or LORs.

 

[FlavivirusProtease]

I for one, am ready for this thread to reach unknown levels of spicy.

 

[Goro]

There's actually a twist to this story: It turns out that OP is a current osteopathic medical student (according to his post history).

OP is arguing with the dean of his medical school.

As a teaching moment, I am now trying to imagine what would happen if OP were my student.

First off, my Dean is a very nice guy, very pro-student, and so for him to say "pick your battles", he's definitely trying to prevent the student from immolating his medical career.

Second, OP will definitely be on a lot of radars. And not in a good way. OP will need to have exemplary behavior from now until graduation.

3) OP would not be getting any sort of apology. The results of the inquiry speak for themselves. OP was found not guilty.

4) OP will need to make sure to stay away from the complainant, or at least have a third party if they are in proximity of each other.

5) Weird things can happen in OMM lab. We don't know if the original complaint arose from that, or some other setting.

6) IF OP continues to argue with the Dean, sanctions will ensue.

 

[premed_thr0waway]

I know good bait when I see it

 

[Dremt]

Since this thread has blown up a bit... A note to all those people telling OP that OP should go out and proclaim innocence on their own..

First, there are many confidentiality rules having to do with Title IX, I am not an expert but what I understand is that both the accused and the accuser have a duty to keep the proceedings confidential. Meaning the accuser cannot publicly identify OP and OP cannot publicly identify the accuser. Additionally, if the Title IX investigation has closed, OP (and the accuser and all involved) are likely to be bound to this confidentiality or risk getting into new trouble over breaching confidentiality of all subjects involved. This protects everyone, the accuser who may have had a legitimate complaint but now does not want to be viewed as someone who cries wolf, and the accused who has been found not guilty and does not need their name to be associated with this in any official capacity.

Second, for the above reason, OP should not talk about this case at all. Assuming OP unwisely disregards confidentiality, OP faces the unfortunate social stigma of mere guilt by association ("he/she was investigated for sexual assault!" "Oh yeah!? but OP says OP got away with it!").
OP should not voluntarily publicly associate themselves with this, you're unfortunately just going to have to deal with the 'creepy trying-too-hard' factor when you go talking about. If anybody who heard a rumor were to actually ask you about it, maybe you could say something like "well I can't talk about it because of confidentiality, but I'm still here and everything is great, etc."

As others have said. This matter for the OP is closed, let it go and be happy this is confidential and won't be disclosed or show up on background checks, be reported in the news, etc. Often times someone with a court verdict of "not guilty" still has a negative effect because you are associated with that case in a public record (I had an EMT friend I met through volunteering who could only work private transport because local government wouldn't hire him with his "not guilty" verdict since the prosecutor hadn't allowed it to be expunged). So OP should be thankful this is private and just let it go.


Lastly, since this was posted in the pre-medical forum I assumed it was about a silly pre-med and a grade disagreement, so I apologize to OP. OP took some unnecessary flak over being naive/stupid, etc. so I can see OP's concern about the stigma. It is interesting the OP seems to actually be an osteopathic medical student. Wishing OP good luck with their situation and hoping OP deals with it gracefully.