No Hugs and Kisses for Gettysburg's Sexual Misconduct Policy

The absurd Sexual Misconduct Policy at Gettysburg College requiring “continuing and active” “verbal” consent for all sexual acts, including touching, hugging, and kissing remains in effect and continues to garner harsh criticism from the media. Now gburgforum.com, Gettysburg’s only independent student news service, has run an editorial, written by Paul Accomando, ridiculing the policy:

Aside from being completely laughable and reminiscent of policies fashioned at a middle school dance, this policy has some rather serious implications: it puts me, and I’m sure many other people on the Gettysburg College campus, on the same boat as rapists; and personally, that’s not the kind of schooner I like to sail on.

The piece illustrates how laughable and embarrassing the policy really is and how arbitrary the school’s enforcement of the rules would undoubtedly be:

Furthermore, if this policy is not seriously enforced on our campus, more troubling questions are raised: if Gettysburg won’t uphold half of this policy, how does anyone know they’re going to uphold the rest? Just because defending students against rape and real sexual assault is a lucid and righteous policy does not mean it’s more enforced than anti-hug legislation.

In addition to FIRE’s involvement in this case, the policy has been lambasted in The Boston Globe, The Philadelphia Inquirer, The Evening Sun, Human Events, and Daily Journal. Gettysburg, however, has yet to address the concerns raised by FIRE and these journalists and has not revised or repealed this policy. Don’t the students of Gettysburg College deserve at the very least a decent, rational policy regarding sexual misconduct on campus? We think so.