Reed College Student Is Banned from Class Discussions Over His Views on Rape

A Reed College professor ignited controversy earlier this week when he took the unprecedented step of banning a student from class discussions after receiving complaints that his outspoken opinions about rape were making others in the class uncomfortable.

As reported by BuzzFeed News, freshman Jeremiah True was informed via email on March 14 by his professor, Pancho Savery, that he would not longer be allowed to participate in the discussion portion of Savery's Humanities 110 class.

"Please know that this was a difficult decision for me to make and one that I have never made before; nevertheless, in light of the serious stress you have caused your classmates, I feel that I have no other choice," BuzzFeed reports that Savery wrote in the email.

Complaints centered on True's repeated disagreements with his classmates about the accuracy of statistics regarding the number of women who are raped in college, as well as the existence of "rape culture."

According to BuzzFeed, Savery's email said that there were a number of sexual assault survivors in the class, and True's opinions were making many of them feel unsafe and uncomfortable.

Many students at Reed have expressed approval of Savory's decision, but he has also faced criticism, especially from outside of the campus. A petition True filed on change.org to allow him back into the discussion has generated more than 900 signatures.

The controversy comes in the midst of an ongoing national debate about the issues of rape and sexual violence on college campuses. Over 90 colleges are under federal investigation due to their alleged failure to appropriately handle cases of sexual violence against students.

Reed is not one of them, but its policies have nonetheless been the subject of intense scrutiny and criticism in recent years. A 2014 report by The Washington Post showed that Reed had the third highest rate of reported sexual assault in the nation in 2012.

True will still be allowed to complete the class—the ban only applied to the discussion portion—but he says he intends fight to bring attention to his situation. "I simply questioned the statistics," he said. "I understand [Savery] has to take care of his students, but I have to take care of my education."

BuzzFeed describes True this way:

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