Anna Yang, The Stanford Daily
A student reported her rapist to Stanford University. Two years later, the perpetrator was suspended
DESCRIPTION
Anna Yang faced a threshold ethical dilemma in her reporting for The Stanford Daily on an alleged sexual assault survivor’s two-year wait for a resolution of her Title IX case at Stanford University. The survivor did not want to reveal her name for fear of retaliation by the accused assailant, who had also been charged with rape by a district attorney’s office. To shield her source’s identity, Yang would have to omit specific details about when and where the alleged assault occurred. She would also have to withhold the name of the alleged rapist. Even then, Yang worried, her source might be recognizable to those who knew her.
Yang ultimately decided that the potential risk to her source was outweighed by the public interest in holding Stanford University accountable for long delays in the resolution of the survivor’s Title IX case.
JUDGES CITATION
For sensitively balancing the risk of harm to a survivor of sexual assault against the public interest in accountability for Stanford University’s Title IX process.