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Opening Arguments

Student body

Didn't think I could still be shocked by anybody's opinion of sex, butI guess I can be. In a column for The Wshington Post, writer and former lawyer Betsy Karasik weighs in on the case of the Montana teacher who got just a 30-day sentence for the rape of a 14-yeaf-old student. Was she, like many, horrified at such leniency?

Hardly:

…our society needs to have an uncensored dialogue about the reality of sex in schools.

As protesters decry the leniency of Rambold’s sentence — he will spend 30 days in prison after pleading guilty to raping 14-year-old Cherice Morales, who committed suicide at age 16 — I find myself troubled for the opposite reason. I don’t believe that all sexual conduct between underage students and teachers should necessarily be classified as rape, and I believe that absent extenuating circumstances, consensual sexual activity between teachers and students should not be criminalized. While I am not defending Judge G. Todd Baugh’s comments about Morales being “as much in control of the situation” — for which he has appropriately apologized — tarring and feathering him for attempting to articulate the context that informed his sentence will not advance this much-needed dialogue.

That's right, not all sex between underage students and teachers "should necessarily be classified as rape." There might be "extenuating circumstances! Lord. What part of "minors cannot give informed consent" does she not grasp? What is hard to understand about the utter depravity of a teacher abusing his authority over students?

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