President Robert R. Jennings at Lincoln University in Pennsylvania made some questionable statements about sexual assault on his campus. During a speech to female students, Jennings suggested that some female students lied about being sexually assaulted, and thus force innocent male students to face criminal charges, according to the Huffington Post.
“We had, on this campus last semester three cases of young women who after having done whatever they did with the young men, and then it didn’t turn out the way they wanted it to turn out—guess what they did? They went to Public Safety and said, ‘He raped me,'” Jennings said. “So then we have to do an investigation. We have to start pulling back the layers and asking all kinds of questions…and why do we do that? Because we know that possibly somebody’s life is getting ready to change for the rest of their life.”
Jennings gave this speech at the university’s annual women-only convocation on September 16. The video of his speech appeared on November 1 on the YouTube page “Fire Jennings.” In the speech, Jennings also made remarks about how women need to carry themselves to best relate to men.
“We will use you up, if you allow us to use you up,” he said. “Well, guess what? When it comes time for us to make that final decision, we’re going to go down the hall and marry that girl with the long dress on. That’s one we’re going to take home to mama.”
Lincoln University released a statement after the video was released. According to their statement, Jennings’ talk with female students was meant help them in “making informed decisions about dating, in an effort to protect them from some males who may mislead them.” They state that Jennings told men at an all-male convocation that “No means no” and emphasized how certain encounters could “alter their future.”
The university also supported Jennings’ claim that three students lied about being sexually assaulted, although they did say that Jennings had his dates wrong and the assault allegations did not take place in the previous semester.
