Chloe Rubenstein, an American University sophomore, posted a rape accusation on her Facebook page, naming two male students (April 22 on her wall — view pdf screenshot here at bottom of page), and exhorting students to “take them down.” She decided to take this course of action a week after attending a “Take Back the Night” rally following Alex Knepper’s editorial in The Eagle, a student run publication. Knepper’s piece was skeptical of rape accusations made following drunken hook ups at frat parties, and suggested that women bear some responsibility for putting themselves in highly sexually charged situations.

Amanda Hess of the Washington City Paper’s “The Sexist” blog, has written a sympathetic article lionizing Rubenstein for outing the two men, who, as far as I know, haven’t been charged with or convicted of anything. Rubenstein also admitted to being one of the students who vandalized The Eagle’s distribution points in an anti-speech action. She justified the probable crime as a response to an insult:

The article was insulting to every woman who has ever been sexually assaulted on campus. So it was an effective action…

Rubenstein claimed to have witnessed a date rape in her apartment following a night of drinking cheap vodka:

Two months earlier, the American University sophomore and a group of her fellow students had gathered to pass the time during the snowstorm. As feet of snow blanketed the city, Rubenstein’s apartment filled with friends and one new acquaintance—a male AU student who lived in the same building. They drank cheap vodka and danced. At the end of the night, a female friend left the party and entered Rubenstein’s bedroom. Five minutes later, the new guy followed. Rubenstein noticed and followed him in.

Perhaps Hess, who writes for a private publication, knows better than to write that a rape occurred, but Rubenstein has no qualms about making accusations without strict evidence:

“You’re playing with fire when you throw people’s names out,” admits Rubenstein. “I was aware of the dangers of that. I knew it was a bold move,” she says. “But when I told people that I was fully aware of what I was doing, it made them feel a little more fearless. After that, I started getting a lot more support from people.”

I don’t know whether American University has a policy covering false accusations made by students, but if it does it probably entails nothing more than a slap on the wrist. Just as courts very rarely prosecute women who make false accusations, AU will probably decline to punish Rubenstein if her accusations turn out to be libel. Therefore, there is nothing courageous or heroic about what she has done. If she’s wrong, and there’s a good chance of that, she’s doing immense harm to innocent people.

American University appears to be a very hazardous place to be a male student. It remains to be seen what, if any, action will be taken to address the female hysteria that has taken hold of the university, which has an overwhelmingly female student body. As I have written before, the only response should be for male students to leave and avoid the school at all costs. Let the Chloe Rubensteins of the world have it to themselves.