Jennifer Beeman, former director of the Campus Violence Prevention Program, severely inflated the number of forcible sex offenses that occurred on the UC Davis campus. In October, university officials said Beeman’s reasoning for the over-reported statistics was irrelevant.
“We have not talked to [Beeman] because there’s no need to find out why they are inaccurate,” said Mitchel Benson, assistant vice chancellor for university communications.
We didn’t agree, writing in an Oct. 6 editorial that it was the university’s responsibility to find out whether Beeman’s actions were benign or an indicator of more serious problems.
Apparently, the administration now feels the same way – thanks to a new set of allegations against Beeman.
Beeman told a co-worker that the money intended for Take Back the Night, an annual CVPP event, may have been used to pay her home mortgage.
Auditors found Beeman had withdrawn $5,400 of the approximately $12,000 allotted to the event for personal use. Additionally, Beeman once paid Granate Sosnoff roughly $540,000 to develop an anti-violence guide that was never completed.
The university’s decision to pursue possible criminal charges against Beeman is necessary.
If the UC Davis Police Department doesn’t complete the investigation, the federal government may get involved. That could mean a lawsuit against the university as well as a retraction of over $1 million in grants received from the U.S. Department of Justice’s Office on Violence Against Women since 2005.
Sounds like means for an investigation after all.
