getgrizzy said:
so foley wasn't seeking to punish her? then why did he ask the question? was he just asking to see if the answer was no or if the answer was yes he was just going to let it go at that? "oh she did break break a rule. ok, see you at the staff meeting." it's obvious he thought she did and that he wanted to reprimand her if so.
it's almost like a coach arguing with a ref in any sport. they aren't arguing because they think the ref got the call right. the main difference is that in sports you rarely get a call reversed even if you're correct, but in real life you can point out a law/rule/code and the enforcement body will enforce it. had the girl broken a code of conduct rule, do you really think that foley wouldn't have seen to it that she was punished?
Foley could have asked the question for dozens of different reasons, and none of them would have had anything to do with punishing her. One, he might have just wanted to know for his own purposes, or for future knowledge. Two, he may have been asked that question by someone else (like someone else in the university, the accused or his parents or his attorney, etc.), and was trying to get a definitive answer to respond. Three, he may have wanted to know if any or all of the parties were bound to keep things confidential. Four, he may have wanted to know so that he could put it in a report he was preparing. Five, he may have wanted to know so that the university could consider pointing out to her or the parties, that the proceedings and results are supposed to be confidential.
I will also point out that I doubt that Foley had any authority institute or suggest punishment of an accuser in this university process. This process is part of a different part of the university. I suspect that Foley wasn't even privy to the details of what was going on in the process, and who was involved. I don't believe the university spreads this type of information around; in fact, I believe they keep it among a very small group of people. Foley, as the university external relations and press guy, probably saw what had been reported in the media, and then asked for clarification in the email. It was probably a very small and spontaneous thing.
Even if it was more than this, there was no suggestion whatsoever that he sough to punish her.
I will use getgrizzy's athletic analogy. If the Big Sky conference's head press guy, while watching a game on tv, sends an internal email asking whether a referee made the correct call on a particular play, do you think he is suggesting that the referee be reprimanded?