"There's a misconception that we planned that rally in response to the Douglas case, which is not the case at all," said Rosslyn Wuchinich '99, a Coalition member. "It was never meant to be a response to a specific case."

"The issue of sexual assault at Harvard has never been about one or two or three cases," she added.

Wuchinich said she does not expect much discussion about the severity of the punishment at the faculty meeting.

"Of course [people who admit to raping another student] should be dismissed," she said. "It should just go through."

According to Middlesex county prosecutors, Elster and the woman he raped knew each other for about one-and-a-half months before the rape occurred. They had arranged to meet in her room on Jan. 29 of last year.

At that time, Elster and the victim first engaged in consensual kissing. Then, when the woman rejected his further advances, Elster struck her across the face, forced her to undress and raped her. Neither was under the influence of alcohol.

Elster pled guilty to three counts of rape, two counts of assault and battery and one count of indecent assault and battery.