Lt. Commander Tuvok is, in my view, normally fair and has a tendency to be harsh on crime in his role as Chief of Security.
When Lon Suder, a Betazoid crewman, committed a non-premeditated murder due to insanity, for example, Tuvok favored the death penalty (even before losing control of his emotions and attempting to carry out an execution himself, against orders).
Things seemed quite different when another Vulcan, Ensign Vorik, was involved, however.
Vorik sexually harassed his superior, Lt. Torres. After she rejected Vorik's advanced, he then grabbed her, faced and forced a telepathic bond on her against her will, causing her to be driven to have sex, in hopes of manipulating her into a sexual/romantic relationship.
On Star Trek: Enterprise, when T'pol was not allowed to break a non-sexual mind meld with another Vulcan, it was regarded as a form of rape. Vorik's forced telepathic bond with B'Elanna Torres was even more of a violation, as:
- Unlike T'pol, Torres at no point gave any consent for a telepathic connection and had just emphatically rejected her assailant
- Unlike T'pol's case, the bond was not only analogous to rape, it was actually sexual in nature and intended to result in forcing her to accept the relationship she had just rejected.
However, when confronted by the doctor regarding Vorik's actions, Tuvok not only seemed defensive, but actually told the doctor to leave Vorik alone. At no point did he indicate any concerns as a security officer for what had taken place.
Moreover, after Vorik disobeyed orders to stalk Torres on the planet's surface, Tuvok defended Vorik's desire to physically assault B'Elanna, in hopes of beating her into submission and forcing a sexual relationship on her, after she again just rejected his stated desire to claim her as a "mate". After the ranking officer, Commander Chakotay, disallowed Vorik from attacking either Tom Paris or B'Elanna Torres, Tuvok contradicted him and voiced support for Vorik's desire to beat the woman into accepting his will.
This seems so out of character and wrong on so many levels. Tuvok himself managed the pon far first with medicine and later with holodeck simulations. Nevertheless, he disregarded psychic violations, sexual harassment, and a physical assault which could've resulted in rape when another Vulcan was involved, without showing the slightest disapproval or concerns as ship's security.
Can this be logically explained in some other way, or is it simply preferential treatment to other Vulcans?