a profile of the issue
download a fact sheet about college sexual assault here.
also: What makes a good sexual assault policy?
Imagine that you are 18 years old and you've just been raped. You
arrived at college only three weeks ago and you are confused and deeply
traumatized. Not knowing where else to turn, you report the assault to your
dean. When you finish recounting the painful details of the rape, the dean
immediately asks you whether you were wearing "suggestive" clothing at the time,
how many sexual partners you have had, and why you don't have any bruises. He
says that in light of the fact that you don't have visible injuries, he does not
feel that your story is plausible enough to require an investigation.
This video is a sneak preview of SAFER's documentary-in-progress. Look for the final version in the fall. The narration is from a SAFER interview with a survivor from a Midwest college. You will need Quicktime to view it.
For too many survivors of sexual assault, this humiliating experience is a
reality. Untrained administrators carry out ad-hoc, hastily pieced together
policies with little or no oversight to prevent mishandling of cases. Prevention
programs and crisis counseling services are rarely present, and those programs
that do exist are insufficient and severely underfunded.
Organizations concerned with sexual violence are increasingly calling for
primary prevention efforts in their communities, but college communities may be
overlooked for three reasons:
- The idea that college students are a privileged group that do not need
or deserve assistance, and
- the perception that colleges do an adequate job of preventing sexual
violence by and among their students, or
- the belief that colleges cannot be convinced to improve their efforts to
prevent sexual violence.
None of these are necessarily true. The college population is increasingly
diverse, drawing from a wider range of social groups, classes, and cultures.
Women now comprise 54% of the U.S. college population, and minorities account
for 30 percent.
Women ages 18 to 24 are in the highest risk group for sexual assault, and
about 43% of women this age are enrolled in college. Some researchers argue that
college women are even more vulnerable than their non-student peers. Recent
studies have found that approximately 3% of college women are raped each
academic year, usually by someone they know, and 20 to 25% of college women
will be victims of sexual assault at some point during their college years.
In the majority of these cases, the perpetrator is a fellow student.
Despite these startling statistics, many colleges choose to protect their
reputation by sweeping incidents of sexual assault on campus under the rug.
While sexual violence is the number one violent crime problem on college
campuses, current college sexual assault policies commonly do not include
primary prevention efforts, have no student input, further traumatize survivors,
and ignore issues of sexism, racism, and homophobia as they relate to sexual
violence. By maintaining these policies and resisting student demands for
change, colleges create an atmosphere that condones gender- and minority-based
violence and silences survivors.
Findings from a recent study showed that only 37% of colleges and universities
nationwide reported crime statistics that fully comply with the requirements of
the Clery Act, a landmark federal law passed in 1998 that requires colleges to
disclose statistics about crime. In addition, according to a 2005 study by the
National Institute of Justice, only half of schools spell out specific sexual
assault policy goals; 64% of schools do not provide new students with
sexual assault awareness education; fewer than 2 in 5 schools train campus
security personnel about handling sexual assault; only 46% of schools provide
the option of anonymous reporting; and less than half of schools tell students
how they can file criminal charges. Schools are required by federal law to have
and to disseminate a written sexual assault policy that addresses prevention of
sex offenses and informs students of their rights and services available to
them, should they be assaulted. Not all schools meet this requirement.
Campus sexual assault is hugely underreported to authorities. Part of the
problem is that many survivors do not call their experience rape, though it
meets the legal criteria, but colleges also often encourage victim blaming
through prevention programs that focus exclusively on risk reduction behavior by
potential victims (such as avoiding alcohol, going out in groups, carrying a
whistle). Drug and alcohol abuse policies that do not include some immunity for
victims of sexual assault can also hinder reporting. Not having access to
confidential or anonymous reporting also reduces the number of victims who will
come forward, as will a belief that the will not be punished.
In addition, many schools ignore issues of sexism, racism, and homophobia as
they relate to sexual violence. Effective sexual assault prevention programs
must address broader issues of societal contempt for women, people of color, and
lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered people. However, most current
prevention programs do little more than provide women with a few cautionary
words. Men are rarely addressed, and if they are it is assumed that they could
never experience assault themselves. When survivors report their assaults,
school officials often treat women of color who have experienced sexual assault
as less reliable than white women. Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgendered
survivors are often overlooked or mistreated, and male survivors are almost
universally ignored, with the minimal crisis services available often provided
exclusively for women.
Schools have a pragmatic as well as ethical interest in ending sexual assault
in their communities. In addition to problems like sexually transmitted disease
(acquired as a result of rape by 40% of victims) and chronic physical or mental
health problems (affecting 80% of victims), survivors of sexual assault often
suffer academic difficulties and are more likely to leave school. Colleges must
remember that students are not isolated on their campuses. College students who
perpetuate sexual violence can victimize their fellow students, or members of
the non-campus community. But students can also become leaders for change in
their communities.
While schools develop comprehensive programs to curb binge drinking, prevent
plagiarism, and promote fire safety, they consistently fail to take
responsibility for sexual assault on campus. The result is a campus
environment that enforces silence surrounding sexual assault, and sends the
implicit message that sexual violence is ignored, and even excused, on campus.
SAFER works to end sexual assault by pushing colleges and universities to take
responsibility for preventing campus sexual violence. By working with students
to build strong grassroots movements for improvements to campus sexual assault
policies, SAFER seeks to create an environment in which all students can receive
an education free from fear. College efforts to prevent sexual violence are
inadequate and do not reflect the needs of all students, but we have seen
students achieve real, measurable changes to school policies when they have
access to the right training and resources.
References:
- Karjane, Heather.; Fisher, Bonnie.; Cullen, Francis (2005) Sexual Assault on Campus: What Colleges and Universities Are Doing About It. Washington, DC: National Institute of Justice.
- (2003) National Crime Victimization Survey 1995-2000: Violent Victimization of College Students, Bureau of Justice Statistics Special Report, December 2003, (NCJ 196143).
- Fisher, Bonnie; Cullen, Francis; Turner, Michael. (2000) The Sexual Victimization of College Women. Washington, DC: National Institute of Justice and Bureau of Justice Statistics. (NCJ 182369)
- Holmes, Melissa, Heidi A. Resnick, Dean G. Kirkpatrick, & Connie L. Best. (1996). Rape-related pregnancy: Estimates and descriptive characteristics from a national sample of women. American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology, 175(2), 320-325.
- American Medical Association. (1995). Strategies for the treatment and prevention of sexual assault. Available at www.ama-assn.org/ama1/pub/upload/mm/386/sexualassault.pdf.
- Kirkland, Connie J. (1994). Academic impact of sexual assault. Fairfax, VA: George Mason University.
- Anderson, Linda and Whiston, Susan. (2005) Sexual assault education programs: a meta-analytic examination of their effectiveness. Psychology of Women Quarterly 29, 374-388.
also: What makes a good sexual assault policy?
also: Fact sheet on college sexual assault
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