Tag Archives: University of Washington

Fox NY Covers College Sexual Assault

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Fox NY ran a report last night on campus sexual assault. Sarah, a rape survivor, tells her story in the video below (trigger warning).

I’m fairly pleased with how Fox framed the story. Sarah’s strength as a survivor willing to speak and help others is showcased, and her behavior is never questioned (even though she admits to drinking the night of the rape). It’s a story that is reflective of many campus rapes: he was a friend, they knew each other, they had been drinking, she thought she could trust him. The reporter, for her part, emphasizes the frequency of such assaults and the seriousness with which they deserve to be treated. Also interviewed were representatives from Montclair State University (not the school where this particular rape occurred), a school that, as Nora reported, appears to have a model comphrensive Sexual Assault Response Team.

The Fox report seems to have been sparked by survey results recently released by the Campus Tolerance Foundation. The full set of survey results and the summary can be found here. The survey is—and the CTF opendly admits this—not “scientific.” 2,612 undergraduates on 10 campuses were surveyed on facebook about violence, harassment, and bias on campus. The results in terms of sexual assault are mostly in-line with general statistics on campus assault:

B. Female students are at risk of sexual harassment, assault and date rape
PROOF: 33% of women were victims of serious sexual harassment – forced sex, attempts to force sex, or attempts to force kissing or fondling – or personally know someone who was. Things are worst at Harvard (45%), GWU (43%), and OSU (42%); things are better at the U. of Washington (23%) and Barnard and Texas A & M (both 24%). [See Table 2]

PROOF: 62% of women on the 10 campuses report that they have been victims of broader sexual harassment or personally know someone who has been. Broader sexual harassment includes remarks that insult because of gender and remarks that are sexually offensive, as well as the more serious forms of sexual harassment defined above. Things are worst at GWU (73%), U. of Nebraska (69%) and OSU (66%); they are better at Barnard (52%).

While I’m not entirely comfortable with the claims of “PROOF” due to the self-selecting nature and general methodology and language of the survey, [and for that matter I have questions about the use of promoting statistics that are going to be very vulnerable to criticism by those who would have you believe that there is no campus rape crisis] it is quite telling that this many women openly admitted to being harassed and assaulted. And it does ring true in terms of everything we do know about college sexual assault. If this gets the subject some more attention, then that’s a good thing.

[Don't forget to vote for SAFER so we can continue our work fighting campus sexual assault]
My Idea

Are you a man in the movement? Someone wants to talk to you.

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Erin Casey, PhD, at the University of Washington, Tacoma, Social Work Program and her colleagues want to learn about how men decide to become involved in anti-violence events, trainings or work.

If you are a man, eighteen years or older, who cares about the problem of violence against women and have:

• Recently participated in a presentation, training or event related to men taking a stand against violence – or -
• Become involved in a men’s organization that works to reduce violence against women

Then they want to speak with you! Participation in this research project will only take an hour or two, while you talk with an interviewer in person or on the phone at your convenience. Participation is voluntary and confidential. Your insight could help them to better understand how to build anti-violence awareness!

For additional information or to enroll, contact Erin Casey at 253-692-4524 or email Erin at: ercasey@u.washington.edu

Title IX – keeping students safe

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Two recent articles about Title IX and its role in forcing universities to respond fully and respectfully to students’ claims of sexual assault. The first announces the University of Colorado’s hiring of a Title IX Adviser and a half-time sexual assault prevention staff person as part of the terms of their settlement with Lisa Simpson, a CU student who was raped at a football recruiting party. Nancy Hogshead-Makar will be reviewing all of the school’s current policies for Title IX compliance and making suggestions for changes to better protect all students at the school.

The second article reviews some of the implications for other public universities of a Washington state court’s ruling that a student who was raped by a UW football player and discouraged by school staff from reporting the incident or pressing charges can sue the school under Title IX. Although that decision is not binding in any other state, it does suggest the potential for Title IX to be used by other plaintiffs in cases like this where the school was clearly indifferent to the student’s rights to an education without discrimination based on her sex.

Such lawsuits will probably remain uncommon, but they do increase the risks for universities who try to “solve” a sexual assault problem by sweeping it under the rug. For more on Title IX see here and here. For more on the UW decision, see here.

Try not to vomit when reading

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The Seattle Times ran a pair of articles today that detailed just how much football players get away with the University of Washington, in the NFL, in our criminal justice system, and it seems like pretty much every where else. The whole story is horrifying, but in terms of the campus culture SAFER tries to change, the University of Washington in particular should be ashamed of how horribly it treated the woman who accused football player Jerramy Stevens of rape. No consequences for him and an attempt to out her name when she later sued Stevens for the rape (the county decided not to prosecute, and you don’t have to read very far between the lines to know what a load of football worshiping b.s. that decision was) and UW for creating a culture where football players thought they were invulnerable to prosecution. She was a student just as much as Stevens was and they equally deserved the university’s protection. Too bad she wasn’t perceived as able to bring in a couple of extra million for the university.

Article one is on Stevens, article two covers some of Stevens’ teammates that year.