Sexual Assault On College Campuses

Sexual assault is defined by the department of justice as: any type of sexual contact or behavior that occurs without the explicit consent of the recipient. Falling under the definition of sexual assault are sexual activities as forced sexual intercourse, forcible sodomy, child molestation, incest, fondling, and attempted rape. Women aged 18-24, in college, are three times greater at risk than the average woman any age. (RAINN). The U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights has 246 ongoing investigations into how 195 colleges and universities handled sexual assault under Title IX. (Huffington Post). Many ask, Why on college campuses? Why have these statistics been rising? For a rapist or an assaulter, college is

In the article “Athletic club weekend turns into a nightmare for college freshman” by Carol smith and Lee Van Der Voo, Emily Lorenzen shares her story of being a rape victim. Emily shares her account because she wants to help to prevent rape from happening to anyone else. After interviewing Emily the authors shared a statement expressing that “Emily lorenzen believes that if people hear her story, they will be more comfortable confronting the issue of sexual assault on campus. She wants more conversation, so that men get a clearer definition of rape, face stiffer penalties if they ignore it and administrators learn to reach out to women like her and show compassion. She especially wants bystanders to step up and protect people who are vulnerable.” Rape victims need support to not feel guilty or ashamed, and that is exactly what Emily and her father desire. On this topic, Shipman an influential contributor of the Spokane sexual assault

According to Nancy Chi Cantalupo, writer in the University Chicago Law Journal, “twenty to twenty-five percent of college women are victims of attempted or completed nonconsensual sex” (Burying Our Heads 207). In October 2014, an eighteen-year-old freshman at Old Dominion University was sexually assaulted. She reported her case to the ODU Police Department where she was treated as a suspect rather than a victim (Jane). The university police department denied this young woman of many things such as a medical examination right away, food, drinks and even did not allow her to use the bathroom (Jane). These factors caused her to suffer multiple injuries mentally, emotionally, and physically (Jane). Many cases of on campus sexual assault has come

Every 98 seconds sexual assault occurs. More than 570 people in the United States alone face sexual assault in the duration of 24 hours. A large percent of these victims are students. Rape and sexual assault is escalating rapidly throughout the country within highschool and college students meanwhile schools are not addressing these issues. Many factors contribute to the rise of sexual assault such as; illegal drinking, greek-life, lack of police related officials, and campuses are not supporting them. Although students don’t speak up about sexual assault because they are afraid of getting in trouble, these incidents are occurring more and more. Schools need to address the issue of sexual assault on campuses because it is the victims and their

Sexual assault is defined as any vaginal, oral, or anal penetration that is forced upon another, regardless of sex and sexual orientation, using any object or body part. The issue of sexual assault in America is primarily encouraged by rape culture. Women Against Violence Against Women is an organization that defines rape culture as a complex set of beliefs that encourage male sexual aggression and supports violence against women. The acceptance of rape culture, rape myths, and the disregard for sexual consent also allow for the perpetuation of sexual assault against women on college campuses. Recent examples of sexual assault on college campuses show how prominent this issue has become and how hostile campuses have become for female students. Some examples include the University of Southern California’s “Gullet Report,” Miami University of Ohio’s “Top Ten Ways to Get Away with Rape,” and a sexual assault on the campus of Kansas University. Sexual assault is perpetuated by the acceptance of rape myths and rape culture, lack of effective sexual education, and the disregard for consent. The solution to this issue lies with defeating rape culture, increasing awareness and funding for campus sexual assault crisis centers, and enacting more prevention programs on campus.

Something that colleges can do to significantly reduce the amount of sexual assaults on campuses is to ban alcohol and drugs. Think about it, they can make people more aggressive and make them more likely to do something they wouldn't otherwise do, and women become more vulnerable when they consume drugs and/or alcohol. Also, using alcohol and drugs can impair one’s judgement, decision making, and dull their senses. Not being under the influence in social situations makes people more aware of their surroundings and are more likely to make better decisions than if they were under the influence. So, all colleges should implement a Zero Tolerance policy when it comes to drugs and alcohol. If a student is caught with either, they should be expelled

Sexual assault has been a huge issue for many years on college campuses and universities nation wide. As society has evolved, thoughts on sexual assault have also evolved, becoming more focused on the details of victim treatment than ever before. The topic of sexual assault is debatable and sparks many opinions on weather sexual assault on college campuses is becoming more frequent, or if there is just heightened awareness. Sexual assault can happen to anybody no matter the gender, race, religion, or age. Recently there have been many studies conducted on sexual violence on college campuses and universities producing ample amounts of statistics. One may argue that sexual assault rates are the same, but there are simply more studies and attention on sexual assault in the past 20 years. Gender roles have played a huge part in sexual assault on college campuses. Women and men have different expectations when it comes to roles in the relationship, men are often expected to make the first move. One may ask what causes a perpetrator to sexually harass somebody and think it is acceptable. There are various reasons as to why perpetrators do what they do, and may vary from person to person. Although sexual violence is a large problem for many colleges and universities, there is a surprising shortage of federal laws/rules and regulations regarding sexual assault. Colleges are able to develop their own personal policies and procedures for how they will prevent and deal with sexual

Before discussing the sexual assault crisis on college campuses, it is important to disprove some misconceptions. When someone reports a sexual assault, society tends to immediately deny the assault happened, claiming false accusation, but, according to Stanford’s “Men Against Abuse Now” report, only two percent of allegations are false, a

Sexual assault has always been a concern for young women and young adults all over. Women now account for the majority in the student body at colleges. Women should only worry about their education rather than a potential sexual assault. With an influx of women in college the faculty and staff have been under prepared to respond to sexual assault. Over the years the amount of sexual assault reported and unreported on American campuses has risen. The response of colleges towards sexual assault has not been effective in investigating or punishing the perpetrator.

Unfortunately today rape is a relevant topic when talking about a college campus. It has become more prominent in the news every day and although it may seem as though actions are being taken to prevent such a tragedy many colleges almost seem to cover up or mask the fact that such a thing is happening. Jessica Valenti the author of The Guardian: The Web Edition Articles is a female feminist who wrote on the topic of college campus rape and how the victims are not being helped as well as the fact that the rapists are not being punished by the college to the full extent. Rape is a touchy subject for most especially for men, because in this situation the women more often times than not is the victim and therefore has full control, and as Valenti

College for many is the best four years of their live, but for others it’s hard four years trying to balance a social life, working, and getting good grades. However, women have even one more thing to add to their list of things to worry about. Resisting Gender Violence states “Among college women it is reported that women at a university with 10,000 female students could experience about 350 rapes a year” (550). The likelihood of sexual assault or rape on a college campus is tremendously high due to social organizations, alcohol, and the presence of ‘rape culture’. Sexual violence is the most prevalent crime committed on a college campus, for every two sexual assaults there is just one robbery. Therefore, college women are twice as more likely to get raped than robbed. This leaves the elephant sized question, what is it about college that fosters ‘rape culture’?

This article by Brooke Boucek includes useful information about the public reporting system of universities and how the federal laws lead administrations to under-report sexual assaults. Boucek begins the article by describing the current Title IX laws for colleges and explaining other legal procedures and acts relating to sexual assault on campuses. The article then includes the perspectives of those accused of rape and how one college decision permanently affected their life; Boucek includes multiple stories and accounts and thus presents

How many people have to get raped before the United States takes action? “1 out of four female students will be the victim of a rape or attempted sexual assault.” (The Hunting Ground) As this new culture progresses in the world our generation has to incorporate discipline and a new way of thinking to contribute to the new and improved mindset. Another thought being that, the view of sexual assault as well as rape is the victim's fault must be discontinued. We must discover ways that will revive our subtlety to the subjects.

The topic of sexual assault has always been a tough subject to discuss because it is a heinous crime that can and has happened to men, women, young and old. It is a topic that is disturbing and heart wrenching, especially when involving children. In the past few years, our media outlets have captured the images and stories on sexual assault, focusing mainly on College Institutions and how sexual assault cases have been handled within those institutions. Sexual assault is a very important topic to discuss, since this can happen to anyone you know, man or woman, adult or child, or yourself. This paper will touch on the different types of sexual assault, stigma of sexual assault, treatment of sexual assault, and understanding the perpetrator. There will be a brief discussion of the current social issue of college campus sexual assault. Sexual assault is such a wide topic with many areas to discuss, but this paper will outline the basic understanding of sexual assault and what can be done to overcome this stigma of sexual assault and how we can help the victims/survivors.

Sexual assault and rape have always been a part of society since the beginning of human kind. It would only make sense for it to be a part of the college campuses unfortunately. As a typical female college student is between the ages of 18-24, statistics taken from 1995-2013 prove that women around these ages have the highest percentage of rape (Sinozich and Langton 2014). Within 1995-2013, males ages 18-24 reporting sexual assault or rape were far less than the women, although that does not mean it did not happen just that is was lesser of the two (Sinozich and Langton, 2014). Roughly, 18% of male college students reported having a history with sexual victimization or unwanted sexual contact within the past year (Turchik and Edwards, 2012). These students were classified either as college, university, trade school, vocational school students, or nonstudents meaning anyone else in that age range that is not in any form of school (Sinozich and Langton, 2014). Rape and sexual assault occurs quite often even if the victim is not in school. However, when people are closely placed within a location, like college campuses the chances of assault heighten as there are more opportunities for the perpetrators.