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The issue of rising tuition rates used to be the number-one concern parents faced when sending their kids to college; now parents send their kids to college with the awareness of the unprecedented amount of sexual assault cases that plague higher education institutions, and the fear that their son or daughter could be the next to suffer from this epidemic.
The problem of sexual assault on college campuses is not new. What’s changed is the level of awareness that society has placed on it alongside the multiple voices that have come out to tell their stories and share their concerns. There is, however, a discrepancy when it comes to the number of reported sexual assaults and the actual number of sexual assaults. RAINN, an organization devoted to bringing attention to sexual assault, reports that many victims fear the consequences of coming out and divulging their experience with sexual assault, they fear the stigma of weakness that they associate with sexual assault, but most importantly, they feel ashamed of what was done to them, sometimes even blaming themselves for the crime.
“I think that [women] are starting to find their voice, in particular young women, and are feeling more empowered because of the injustices that have happened,” disclosed Ms. Amy Belstra, the college counselor at LHS.“The number of cases reported are very different than the number of cases unreported.”
The last couple of years have revealed how prominent and serious sexual assault is at colleges, with disturbing statistics, from Sarah Lawrence College, now confirming that at least one in four college women will be a victim of sexual assault. Even more troubling is that the majority of sexual assault crimes are committed by acquaintances of the victim.
“I think when an assaulter is familiar with his victim, he sees the line between consent and lack of consent as more blurred,” stated Renee Griffin, a Notre Dame sophomore.“A lot of it goes back to our society’s gender stereotypes, where the college too often places blame on a female victim because she was drunk or dressed slutty.”
In fact, much criticism has been directed towards colleges for their lack of responsibility and commitment to this rising crisis, the focus being that colleges don’t act swiftly enough when sexual assault is first reported, and in broader retrospect, the culture of normality that is accepted in these institutions with sexual assault. Universities have one goal, to attract students to their school, but that’s hard when they have to associate themselves with the increasing number of sexual assault cases that go on at their campuses, and for that reason, many colleges try to silence the victim and cover up the case, according to The New York Times. In the situation where universities proceed with evaluating and addressing the crime, it is apparent that the panelist acting as both prosecutor and judge is often ill-prepared and ill-equipped when dealing with the case.
California state legislators, in an effort to address the manhandling of these cases, have recently passed a bill that would change how colleges view sexual assault by clarifying what consent is, in hope of preventing some of the ambiguity that is characteristic of college investigations. The bill, referred to as “Yes means Yes,” sets a new standard for sexual consent, requiring an affirmative consent that would improve how these cases are looked at.
The law clearly states that a lack of refusal or protest does not mean consent, rather affirmative consent must be given, and that it can revoked at any time during sexual activity. This state law targets all schools in California that receive state funding by making them comply with this new historic standard, along with dictum that ranges from protecting privacy to providing counseling for victims.
Most notably, however, are the cases involving athletes, where the accuser is reduced to shambles and treated as a storyteller, whilst the accused is untouched in part due to his or her status and value that they offer the school.
“I think college administrations don’t understand the physiological repercussions that a sexual assault victim faces, and so are reluctant to punish the assaulter in any way that will affect his life or his education,” Griffin pointed out. “This is especially true with football players, since they have more value to the school.”
Griffin’s statements have translated into real scenarios in colleges; four years ago, Lizzy Seeberg, a freshman at St. Mary’s College, revealed she was sexually assaulted by a Notre Dame football player.
According to the Washington Post, the day after the incident, she reported the assault to the campus police, only to have her plight for justice left unanswered, until five days after her tragic suicide. Instead of investigating and questioning the accused immediately after the campus police was notified of the attack, the college ignored the report until it was too late to find justice for Seeberg.
