“I figured...who’s gonna believe some cokehead college girl.” (Women Tell Us Why) Sexual assault and rape in college is such a common epidemic that does not get the limelight it deserves. More than 90 percent of women do not report their sexual assault while in college (United States). Many students in colleges across the country are raped, sexually assaulted or know someone who has been sexually assaulted. It is a problem that is only growing by the day. This tragic epidemic can be solved once and for all only if people took it more seriously. The definition of sexual assault is any type of sexual contact without affirmative consent (Sexual Assault on College Campuses). One popular case surrounding the sexual assault “trend” took place at Columbia University. Emma Sulkowicz, along with 22 other women, filed a federal complaint against the university after the school mishandled their sexual assault reports. They said that Columbia University was too lenient with alleged perpetrators and discouraged assault reports. Emma’s hearing took place seven months after she filed the report; her hearing did not go in her favor because her case made no logistical sense. Sadly, Emma was not allowed to give her own report. The investigator that Emma reported the rape to did not correct record every detail and let some vital information out of the documentation. Some of the panelists were also ill-prepared for the hearing; one panelist kept questions Sulkowicz about how the rape was even
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
Despite having hundreds of sexual assault cases each year, most colleges take little action to resolve these cases. In fact, only 20% of female sexual assault survivors report cases, the rest believing that it was too personal to share, or that if they did, the police wouldn’t listen to them. If they did report, often times it was to the local police rather than the campus police in fear that they would be shamed or turned away by the universities.
The alarming increase in sexual assault among male and female students is a source of concern. Despite improvements in the general statistics on rape cases, the college setting remains to be the hot bed of sexual assault, especially among the female counterparts (Allen, 2007). A victim, regardless being a male or a female, never feel safe in their life as something precious was taken from them once. Statistics show that 17.6% of women are likely to be victims of rape in their entire lifetime while only 0.3% of males are estimated to be the victims of sexual assault. According to the National Violence Against Women Survey (NVAWS), the most critical ages men and females are likely to be engaged in sexual abuse is when they are children or adolescents (Gonzales, Schofield & Schmitt, 2006).
Sexual assault and rape among college campuses has been an ongoing issue across the nation for decades. In the state of Utah, this complex issue will not have a simple solution, but measures can be taken to prevent sexual assault and rape occurring on campuses. Utah Valley University is a campus that is taking considerably impressive measures to combat sexual assault, which will be a basis of this paper. Through university sex education, stricter laws and enforcement, and providing on-campus services to students, cases of sexual assault and rape in the higher level education setting will decrease, and students will be more likely to report these crimes.
, 1 in 5 women, and 1 in 16 men will face sexual assault during their time at a college? And from rainn.org women in school are 3x more likely to face it than women out of school( ). Hopefully that’s as frightening to you as it is to me. It is important that one day these statistics are lowered to 0. Today, I want to give everyone more insight on how sexual assault can be stopped by letting you know about the problems we face being in college when it comes to sexual assault and the laws and reasons that make it difficult for victims to report. After stating the problems, I will present you with solutions and the benefits your actions will have.
Despite federal laws issued to combat sexual violence, each year 4,000 college women report to school officials that they've been sexually assaulted. What happens after they file those reports has stirred debate on campuses across the country, leaving parents and students fearful that colleges may not be the ivory towers of security and integrity that appear on their recruitment pamphlets.
A typical teen, fresh into adulthood has just graduated high school. At this point in their life, they must choose how they want to proceed forward, their life is no longer necessarily decided upon by their parents. A majority of recent high school graduates typically decide to further their education, whether this may be to achieve the career goal they most desire, or if maybe they just want to be able to say that recieved a degree. These next four or more years they will experience all sorts of new things, they may make new friends, go out to parties, and most likely have lots of fun. However in today’s society, going off to a college campus could end up being their worst nightmare. According to the article “Campus Sexual Violence Statistics”, “Women ages 18-24 are at an elevated risk of sexual violence” (RAINN 1). By this statistic, college aged women are at a higher risk for some form of sexual violence. Campus sexual assault is so universal because the justice system does not treat sexual assault as seriously as they should, a large amount of sexual assaults are left unreported, and sexual assault cases are very difficult to prove.
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.
“Among undergraduate students, 23.1% of females and 5.4% of males experience rape or sexual assault” (RAINN). Rape is a threat virtually anywhere people go, but no place has a higher risk for sexual assault than college campuses. However, many of these occurrences go without penalties against the attacker, and even more are not reported at all. The lack of consequences for the accused indirectly suggests that rape and other forms of sexual assault are allowable and create further problems for the victims of the horrendous actions. Harsher punishments need to be given out for sexual assault on campus, as the current rulings are biased and immoral.
Look around at four of your female friends; according to “Not Alone,” a US Government report on sexual assault, by the time you graduate college, one of you will become a victim of sexual assault. For years, schools have struggled with figuring out how to handle this epidemic. Many schools just don’t focus on sexual assault; for example, according to Rolling Stone’s article, "Rolling Stone and UVA: The Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism Report" by Sheila Coronel, Steve Coll, and Derek Kravitz, The University of Virginia has expelled 183 students for academic dishonesty and 0 students for sexual assault. This shows how policymakers have pushed sexual assault to the side for decades on college campuses, despite frequent protests and requests from students for colleges to make campuses safer. Sexual assaults on college campuses have been mishandled throughout history, and colleges that have made policy changes have often made ineffective or misguided choices. Colleges need to adopt a “yes means yes” policy for verbal consent and should model their policies after the University of Kentucky’s successful “green dot” program.
Sexual assault and rape are serious social and public health issues in the United States and throughout the rest of the world. In particular sexual assault on college campus are prevalent at an alarming rate and leaves serious effects on the victims. This essay will focus on statistics and the prevalence and effects amongst college students, through examining a number of reasons why women fail to report sexual assault and rape. This essay will also cover sexual assault prevention and things that can be done to mitigate the risk of becoming a victim to such matter.
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 on college campuses is a growing epidemic. Twenty five percent of college women are affected by sexual assault (A. Amar, T. Strout, S. Simpson, M. Cardiello, & S. Beckford, 2014, p. 93). Sexual assault is the non- consensual sexual touching of a person, in which a person is forced to engage in a sexual act against their will. Taking advantage of a person sexually is morally wrong, and causes victims of sexual assault significant emotional and physical damage. Sexual assault is a big issue because it is destroying the lives of college students. No one, that is, attending college, and has their whole life in front of them should ever have to experience trauma from such an act and have their whole future compromised because of it. But the problem is that the majority of the victims of sexual assault don’t report it. So what solutions are there to prevent sexual assault? Sexual assault on college campuses can be managed by enforcing a strict no alcohol policy on college campuses, so that it can not be used as a weapon by rapists. Sexual assault can also be thwarted through sexual assault prevention workshops to educate students and staff about the issue, and through the college administration, reporting sexual assault to local authorities, so that the legal consequences of sexual assault can be implemented. Out of the three preventative measures, having the administration report sexual assault to local authorities is more effective, because the crimes are
Sexual assault has been huge problem on college campus. College female students have been targets of sexual assault acts, According to Robin Gray “Between 20% and 25% of women will experience a completed and/or attempted rape during their college career.” Sexual assault is when is a crime to knowingly cause another person to engage in an unwanted sexual act by force or threat. There are laws that protect women in all types of setting from being victims of sexual assault. The government had made some changes to the laws of sexual assault over the past decade to protect the girls and women so justice can be served. The president Obama has been enforcing a law for the young women in colleges.
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