Hunting Ground Case Study

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).

“One in five women are sexually assaulted while in college” (Not Alone, 2014). In our class of twenty women that means that possibly five women have been sexually assaulted. Out of the five women that I stated could have been sexually assaulted they may have known the perpetrator and often will not report what has happened. According to the spring count of students completed by West Chester University, 9,211 of those students were females (“Headcount Enrollment”, 2014). If I go by the statistic mentioned earlier that one in five women is assaulted that would mean that 1,842 women have been sexually assaulted while enrolled at West Chester University of Pennsylvania. Out of 1,842 possible assaults only four were reported last year. Two of which the victims knew prior to the assault. Rankin and Associates consulting conducted a Climate Assessment on West Chester University in September of 2010, a section of the results focused on sexual assault on students. According to the report seven people who reported a sexual assault to the university described their reactions to the universities response. Two students shared the way they felt the response was inappropriate or poor. One described that they felt the suspension for one semester was not an appropriate response to an admitted rape, that public safety lost the victims statement, judicial affairs painted the victim offender as innocent, and that the registrar protected the offender putting the victim in harm’s way and everyone

Problems arise when colleges do not supply their students with adequate support, and allowing repeat offenders to remain in the college. The college can prevent possible obstacles by creating an environment to encourage reporting and discourage sexual assault. Also, the elimination of repeat offenders will prevent future sexual assault on campus. Interactive workshops and early education provide essential knowledge about sexual assault and general safety to students entering college. A single prevention effort will not end sexual assault, but through collaboration with education and preventative actions could lead to a safer environment for college

Summary: The article “Rhode Island Schools Report 18% Increase in Sexual Assaults” Arditi explains to us of the unfortunate rise in sexual assault at universities in the Rhode Island area. She gives us statistical evidence of reports by journals and newspapers. These statistics showed an increase of 65 sexual assaults by 11 schools near Providence and a 40 percent increase for 29 New England schools (Arditi). These sexual assaults are due to many conditions of the college, such as, its size, location, culture, and how well it deals with reports of the abuse. Colleges have a rising problem of victims failing to report crimes that were committed upon them. Along with problems with reports, sharing information between law enforcement and college student affairs was an increasing issue. Universities and colleges were not required to share data until a White House task force recommended that these institutions sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU)

Sexual Assault on college campuses is a national epidemic. Most colleges aren’t doing anything about it. Brown University finally stood up and is in the process of doing something. They are setting an example for what other schools should be doing, especially being an ivy league. Education is a powerful tool and it should be used to educate students on what consent is and how to be an appropriate bystander. Sexual assault on college campuses is a problem that will take a long time to solve, but the ending must start

The faces flash by on the computer screen. The women on the screen are differents shapes, sizes, ages, and colors. However, there is one thing that all the women have in common: they have all been sexually assaulted on a college campus. More than one in five women were sexually assaulted on college campuses (Mott, Par. 1). It has been proven that programs in schools can help prevent these statistics from growing. However, more needs to be done to prevent sexual assault on educational facilities because the current programs are not fulfilling their purpose.

I interviewed two women and one man about the University of Iowa’s efforts with respect to sexual assault on campus. The first person I interviewed was a twenty-one year old woman from England named Gina. Michaela, an eighteen year old female from a small-town Southern Baptist high school, was the second female I interviewed. The only man I interviewed was Matt, a 19 year old male from a mid-sized town.

On the topic of sexual assault on campuses, Catherine Lhamon, Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights and James Moore, Compliance Manager of the Clery Act discussed ways to further combat sexual assault on college campuses. Lhamon and Moore focused on the improvements made to the reporting of sexual assault, positive changes made to the judicial proceedings on campuses, and the improved punishment of perpetrators. The members of the committee hearing did not deny the importance of combating sexual assault. However, members did disagree on the methods to effectively decrease sexual assault and increase overall reporting of victims. Members disagreed the most on the enforcement mechanism, which was made more controversial by the differences in opinion on the accuracy of reporting, and the guidance authority of the Department of Education. This ballot will address the panel discussion on these

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.

In 2016, The United States Department of Justice released this chilling fact: one out of every four female undergraduates will be victim to some form of sexual assault before graduation. Even more terrifying, the American Civil Liberties Union estimates that at least 95 percent of sexual assaults on college campuses in the United States go unreported. These striking statistics resonate a dire call for increased prevention of sexual assault on campuses across the nation. With the passing of the National Association of Student Personnel Administrators in 1994, many universities and colleges began to enact sexual assault protection programs (Breitenbecher Hanson). However, as proven by the recent statistics presented earlier, these programs are

“One in five college women, and one in 33 college men, will be sexually assaulted during their time on campus, adding up to an estimated 100,000 assaults for the coming year. But only 5% of these get reported. (The Hunting Ground).” With statistics like these, it’s easy to see why sexual assault is still a prevalent issue on college campuses. In the Movie, The Hunting Ground, the issue of sexual assault on college campuses is addressed. What set this documentary apart from other documentaries that address sexual assault was that it was from the views of the victims, as opposed to just covering statistics and generally talking about the issue. Aside from sexual assault, the other main topic covered was title IX, which is a program that is required

The Hunting Ground was a very emotional video that highlights a very important issue in our country that most people are not aware of. When it comes to sexual violence, college campuses are more focused on protecting the attacker rather than the victim. What shocked me the most in this film was that most of the faculty members the victims went to seek help from were females, yet the victims were still blamed for their rape. One administrator from UNC at Chapel Hill told a victim “rape is like a football game” meaning that if you look back to that day, what would you have done differently to prevent the rape. Victims who report rapes to university faculties are often questioned about the clothes they wore that day, how much alcohol they had to drink if they said no to the perpetrator, how many times did they said no, etc. Ryan Clifford, a male victim at the University of California, Davis rather than being helped, he was suggested by a faculty member to drop out of school until the situation “blows over.”

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

College-age adults are known to be high risk for sexual violence and most studies show that one in three women have experiences some type of sexual assault whether it was through physical force or harassment. These statics are known by most women on college campuses to ensure that women know and understand that this could happen to them. The issue is more than ensuring that women are aware of how protect themselves and know how to avoid these situations because it shouldn’t even be happening. When women are taught that they should know how to defend themselves we are saying that this type of behavior is normal and inevitable. We should shift from this dynamic and start teaching both men and women that this behavior is completely unacceptable and that sexually assaulting or harassing someone is NOT normal. This paper will mostly focus on incidents of rape and sexual assault on college campuses and what the outcome and reactions of these incidents were.