Sexual Assault On College Campuses

Assault in all forms is dangerous to both men and women. Sexual assault on college campuses is fairly common today, and occurs in a number of ways. Young women are most often the main victims of assault on college campuses. This is becoming a serious issue in American society today because either some of these cases go unreported or these young women are too scared to report them or are too embarrassed to report it because the men causing these might be their friends or someone they know. Many young women face this kind of problem, especially when in college. It is mostly at college parties where girls are at risk of having drinks that have been “roofied.” Roofied drinks are drinks that have been spiked with drugs and are most often used by men against women to make them sleepy or cause them to black out. These men are able to take advantage of these vulnerable women. It is difficult to tell if a drink is roofied as the color, taste and odor of the drink remains the same. These actions also put out a bad image of the “good” men and the men that actually care about a women’s safety and wellbeing. As a result, women will naturally form opinions based on experiences they have and will tend to be more cautious.

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

Way too often are sexual assaults happening on colleges campuses. Because of these sexual assaults, females students have a hard time being safe on campus, or even staying on campuses. Statistics state, “1 in 4 college women will be the victim of sexual assault during her academic career… Every 21 hours there is a rape on an American college campus… College women are most vulnerable to rape during the first few weeks of their freshman and sophomore years”(Sexual Violence on College Campuses). Everyone says that your college days are the best days. Well they are, until a sexual assault or a murder has occurred on your campus. Now students are afraid to walk on their campus and feel safe and secure. They are afraid to enjoy their college experiences, thus not making their college experience the best years of their life. Do you think that Campus Security is doing enough to help prevent these crimes from happening? Do you think that the college crimes are only happening to certain students? Is college really as safe for students as it is made out to be? To understand the dangers of college campuses, it is important to analyze the statistics of college crimes, the people committing these crimes, the data from high profile cases, and the steps to make campuses safer. I feel like if the students on campus know that they have a safe environment then they will enjoy life more, maybe even become more

Arditi, Lynn. "R.I. Schools Report 18% Increase In Sex Assaults." LexisNexis Academic [LexisNexis]. Providence Journal, 8 Oct. 2014. Web. 15 Nov. 2015.ytgfd

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.

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.

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 is a topic that no one wants to cover, but almost everyone endures, or knows someone who has endured it throughout their lives. Particularly, sexual assault on college campuses is a huge deal. One in five women are sexually assaulted, which is a number that is insane to think about. In reference to the article on ending college sexual assault, the way the initial victim Maya reacted to the sexual assault is the same way many others do as well. Not only does it go unreported, which leaves the door open for continued sexual assault, she also fell behind on her studies as her mental state deteriorated. That example represents many students worldwide across campuses, and that is something that is just not alright.

"Campus Violence is defined as any action or behavior that may threaten the safety of a member of the campus community, impact his or her physical and/or psychological well-being, or cause damage to campus property" (http://www.sacredheart.edu/officesservices/publicsafety/silentwitnessprogram/flashpointoncampuspowerpointtrainingslides). Many individuals think that violence on college and university campuses is rare and view their campus to be a home away from home. However, "Nationwide, 17 percent of college students indicated they had experienced some form of violence or harassment in the previous year" (http://counseling.uoregon.edu/dnn/ParentsFamilies/PreventingViolenceonCollegeCampuses/tabid/164/Default.aspx). The various types of violence that occur on campus include harassment, stalking, vandalism, physical assault, sexual assault, and other forms of interpersonal violence and suicide. Sexual assault occurs more frequently on college campuses and is estimated that a third of women experience an unwanted sexual experience. The majority of the time, sexual assault on college campuses are committed by someone known to the victim. (http://counseling.uoregon.edu/dnn/ParentsFamilies/PreventingViolenceonCollegeCampuses/tabid/164/Default.aspx)

In recent news a topic that has been gaining a lot of national attention is that of sexual assault on college campuses. Most understand sexual assault as an extremely vulgar act and it can universally be seen as taboo. But what exactly constitutes as sexual assault? The term sexual assault takes many forms including the attacking of an individual, rape, attempted rape, as well as any unwanted form of sexual contact and threats. A common form of sexual assault committed is when an individual touches any body part of another without the consent of the other person. According to legal standards sexual assault is classified as a statutory offense. This means that it is a crime to knowingly make another engage in an unwanted sexual act whether it be forced or threatened. We live in a digital era where the internet can be a blessing and a curse all at the same time. With the foundation of what sexual assault entails laid out there can be many connections made to things possibly broadcast on the news, and even posted on social media. The succeeding paper will draw connections to recent cases in headline news involving sexual assault and discuss available precautions on college campuses specifically at Bowling Green State University towards sexual assault.

A young woman carried a 50-pound mattress onto the stage at a graduation ceremony in Columbia University. Known as the “Mattress Performance (Carry That Weight)”, Emma Sulkowicz started carrying the mattress everywhere she went on campus in an attempt to expel a classmate who was found not responsible for sexually assaulting her (LATimes). She became an instant media sensation, as new reporters grasped the opportunity to cover this unique case and praised for her bravery. After receiving the National Organization for Women and the Feminist Majority Foundation awards, Sulkowicz became one of the most admired feminist icons at that time (NationalReview). However, along with the positive responses is the skepticism. When evidence of her unmatched accusations were published by Reason’s Cathy Young, critics such as the Families Advocating for Campus Equality (FACE) described her as an attention seeker whose project is “a personal vendetta”. As journalists continue to update the new findings, the public gradually become divided into the accused or the accuser side. Eventually it became a debate between Sulkowicz’s scarring from the rape and the accused unfair harassment. Instead of emphasizing on the emotional aspects of campus sexual assault, the media should frame rape as a violent act and portray it as a criminal issue.

Since sexual assaults on campus usually begin at parties, this could prompt possible challenges for bystanders to intervene when witnessing instances of sexual violence on campus. The problem is that parties can be crowded and people are there to have fun, which means they could be distracted. If there are distracted, they may not even realize that there is a sexual violence event may be happening in the first place. This means they would not be able to complete the first step on the sequential model of helping because they would be too distracted and concerned with themselves to realize that an emergency is happening. Also, another possible obstacle could be the amount of people present at the event. A great number of people attends parties

According to the United States Supreme Court’s U.S Code 920 – Article 120, sexual assault and rape (a form of sexual assault) are legally identified as “sexual intercourse or other forms of sexual action perpetrated against a person without that person 's consent” (H.R. Title 10 - Armed Forces 466). Now, in regards to why these individuals inflict these actions are summed up within the same U.S code in that they may be carried out by “physical force, coercion, abuse of authority, or against a person who is incapable of valid consent” (H.R. Title 10 - Armed Forces 467). In today’s society, rape and sexual assault on college campuses have attracted massive media attention by climbing up to the #1 age bracket responsible for both allegations and carried out convictions. (Gordon) Among our generation, the question not addressed by the government is what is the common factor among this age bracket that is capable of contributing to this increasing number of sexual crimes across the country? “Music is an integral part of youth culture” (Kistler 2) and has been popularly discussed as the probable influence behind this staggering statistic. Through careful examination of music’s many sexually suggestive lyrics and videos released over the past decade, combined with the opinions of those heavily influenced by music, we can see that musicians with a demeaning, misconstrued message have been involuntarily responsible for measures of falsely interpreted sexual stereotypes which lead to

Even though college campuses have taken steps to try and spread awareness about sexual assault on college campuses, many young people do not know what domestic violence looks—or feels like. A 2011 poll on domestic and dating abuse concluded that 1 in 3 surveyed women had been in an abusive relationship, while 1 in 5 had been abused at some point during their college career (Moscou, 2015). Those numbers, though taken from a small group, are very scary. About half of those students said they had not received any education on what domestic violence looks like, or what to do to help a friend in that kind of situation (Moscou, 2015). I want to help lower those numbers. I want to, and I can accomplish, a campaign to help raise awareness

“Yes means yes, and no means no.” This famous line seems simple enough, but some people just don't seem to understand. Sexual assault has become a large problem on campuses all over the world. Although sexual assault on college campuses are very common, the assailant does not face the consequences they deserve. Assailants should be punished more harshly for their crimes because many cases are put off since it was the victim’s “fault” because they were drinking and/or dressing provocatively and not taken as seriously as they should. To solve this problem they can face longer jail time, expulsion, and be forced to pay reparations for the physical, emotional, and mental damage they've caused. One of the best steps to bringing the victim his or