Sexual Explosions 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

“I felt his hands start to move down towards my shorts as if he was trying to unbutton them or pull them off. I was still crying at this point and felt so scared that I couldn't move” (Hummer, 1989). These were the words said by a freshman away at college after she had been sexual assaulted. From the Rape, Abuse, and Incest National network, statistics show that “over 90 percent of all gang rapes on college campuses involve fraternity men” (Hummer, 1989). Most often these woman may be labeled as trash, shameful, or ready for action, aside from a victim, prey, or survivor. Rape myths encourage these deprecating terms for women and cover the reality of a rape culture.

Sexual harassment has been a problem in school situations; it inhibits a student's ability to learn since the student concentrates on the problem of dealing with the harassment instead of concentrating on her education. This occurrence of harassment can make a student fearful of going to school, fearful of authority figures and distrustful of adults in general. A woman who either is fearful or distrustful of men or women at an early age can suffer social inhibitions prohibiting her advancement through life. Title IX's prohibition on sexual harassment frees students from these fears and leaves them able to lead a normal life. Although Title IX does not eliminate the possibility of sexual harassment altogether, it does provide recourse to the student and the student's family through means of liability damages. Restrictions are placed on when the liability comes into effect, but it is a step forward in dealing with sexual harassment.

"Title IX protects all students at recipient institutions from sex discrimination, including sexual violence. Any student can experience sexual violence: from elementary to professional school students; male and female students; straight,

This article discusses Jane Doe, a Texas high school girl sexually molested by a high school teacher. Jane Doe filed a civil suit against Taylor independent School District. The reasons were, the school board permitted violations of due process and violated her equal protection rights. Jane thoroughly established her constitutional rights and proceeded with her claim. The teacher violated the fourteenth amendment to be free from sexual abuse by a state employed teacher. The court ruled in favor of Doe, stating that there was no action taken in order to prevent the violation of her rights. This case impressed me, it was very interesting. I believe that the teacher violated the student rights and the school failed to properly respond to the claims of molestation. I was also shocked that the school district was not proactive toward Doe needs.

University of Tennessee Knoxville was recently involved in a lawsuit for enabling athletes to sexually assault women by silencing the victims and failing to provide disciplinary actions or even investigation onto the accused. While this is a recent case, this is not the first time this sort of behavior involving a school has been brought into light. One in four women will be sexually assaulted by the end of their undergraduate career (Posluszny). Sexual assault happens throughout society no matter what the gender or age, seeming to be in increasing epidemic over the last few years. While the idea of sexual assault is largely met with public hostility in theory, actions often contradict this. This contradiction lies heavily in a culture that is unwelcoming to the victims and often leads to the perpetrators being tolerated. The existence of rape culture in western society occurs due to the preservation of violent media, patriarchal standards, and the state of the criminal justice system. This culture cannot be improved until we confront each of these problems to their roots.

Parents are looking for safe places where their children will be able to acquire a vigorous education; therefore, safety is one of the main concerns when it comes to selecting colleges. This places institutions in a situation where they will do anything to keep a good reputation. There is a consumer protection law called The Clery Act passed in 1990, which requires institutions to report crimes that happen on campus (Bulletin), but statistics like “ninety-one percent of college campuses disclosed zero reported incidences of rape in 2014” (Becker) clearly show how colleges are trying to hide the truth regardless of the policy. This is a moral hazard that creates an incentive for colleges to not accurately report cases. It’s been established that most of cases are not reported, which it is something “good” for institutions because they are less affected. But what if all cases were to be reported to the police instead? Institutions will definitely make sure to prevent any sexual assault in the first place. Consequently, there is a loss of trust in the institutions because victims believe that nothing will be done just like in the Turner case. Are institutions willing to sacrifice their reputation by making public every sexual assault case? We know that the answer for this is no. They value more the money that enters the institution more than the safety of the students who bring the

Imagine being raped and no one can hear you scream for help. Imagine telling someone about the incident and no punishments were received. Meet Christy Brzonkala a freshman at Virginia Tech that was raped by two individuals. Ms. Brzonkala started off by going to state court to testify against Mr. Morrison and Mr. Crawford explaining to the judge and the people that those two gentlemen had sexual intercourse without giving them permission. Since the incident happened in Virginia, the case was held there and not in Pennsylvania. Mr. Morrison even admitted that he had sexual intercourse with her when she repeatedly stated “no”. The punishments Mr. Morrison and Mr. Crawford received were unacceptable and very disappointing. Mr. Morrison was only kicked out of the school and later was allowed to come back because of technical error that occurred. Mr. Crawford did not receive any punishment because he had an alibi, which resulted in him being innocent because there was not enough information on him. This led Ms. Bronzkala to go to federal court against Mr. Morrison and Virginia Tech because she claimed the school did not handle

It is up to Title IX to investigate, but also be cautious of the First Amendment when dealing with students. It is up to them to investigate, but not to force any situation on a student. When this happens, their rights are not being respected. Title IX is there to help and not to harass, but sometimes makes the mistake of doing so without realizing it. This story is an example of how Title IX also has its own difficulties when dealing with different issues and the flaws in the steps being taken when investigation occurs. Due to this incident, Title IX is taking steps to make sure that the victim’s First Amendment rights are being respected

When congress passed the gender-equality law known as Title IX (1972) more than 40 years ago, no one expected it to make colleges responsible for handling sexual assault. Title IX was a “stealth law” aimed at helping women get through the doors of higher education and is now being interpreted to require colleges to investigate and resolve students reports of rape, determining whether their classmates are responsible for assault and, if so, what the punishment should be. (Wilson, Paragraph 1-2) The term Sexual Assault was defined by the district as any type of sexual contact or behavior that occurs without the explicit consent of the recipient. With that definition, the term on campus was

Rape has always been a sensitive subject, but there is a certain kind of rape that is affecting college campuses at an alarming rate. Date rape is rape committed by someone with whom the victim has gone on a date with. Date rape has been a coined term for a while, but the increasing number of reported date rapes on college campuses involving college students has increased through the years. The definition of date rape has stirred up quite a buzz. A leading cause of date rape is considered voluntary or involuntary consent to people. Universities across the nation struggle with how to handle the alarming statistics of college date rape. Many universities have instituted surveys and educational courses for their students to be aware of date rape.

Much of the documentary, It Happened Here, was a perfect representation of male privilege. When girls come forward after being sexually assaulted by fellow male students their claims are often not taken seriously and the blame goes back on the victims. Many times the victims are asked what they were wearing, if they were under the influence, and worst of all if they were sure that the incident was actually rape. One police officer actually had the audacity to tell one girl to stop spreading her legs, as if she asked to be sexually assaulted. Clearly the school views these girls as unimportant compared to the male student body.

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

In 2015 a female student Emma at Columbia University, was raped on her first day of 7her sophomore year by a classmate of hers. When the incident happened, she did not report it at first. Until she met two other women at school who were also raped by the same classmate as her. They all went to court and all three cases were dismissed because they were treated as single case's. Seven months after she reported the rape incident her hearing took place. The investor in her case did not take down important information like the position she was raped which was anal. Her hearing panelist were not even trained, one woman kept asking how was it possible for anal rape to happen. Columbia did not find her rapist responsible because there was not enough

Many male toddlers aren’t taught that raping a person is not only immoral but also that they have to respect a woman’s choice. Researchers and sociologists believe that when men and women are more aware and educated of rape, there would be less instances of sexual assault in colleges and universities. There are many instances of rape going unreported simply due to young women who are involved do not perceive the incident as rape until they realize it later. Students perception revealed that many young people do not have accurate images of what sexual assault is. As of recently, Time Magazine posts that California’s new law requires colleges to give consent before sex. This bill was introduced by Senator Kevin de Leon during the early summer of 2015. This bill also gives additional protection to students and sexual assault victims, including on-campus advocates for victims, and also educational programs for incoming college freshman. There are many ways to bring awareness of sexual assault and rape culture. One way is to teach children the language of consent. Other ways to raise awareness is to allow teachers to exercise the education of consent. A rape victim once said “Not enough people understand what rape is, and, until they do … , not enough will be done to stop