The Negative Impact Of 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.

When colleges and universities are constantly in competition with each other for students, there are certain issues that occur. Competition has turned into universities and colleges often mishandling sexual assault and rape cases. Campuses want to minimize the danger that they may pose which leads to sexual assault and rape crimes to often be veiled. With this veil in place, it counters the efforts of colleges and universities to address the issue of sexual assault and rape. In July 2016, a survey was released to 350 colleges and university presidents. The purpose of this survey was to showcase whether sexual assault and rape cases were handled correctly or mishandled. Over the last five years, “more than 40 percent of the schools had not conducted a sexual assault and/or rape investigation” (citation). It was revealed that

Sexual assault is everywhere, but did you know that on college campuses one of every four people have been a victim of sexual assault (Stampler 1). That is a staggering statistic of just how many people are affected by this crime. Sexual assault, while a long standing crime, has been brought into the spotlight more and more over the last twenty years. While there are several steps already in place to help lower this statistic there are additional things that can be done to help reduce the rate of sexual assaults on college campuses. By being more open with conversations about sexual assault, having support groups available, and changing policies universities can be successful in reducing the number of sexual assaults on their campuses.

"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.

Among female college students, 23% said they experienced some form of unwanted sexual contact ranging from kissing, to touching, to rape. All of these females said it was carried out by force or threat of force, or while they were incapacitated because of alcohol or drugs. This data was collected from a survey taken by 150,000 students from 27 different Universities. (Wallace, Kelley, 2105) Sexual assault is sexual contact or behavior that happens without the consent of the recipient. An attacker that is familiar with the victim commits approximately two out of every three sexual assaults. The American Civil Liberties Union estimates that 95% of U.S. Campus rapes goes unreported. Sexual assaults just

Most college campuses have no reports of sexual assaults on campus. This statistic is very inaccurate. The current statistics are that 9% of campuses report that rapes have happened on campus and the other 91% state that there has never been a rape on or around campus.Those estimated numbers seem hard to believe. Especially with cases such as the victim of the Stanford Rapist Brock Turner .

Sexual assault has always been a concern for young women and young adults all over. Women now account for the majority in the student body at colleges. Women should only worry about their education rather than a potential sexual assault. With an influx of women in college the faculty and staff have been under prepared to respond to sexual assault. Over the years the amount of sexual assault reported and unreported on American campuses has risen. The response of colleges towards sexual assault has not been effective in investigating or punishing the perpetrator.

The endless news stories regarding sexual assaults on college campuses reinforce that there is a lack of safety among students and support towards the victims. One reason that sexual assault rates remain high is because many schools are in denial that there is an issue. The molestations are unwanted and forced upon by an individual or group. The most common form of sexual assault is rape. The attacks can occur at any time of the day, but a majority of sexual assaults take place at parties, where alcohol and drugs are involved. Predators may take advantage of a person through date rape drugs or peer pressure that can lead to alcohol blackouts. Statistics say that every 2 minutes an American is being sexually assaulted. This issue has been around for decades and laws have been implemented. Unfortunately, there are an average of 288,820 victims each year

Sexual assault on college campuses has become a hot topic in today’s society. From the Stanford swimmer, Brock Turner, raping an unconscious woman (Miller, 2016, para.1) to the Florida State star football player, Jameis Winston, being accused of rape and FSU covering it up (Dick, 2016, para 1), sexual assault on campus is everywhere. The prevalence of reported assaults is often skewed, due to women feeling uncomfortable about discussing what they went through, but the numbers tell the story all on their own. Many of these occurrences happen because of frats, and the alcohol they serve. Groups have started to advocate for the ending of sexual assault on campus by creating apps. The government was involved in creating the Title IX law only recently. Sexual assault on college campuses has become a major issue in the United States, so that it has become increasingly prevalent to the public eye, the causes of these attacks are coming to light such as fraternities and alcohol, how the government is battling it, what colleges and universities are doing about it, and how prevention apps have become the new trend.

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

This essay explores the ongoing issue of sexual assault and sexual violence on college campuses across the United States. Education on the topic of sexuality and sexual assault throughout secondary and post secondary education is vital to the awareness of, and battle against sexual assault. Issues in sex-education, included lack of depth into healthy sexuality, and abstinence only sex education. Women are not reporting their cases to the authorities or universities because of issues with privacy, shame and guilt. Universities are not providing reliable support to victims, which creates wide spread apprehension to report cases of sexual assault. Pop culture and media promote a skewed image of sexualized women, creating a cultural expectation for women to please and be subservient, promoting sexual violence against women across the country.

Before watching this film I was not aware of the prevalence of sexual assault on college campuses. I always thought people could get help on campus and if they could not get the help they needed on campus they could send them somewhere off campus. This really surprised me, I thought sexual assault wasn't very common and if it did happen to someone the school would do more about it so it wouldn't happen again. I never thought the school would blame the person who got assaulted or not do anything about the situation.

Emma Sulkowicz, a senior at Columbia University, carried her mattress around her campus, from class to class, all of last year as form of protest against her rapist who was not expelled from school. This story made news all across the country, leaving many wondering how this could possibly happen, and why it continues to happen. This is just one of the highly publicized cases of rape on college campuses, which also illuminates how often time administrators fail to bring justice to the victim. It seems as if of lately that rape and sexual assault on college campuses has become far too normal in our society, meaning that we have almost become numb to them because they happen so frequently. When we hear about a rape on a campus, it is often neither surprising nor shocking to us, which is a definite social, and criminal, problem. The question that must be addressed then is, why do these types of crimes continue to occur, and what factors contribute to this ongoing issue? It may be easy to point a finger at society as a whole, and say that parents have wrongfully raised their sons to behave in such a way, but there may be even more factors that work together to create a rapist or someone who is likely to commit sexual assault. Nonetheless, this is a huge, relevant, terrifying problem in our society which often leaves young women feeling as if they are not ever safe, not even at the college campus of which they are supposed to be able to call home.

Due to the increase in sexual abuse reports on campus, it is my duty as Chief of Police, to explore the history, causes, and effects of this problem. This information will be brought forth in a recommendation report to be received by the President of UCF. In addition, the report will include the solutions other universities, faced with similar problems, have originated.