The release Thursday of a federal list of 55 colleges with open “sexual violence investigations” underscores that the twin problem of how to prevent and respond to sex assaults on campus has become a national question, touching schools from elite privates to large publics to small regional schools.
The list from the Education Department continues the Obama administration’s push to shine a spotlight on sex assault in response to questions raised in recent years about how prominent colleges have handled rape allegations and related issues. This week, a White House task force released a report aiming to help colleges prevent sex assaults.
There were four schools listed from Maryland, Virginia and the District of Columbia: Catholic University of America, Frostburg State University, the College of William and Mary and the University of Virginia.
The department’s Office for Civil Rights is examining complaints it received from individuals on campuses and those it discovered as part of its regular efforts to see if schools are in compliance with the federal law known as Title IX, which prohibits discrimination on the basis of gender at schools that receive federal funding.
The department said this is the first comprehensive look at which campuses are under review for possible violations of the law’s requirements for the handling of sexual violence. But the new list does not include details about exactly what the department is examining at each school.
Sexual violence is an on-going problem on campuses. The problem isn’t new, it’s just more wide-spread. The accompanying graphic to this article was confusing and really said nothing. It also included just women. As we all know, women aren’t the only victims of sexual assault.
Let’s clear the air for just a moment. I am going to go out on a limb and declare that most sexual assault on college campuses go hand in hand with alcohol and drug use. That description was too sanitized. Let’s call it like it really is: Alcohol and drug use are the primary cause of sexual violence associated with college students. In most cases,excessive amounts of alcohol (let’s just let alcohol stand for alcohol stand for alcohol and/or drugs) are involved. In some cases, roofies are used but generally speaking, drunk women make pretty good victims. Add that to out of control young men who are also drunk and we have the perfect storm.
Additional problems occur with freshmen who are experiencing grown-up freedoms for the first time. Often a few rounds of what we used to affectionately refer to as “toilet hugging” make extreme drinking less prevalent for many college students. Translation: Smart people learn their lesson, stop binge drinking at every party, and aren’t as likely to become involved in sexually violent situations.
Perhaps the human race has continued because young men aren’t as disabled by the side affects of consuming large volumes of alcohol as their older counterparts are. Wink wink. However, nothing seems to hold back some of the drunken males. Perhaps they also take the blue pill. Who knows. At any rate, ‘performance doesn’t seem to be a problem for the would-be college-aged date rapist.
Most of these cases of sexual violence do seem to be date or party rape rather than stranger rape. However, college campuses are also ideal for sexual predators to hang out, waiting for a student to venture home from the library at closing time, when the hustle and bustle of campus life has trickled down to a few night owls. Those kinds of attacks do not constitute most of the problem, however. Actually, those kinds of attacks are easier to prevent with buddy systems, modernized lighting and increased security. Party and date rape aren’t open to the same type of scrutiny.
Why would anyone not report a date/party rape or attempted rape? Usually the victim has also engaged in risky behavior. Who wants to embarrass themselves by admitting they were a dumb ass? Who wants to admit to doing something incredibly stupid and have their parents find out? Yes, reporting sexual assault does become public. Who wants to confess to Mom and Dad that they got sh!t-faced at a party on some fraternity brewed punchbowl of God-knows-what concoction and went upstairs with some drunk dude they barely know?
In some cases of multiple assault where people are injured, it is more likely that the attack is reported, especially if medical treatment is required. So why would colleges try to keep this kind of crime on the DL? Who wants to advertise that they are harboring a campus full of perverts? Additionally, there is the legal exposure for allowing this kind of environment.
So what’s to be done? What is the solution? How do you curb alcohol and drug use on campus? Around campus? How do colleges increase reporting and how to they get students to file reports? Do reports get buried on some security bubba’s desk? Should all incidences of sexual violence go into a central data bank? Would you pay for your daughter to go to college at a school with excessively high incidences of rape? date/party rape? Campus endangerment? I would not.
Does forbidding drinking in frat houses help reduce in incidence of sexual violence? Does moving frat/sorority housing on or off campus change the equation at all? How about co-ed dorms? Do they increase the incidence of sexual violence? How about liberal visitation in single sex dorms?
Lots of territory out there folks. What say you?
It should not be forgotten too that there are sometimes false instances of rape. Such as the girl from was it Rutgers a few years ago? 3 young guys were about to go into the system as sexual predators until it emerges that one of them had recorded the encounter.
Absolutely, Rick. As the mother of sons, I think of that all the time. I don’t recall the Rutgers situation. If nothing happened, what was there to record?
Someone recently went to jail for a couple years because some young woman accused him falsely of rape. The penalty for false accusation should be the same as if the person had done it, for the liar. It’s easy to think “against my will” when caught, I guess.
On the other hand, we should all teach our sons not to put themselves in situations where someone could or would charge them with sexual misdeeds. There is that side of stupidity also. It works both ways.
As one who was a near victim of date rape, I also know how it happens and how little you can do about it. I used to have sharp, evil knees, and there was a marine who probably had a sore crotch for a few days. However, not to be graphic, but things got real close, if you get my drift. In my case, it was drive in with a marine I didn’t know very well. There was booze. I was drinking but not excessively. I had my wits about me. The Pink Panther was playing and I have always hated that movie. I have also had 3 different people get violent with me for saying NO. 2 were college students…not freshmen either. The third one was a grown man in his late 30s with lots of money. Sooo, what can I surmise from this? Men don’t like being told no? Men and alcohol don’t mix?
Oh wait, there is a 4th situation out there. Party date rape attempt….not a date.
I figured things were a lot less permissive back in those days. I can’t imagine what it must be like out in the dating jungle nowadays. In each of the cases if I had not done things my parents told me not to do, these things wouldn’t have happened. Maybe I just knew a lot of pigs.
Or the Duke Lacrosse guys, who were about to be tarred and feathered.
Goodness, Moon. I like to think that world’s a bit different now and that kind of heavy-handed date-turned-sexual-assault stuff doesn’t happen as much … now that society has learned to call it what it is.
I think it might be worse today than then.