Institutions of higher learning across the county must take an intentional and proactive approach in preventing and responding to reports of sexual assault made on campus.
Universities across the country are still uncomfortably & awkwardly handling cases of sexual assault on campus. In the most recent story that has garnered national attention, The University of North Carolina is being investigated by the Federal Government on charges that they mishandled the reporting of several sexual assaults. According to a recent article in Diverse Issues In Higher Education,
The U.S. Department of Education will investigate a complaint filed by five women about how the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill handles sexual assault cases, according to a letter released by the women Wednesday.
The department’s Office for Civil Rights said in a March 1 letter that it has opened an investigation because it’s determined that the office has jurisdiction and the complaint was filed in a timely manner. The letter advises that the investigation is not an indication that the OCR has determined the complaint has merit.
The letter said the complaint alleges four violations by the university, including that it didn’t respond appropriately to concerns about sexual assault and didn’t provide impartial investigations of sexual assault.
The complaint was brought by three students, a former student and a former assistant dean of students, all women, in January.
In short, institutions of higher learning across the county must take an intentional and proactive approach in preventing and responding to reports of sexual assault made on campus. Too often, in an effort to protect the school brand, administrators sweep reports under the rug and handle them with a steel code of silence. Understanding that universities must protect the rights of the victims, the perception can often be that universities are also protecting the offender. As a former Associate Dean of Students at a small, private liberal arts college, no situation is ever as cut and dry as it may appear—however, because of bureaucratic and political pressures from university and community stakeholders; including parents, university and local police, coaches, and other universities administrators, victims of sexual assault oftentimes wait weeks or months to see a culminating response from the university.
This must stop!
While every situation is different, universities must streamline their response to victims of sexual assault and respond swiftly and confidently to both victim and victimizer, and the impacted community of campus residents. No longer can campus educators protect the victimizer and take their time responding to the victim. Campuses are full aware of the culture of violence against women—especially from various popular pockets of the campus community. It’s time to practice student, staff, and community accountability.
Photo: yawper/Flickr
Read it and weep.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/annie-e-clark/rape-is-like-a-football-g_b_2769576.html
If there is a one in four chance of rape at a college campus what kind of parent would send their daughter to one? Is a good education worth THAT price of admission?
Hell, if there’s a 1 in 4 chance of getting raped anywhere, I think it’s safe to say women should just stay indoors and sleep with a gat under their pillow and a bowing knife in….
Pursuit Ace – I have to tell you that I REALLY resent it when someone tries to introduce reality into the discussion . . . (sarc)
I know of NO parent that would send their daughter to such a campus. Not ONE. So, either, the parents are completely ignorant, OR they don’t believe the stat. I know which one I am inclined to believe is the case.
Having said that, I would still like to see the numbers reduced, I am just not sure what anyone is prepared to do about it, and what the unintended consequences will be.
When efforts at prevention focus exclusively or nearly so on women as victims/men as perpetrators, I think only part of the problem is being addressed. Sadly, I suspect this is not a concern for people “concerned” with the way colleges handle such problems. They seem to be more concerned with preventing the establishment of men’s centers where men might feel empowered to report.
John, It would seem that there are a number of clusters of people concerned with the issue. Sometimes their interests do not align very well. For example, parents want to satisfy themselves that the campus in question is safe for their daughters, cause they’ve heard stories …. Some of the ideological people on campus are concerned that alleged victims are not treated under a standard that assumes the allegation is true. This stance, however appropriate for a therapeutic relationship, is not as a matter of fact finding automatically respected the way they would like. Such people assume the accusers version… Read more »
That is interesting what you say about “culture of violence” on campuses… Even at my Seven Sister school, there was a huge lawsuit brought by my old science teacher against the chairman of the department about sexual discrimination….without going into too many particulars, by her account she had put in many stellar years of teaching, big research grants, and published significant work, and felt she should have received tenure…which she was denied…. I was too busy applying to grad school to really notice the hullabaloo at the time…but it did affect me profoundly….the same dept. chairman that she accused of… Read more »
On the other hand, there is evidence that accusations of rape are not taken seriously. Do you honestly believe, for example, that a high-school girl or coed who has been gang-raped by members of the local high-school or university’s football team will be treated fairly by all the football fans? Most rapes aren’t even reported. I can understand why. Instances of such scandals involving athletes have often been covered up. Witness the Steubenville scandal. What do you think is going on there? How is the alleged victim being treated by many of the adult football fans in that community? I… Read more »
Bill, there is absolutely NO denying that institutional power holders in a wide number of ‘communities’, are corrupt. However, I understand THIS article to be focused on a discussion of sexual assault practices and process in a university setting. The focus is not on high schools (Steubenville and Glen Ridge), and does not in any way raise the prosecution of such reports and allegations in a criminal law setting. Rather, this is about administrative law. While a number of larger universities DO operate police forces under specific agreement with their respective states (Duke for instance), universities are precluded from operating… Read more »
Rezam, I hate to say this; but I regret to say I won’t be able to answer all of your questions. If I did, my post would be way too long. I’ll try to keep this post brief, but it still won’t be short. I get the impression that for many years colleges and universities have treated rape victims quite shabbily. They fear the accusations of rape will tarnish the image of their cherished institution. Rape victims aren’t treated very well in this society in which rape is often viewed as a joke or the fault of the victim; and… Read more »
I made a boo-boo.
Eighth paragraph, the next to the last line, the phrase “about Paterno’s victim”: Obviously, I meant “image.” Sorry.
Bill, it seems we are in agreement then. You say that you do not have a problem with football players. “I have no problem with football players and other athletes who respect the dignity of those who happen to be different from them. In fact, I deeply appreciate them. I only have a problem with those who are bullies or thugs.” Same here – which is why I pointed out that your universal generalization about ‘football players’ and their fans was not supported, not even by Anonymous. My objection was NOT to your factual points about high school football and… Read more »
Excuse me, but you put words in my mouth. Then you acknowledged what I was trying to say. I know this has nothing to do with this topic; so, I’ll be brief: Speaking of generalizations, what about the generalizations (negative stereotypes, rather) that are often made of boys who have no interest in sports; namely, that they’re inferior “feminized” males who deserve to be viewed with contempt? Sports are used to define masculinity; so, the nonathletic are penalized as supposedly being “wimps,” despite their own strengths. Actually, what I referenced is relevant to the topic. I don’t know if you… Read more »
P.S. This also applied to “victim” and “victimizer.” More precisely and objectively, one would say alleged victim and alleged victimizer. “Streamlining” the process has a very ominous ring to it.
In the wake of the Dear Colleague letter from Russlyn Ali (was DoE head of OCR until late 2012), a number of colleges and universities have reduced the standard in such hearings to balance of probabilities (50.01% more probable = guilty); the previous widely adopted standard was clear and convincing evidence – between reasonable doubt and balance of prob. The defense for this change is that university adjudication processes are supposedly civil, and not criminal. Yale for instance, adopted this standard in the wake of a controversy on its campus, and under pressure from the DoE about reducing funding to… Read more »
The devil is in the details, and imprecision in language may obscure some real-life issues. So, let’s be very clear and precise about what we are talking about, because in legal, institutional terms what we are talking about is how colleges and universities respond to “reports of sexual assault” not simply “sexual assault.” “Reports of sexual assault” is not exactly the same thing as “cases of sexual assault,” and that is no insignificant distinction. It’s muddying the waters to use those phrases interchangeably. What an institution has to investigate is reports or allegations of sexual assault. Sometimes what gets in… Read more »