sexual assault

One in four: the facts about sexual assault on college campuses

Mollie Cahillane Articles, Life , , , 0 Comment

I tend to think of myself as the typical female college student.  I’m 20, starting my junior year at Northwestern University, I’m in a sorority and I double major in European history and journalism.  Unfortunately, as the typical female college student, I have a one in four chance of experiencing rape or attempted rape.  The White House found that one in five college students (male and female) experience sexual assault throughout their time in college.  And most sexual assaults go unreported.  Imagine what these numbers would be like if they included the unreported assaults.

Sexual assault on college campuses has exploded in the media recently.  Whether it’s at a big state school like FSU, an elite private school like Notre Dame, or even a high school like St. Paul’s, these cases have attracted national attention.

Right now, 94 colleges are under federal investigation in the United States for how they handle sexual violence under Title IX.  Title IX is a federal law that prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex or gender under any federally funded education or activity program.

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At Northwestern, I’m the director of a student organization called Sexual Health and Assault Peer Educators.  It’s my mission to work to create a sex-positive environment and to end rape and rape culture on campus.

I’ve found myself incredibly frustrated with the cavalier attitudes I’m often faced with.  I’m discouraged because I feel that many students and members of our society don’t understand the gravity of these issues.  Sexual assault is not a new problem, but the way we approach it is new.  I’ve frequently heard that people are tired of hearing about rape.  Guess what?  So am I.

More people are not suddenly becoming rapists.  Instead, our society, and young women in particular, are becoming more educated about rape.  Women are realizing that you don’t have to physically fight back for an assault to occur.  Even if you change your mind halfway through and the other person doesn’t stop, it’s still rape.  Our realities and perceptions surrounding consent are changing.  We see this clearly in California’s ‘yes means yes’ bill, which demands that there be affirmative, voluntary, and vocal consent from all parties.

Our nation has a sexual assault problem.  We don’t like admitting it, and the majority of people like to exist in ignorance.  That doesn’t change that within four years at school, one in five people and one in three women will be victims of sexual assault or attempted sexual assault.  Sexual violence happens on college campuses, and to people of every gender, race and sexual identity and not just heterosexual women.  Sexual violence is more prevalent in the Greek communities, as women in sororities are 74% more likely to experience rape.

Northwestern University defines consent as knowing, active, voluntary, present and ongoing.  Anything other than this is sexual assault.  Consent is not present when an individual is incapacitated due to age or physical condition (sleep, lack of consciousness or incapacitation due to alcohol or drugs).  Theoretically, this eliminates the possibility of victim blaming and slut shaming, as it is never a survivor’s fault.  So why do we still hear things like ‘What were they wearing?’ and ‘She shouldn’t have drank so much.  What did she expect to happen?’

Wikipedia defines rape culture as ‘a concept within feminist theory in which rape is pervasive and normalized due to societal attitudes about gender and sexuality.’  This is clearly oversimplified, but I’m tired.  I’m tired of hearing rape jokes on campuses and in ‘funny’ movies.

We need to keep educating.  We need to stop teaching girls how to ‘not get raped,’ and instead teach people not to rape.  We need to teach people about respect and consent, not criticize skirts for being too short or walking late at night.  I truly believe as a society we can beat this, and that’s why I keep fighting.

Most college campuses already have organizations combating sexual violence.  If not, start one! You can also volunteer at your local rape crisis center or donate money to organizations such as RAINN or Planned Parenthood.  Keep raising awareness, keep speaking out, and keep fighting.

 

Originally published:  http://www.bsmartguide.com/learn/how-to-find-love/1193-one-in-four-the-facts-about-sexual-assault-on-college-campuses.html

The truth about Northwestern’s sexual assault problem

Mollie Cahillane Articles , , , , 0 Comment

On any given year, 9.2 percent number of young women on college campuses are the victim of sexual assault or worse, but the response by university and police officials is a complicated equation that factors in politics and public relations to such an extent that no one, and no study, can accurately pin down the precise degree of a problem that appears near epidemic across the country.

Take, for example, Northwestern University, where in January a student filed a lawsuit, claiming school failed to act after she filed a sexual assault complaint against Prof. Peter Ludlow two years ago.

According to NU’s 2011 National College Health Assessment, conservative estimates indicate as many as 900 students may be victims of sexual violence annually.

Northwestern defines consent as “voluntary, positive agreement between the participants to engage in specific sexual activity.” In January 2014, Northwestern rewrote its sexual misconduct policy to include stalking and domestic violence.

“There are a number of factors that influenced what that policy is,” said Laura Stuart, the Coordinator of Sexual Health Education and Violence Prevention at CARE (Center for Awareness, Response and Education). “One of them is Illinois law. In our policy, we do include the Illinois state definition of rape, sexual assault, stalking, and domestic violence. We also include Northwestern’s definitions. In general, Northwestern’s definition tends to be broader.”

The state of Illinois has a limited definition of sexual assault: “sexual penetration by force or threat of force or an act of sexual penetration when the victim was unable to understand the nature of the act or was unable to give knowing consent.”

A California Coalition Against Sexual Assault study discovered that one in four women had been victims of rape or attempted rape, and 84 percent of those raped knew their attacker.

“We’re committed to helping people as much as we can, regardless of whether they want to report to police or file a complaint,” Stuart said.

The CALCASA study revealed that only 5 percent of rape victims reported it to the police, underscoring long-held beliefs that sexual assault may be one of the most underreported crimes in the country.

In 1990, President George H. W. Bush signed the Jeanne Clery Act into law. The law requires colleges and universities to publish an annual security report documenting three years of campus crime statistics about sexual assault and report these statistics to the U.S. Department of Education.

Universities must also disclose in the same report all crime statistics for incidents that occur on campus.

“I think that the Clery Act is well-intentioned, but it is also a good example of unintended consequences that can come from such legislation,” said Stuart. “I’ve found that universities with a high level of services for sexual violence survivors tend to have a higher number of reportable sex offenses under Clery, whereas universities that have almost no services for survivors and may even discourage survivors from accessing services will have zero or very low numbers of reports.”

Therefore, people who do not understand this relation could mistakenly think they are choosing the “safest” school, when the opposite may be true.

Indeed, when someone attempts to file a sexual assault charge, there are incentives for Northwestern and the Northwestern University Police Department to downsize the seriousness of crimes, in order to keep the Clery reports low.

High Clery numbers, for example, could affect the ability of Northwestern to recruit potential students.

Here, there is an extremely political relationship between NUPD and the administration, as the President of Northwestern appoints the Chief of Police. That job is to keep crime low, and if it is not, they could be replaced. A way to keep it low is to discourage victims from filing charges and classifying criminal sexual assaults as other crimes, according to an investigator who has worked at the University as well as in private practice.

“I had students confide in me about situations I thought met the definition of rape and sexual assault,” the investigator said. “Charges were almost never filed. In the one occasion when the student did go to the administration, she felt there was action, but the male student that was guilty of the assault case didn’t get any serious discipline.”

This became very visible in Feb. 2014, when a Medill junior filed a lawsuit against Northwestern.

The school’s investigation concluded in 2012 when Joan Slavin, director of the Office of Sexual Harassment Prevention, found that Ludlow “engaged in unwelcome and inappropriate sexual advances” toward the student. Ludlow, however, was not terminated. Neither the student body nor the police were made aware of the accusations.

Northwestern responded to the lawsuit on Feb. 21.

“Northwestern complied fully with its procedures, conducted a prompt and thorough investigation of all of the allegations made by the student to the University and took a number of corrective and remedial actions in this matter,” said University spokesman Al Cubbage.