For njosh ONLY

College Women Caught in a Warzone

Campus sexual assault

/24/2016

The current system for punishing sexual assault on campus is broken. Sexual assault is most prevalent amongst universities and colleges because this is where the majority of rapists are able to get away with their crimes. The biggest cause for this is the protection ensured to rapists by countless institutions to reassure their own self-interests and discouraging victims from reporting. Comment by Zenaida Castaneda: Self-interests such as reputations, or financial self-interests and maintaining their prestige.

Sexual assault plagues higher education with reports showing that 1 in 5 college women will be assaulted before they graduate.[footnoteRef:1] These numbers are overlooked by higher institutions making it difficult to help survivors after an attack. [1: The Association of American Universities. (2015). Report on the AAU Campus Climate Survey on. Rockville, Maryland: Westat.]

The Brock Turner case is one of few where the university did not sit idle. Stanford took action and expelled the student athlete that sexually assaulted an unconscious woman. Expulsion is a measure that only the universities can implement and police themselves cannot take. If Stanford did not take immediate action as they did, it would have given Turner a six-month reign[footnoteRef:2] to have left another victim behind that wasn’t so lucky to have two heroes come to her rescue. Comment by Zenaida Castaneda: This is the average processing time it takes for legitimate police to process a rape because of the numerous rape kits sent in to each department and because of how expensive they are to test. $1,000 per rape kit. http://www.endthebacklog.org/backlog/why-backlog-exists [2: Alexandersen (2015, March 02) Time delays for processing rape evidence. Article, points out the reason why police departments take so long to process rape/ sexual assault]

Stanford has prevention and training programs on sexual assault encouraging students to take action to prevent it just as two male students did for the unconscious victim. Not many universities have prevention and training programs on sexual assault available to their students.

A case such as this one is not rare. The fact that Turner faced repercussions at all is rare. At the moment only 10 percent of assaults get reported. And only 6% of rapists found to be guilty, even see the inside of a jail cell.[footnoteRef:3] These rapists know they can get away with their crimes and most of them are repeat offenders. Comment by Zenaida Castaneda: Here Ladd’s Ted Talk, talks about the statistics rapists want to hear. With this I will maintain the consistency I first presented about rapists being protected by universities. Comment by Zenaida Castaneda: Actually rapists usually makeup a mere 8% of university population, most of them are repeat offenders that rape on average 6 women each. Ladd, J. (2016, April 7). The reporting system that sexual assault survivors want. Ted Talks. And http://time.com/3888116/columbia-university-student-mattress-graduation-rape/ [3: Ladd, J. (2016, April 7). The reporting system that sexual assault survivors want. Ted Talks]

The accused often claim that they should not be expelled because they are innocent until proven guilty, yet it is shown that only 2-8% of those attacks reported are found to be false. Meaning on average 95% of reported assaults are guilty as Brock Turner was.[footnoteRef:4] Comment by Zenaida Castaneda: Countless sources showed these stats ranging from 2-8% from 1990 all the way to 2014 of tested claimed assaults found to be false all presented in the film mentioned in the footnote Heenan & Murray 2006 : Spohn, White, & Tellis 2014 : Grace, Lloyde & Smith 1992 [4: Dick, K. (Director). (2015). The Hunting Ground [Motion Picture]. ]

When institutions begin to show that they care about survivors and implicate measures to help and prevent these victims from getting hurt in the first place, more perpetrators can be brought to justice. When students work together to prevent assault or help survivors it can create a sense of community, unlike the warzone plenty of these women have faced on their own.

Once Universities take action we will see change. But we cannot “suggest” any longer. As title IX states an institution cannot contribute to a hostile environment. If this is violated all federal funds will be ceased.[footnoteRef:5] Taking these measures can force institutions to mandate prevention and training programs for all students and faculty to make campuses safer. This will encourage institutions to start taking sexual assault seriously. It is a zero tolerance crime that can no longer be overlooked. Comment by Zenaida Castaneda: Title IX is a famous federal law used in countless other situations [5: http://endrapeoncampus.org/title-ix/ explains in detail how title ix complaint can be used against a university receiving federal funds that has retaliated against members for speaking out about sexual assault, sexual battery, harassment, or rape.]

The emotions a survivor suffers after the fact are unimaginable. Turners’ victim gives us insight on this by addressing him in an emotional letter deciding she “didn’t want her body anymore and was terrified of it” going on to state “you have dragged me through this hell with you, dipped me back into that night again and again”.[footnoteRef:6] Comment by Zenaida Castaneda: Here I’m using pathos to appeal to the reader’s emotions and tug at their heart strings if my logical claims have not already worked. All in all, it is a last hoorah if all else has failed to persuade my audience. Comment by Zenaida Castaneda: http://www.cnn.com/2016/06/06/us/sexual-assault-brock-turner-stanford/ Letter read aloud by Ashley Frantz CNN [6: Letter to Brock Turner presented during trial and read aloud]

These words represent the thousands of survivors that will never receive satisfaction from a mere sentencing. These are the survivors that can never feel comfortable in their own bodies, and these are the survivors that feel isolated and trapped because they are blamed time and time again.

To say you believe in what a survivor confides in you means everything to them. The attack itself is not the worst part, its living with it after, trying not to feel isolated emotionally, mentally, and physically. Taking these victims seriously is a delicate matter, it could mean whether a person is willing to live on after the realization of what has occurred.

This is not common knowledge and the main reason why professionals, specialists, and prevention programs are necessary on campus. They are not resources easily available to victims when they report to police. It is the responsibility of the campus to ensure the safety and wellbeing of its students. Comment by Zenaida Castaneda: http://time.com/3888116/columbia-university-student-mattress-graduation-rape/ In this video Julie Zeilinger- feminist blogger at Bernard states this as her own research done on sexual assault. TIME magazine (2015, May 19)

We need to raise awareness and make institutions safer. Once that is done, students can breathe a little easier with heads held high knowing that their university cares for them and protects them. Students are here to learn not to be caught in the middle of a war they never signed up for. Comment by Zenaida Castaneda: Conclusion: my call to action for my audience to stand up for what is right.