The National Center for Education Statistics reported that nearly 11.7 million women will be attending college in the fall of 2016. Through an interactive educational promotion at my university, I learned that 1 in 5 college women will be sexually assaulted while in college. Knowing the number of women in college this fall the math can be done to show that of those 11.7 million 2.34 million women will be sexually assaulted while they are attending their college or university. Despite the high risk of women being sexually assaulted, colleges and universities are doing little to handle this issue when these incidents are reported to them. While some people say that one long term solution is to teach men not to rape, which I do agree with, I also believe that an immediate way to help sexual assault victims is for colleges and universities to adjust their policies and the way they handle sexual assault on their campuses. There is rape culture on college campuses and women are often held responsible and even blamed for the actions of men. By looking at the way college campuses handle sexual assault cases, it appears that women’s rights are not a priority, which is a problem because women should feel safe and supported if they experience something as traumatic as sexual assault.

The poem “An Open Letter to the Guy at Work” by Liz Ruddy explains a conversation she has with a co-worker about a comment he made to her after the jury had come out on a rape trial involving the former Stanford student and swimmer, Brock Turner. Turner was a student at Stanford University who violently raped an unconscious woman behind a dumpster. Turner’s case was taken to court and he was convicted. This may sound like the beginning to a promising story where women’s voices on college campuses are starting to be heard. However, the story takes a turn when Turner was only sentenced three months in a county jail. People across the country were furious about this incredibly brief sentence. In Ruddy’s poem, she explains how this conversation exemplifies the opinions of so many people in our society about rape, and how women have to prepare to be blamed if they become the victim of sexual assault. Ruddy’s letter is aimed for anyone who believes that rape is just lack of judgement, or that women ask for it or can do things to bring rape upon themselves. She addresses ignorant people who ask her questions that she has obviously thought about. She wants people who are quite about rape to stand up and make their voices be heard rather than have people like “the guy at work” make insulting comments about women and rape. 

This is a societal issue that we need to change it from the root. There needs to be better education early teaching boys and men that to have sex there must be clear consent. However, this is a terrible issue happening right now and colleges and universities need to show that it is not acceptable nor will it be tolerated. This issue needs to be addressed now because women shouldn’t have to wait for the change in culture. Colleges are showing quite the opposite at the moment. For example, “Despite statistics exhibiting a high rate of sexual assaults on college campuses, more than forty percent of institutions surveyed had not conducted a single sexual assault investigation in the past five years” (Coray 72). This displays that college campuses are not even making a sincere effort to look into the extreme problem they have. This confirms that sexual assault isn’t isolated to one college or one university, but that it is everywhere. Coray explains that countless cases of women at different universities, such as, University of Colorado Boulder, University of Washington, Southern Methodist University, University of Montana-Missoula, Hobart and William Smith College, are just a few. These colleges are spread throughout the United States, and show yet again that this isn’t a geographically isolated problem. Although each of the victims’ stories are different, there is one common thread: that the men who sexually assaulted these women were never convicted of any crime nor kicked off of campus.

The main issue is that colleges and universities are handling these problems internally. They use their own “internal judicial system” of sorts. For example in a particular case at the University of Washington, “At the disciplinary hearing, neither the accuser nor the accused was permitted to have a lawyer present, although each was allowed an adviser who was required to remain silent throughout” (Coray 60). Rules like that show that the internal system that is used to determine guilt is unlike the judicial system our country has in place for the rest of society. Coray also explains the method they question the victim and accused, “As with most college and university disciplinary committees, the panelists acted as prosecutors, judges, and jury, without any limitations or guidelines for their questioning. Records indicate that the questioning was sporadic, unclear, and focused on Anna’s actions—what she had to drink and how she had danced—without ever questioning the players as to why their stories had changed multiple times” (Coray 60). In this particular case, he shows just how unfair and biased the internal judicial system can be. The true focus if the internal panel is not to bring justice or figure out the truth, but rather to find a reason to doubt that the situation  happened. Women are not encouraged to come forward and press further charges, because the victim ends up getting blamed.

Title IX is piece of legislation was put into place to help protect the right of women in the workforce and in educational settings where the government is funding the institution. “Title IX was enacted on June 23, 1972 on the heels of the Civil Rights Movement as a protection against sex-based discrimination in education programs. The act prohibits colleges and universities from discriminating against students on the basis of sex” (Coray 63). Government funded institutions can be investigated if an injustice is occurring and is brought to the Office of Civil Rights. Title IX was originally put into law for collegiate woman to be able to participate in sports, but in 1977 “Title IX legally required colleges and universities to respond to campus sexual harassment and violence claims” (Coray 64). The Office of Civil Rights sent out a letter stating and reminding college campus that colleges and universities, that sexual violence is sexual harassment, which is prohibited under Title IX, because it “creates a hostile environment when it affects a victim’s ability to participate in school” (Coray 67). This demonstrates that although Title IX had been a law for almost forty years, sexual assault, violence, and harassment is still an issue on college campuses. This legislation is here to protect women, which it can do, but its broad wording allows for many different interpretations.

This does not mean every man on a college campus is a rapist. According to the “It’s on Us Campaign”, a campaign that focuses on the students’ responsibilities of sexual assault on their college campuses across the country,  91% of rapes are committed by serial offenders. Essentially, this means if colleges and Universities took the cases they received more seriously and took further action, then colleges and Universities wouldn’t have such an issue with repeat rapists and the high sexual violence rates on their campuses.

There are pros and cons to having colleges handle sexual assault cases. The way colleges and universities handle sexual assault varies to how law enforcement handles sexual assault. Coray states, “Advocates promoting campus disciplinary procedures often point to evidence demonstrating that victims fail to report sexual assaults to police out of fear that law enforcement will not believe them or will treat their claims with hostility” (Coray 77). Although this may be true, students not reporting cannot be seen as a pro to the campus approaching, because studies show that the campus approach is no more effective than how the criminal justice system handles the cases. The campus investigations are also significantly shorter and not as demanding as a criminal trial, which can take upwards of years before they are finalized. A con to on campus solutions is there is a huge lack of training of the members of the disciplinary committees that make the decisions. For example, Coray says, “Additionally, although those tasked with investigating and adjudicating sexual assault complaints should receive training on handling sexual assault complaints, they often lack legal training” (Coray 80). This shows that although the process may not take as long, the quality of the investigation is substantially lower due to lack of knowledge on the issue or of the handling and understanding of victims and accused. 

The poem “An Open Letter to a Guy at Work” and our culture are identically connected. We hear over and over again that it is never the victim’s fault for getting sexually assaulted, but this poem is in direct response to a real crime, a real conviction, and a real response that happened in our society. The crime is that a man raped an unconscious woman behind a dumpster. The conviction was that the rapist was sentenced to three months. And the response from Ruddy’s co-worker was “People are saying that it's 100% his fault and 0% her fault...And I agree... but—don’t you also agree that this whole thing could’ve been avoided if she had just been more responsible” (Ruddy 37-39, 45-53). All of these actions show that this is a pattern not just an anomaly because all aspects from the crime, to the conviction, to the response are wrong and offensive. Every step along the way women were shown that they do not matter as much as men. There is inequality between men and women  at the action of the crime, the lawful handling of that crime, and the public’s reaction in response. Ruddy’s poem shows the reaction of one man and how he believes that women should be more responsible to prevent such terrible acts from happening to them. She also goes on after his reaction to say the hardships and double standards women face daily.

Liz Ruddy’s poem expresses the fear, courage, and incredible amount of resilience it takes to be a woman in this day and age. She shows this in the beginning of her poem when she starts with how the conversation with her co-worker began. She says things like “how was your weekend?” (Ruddy 3), or “it’s been cloudy lately” (Ruddy 5), just normal small talk. Then just like it is any other small conversation starter he says “so how about that rape letter” (Ruddy 6). The conversation aspect of this poem is something that is very unique. She narrates the conversation and adds the emotions and feelings that she is thinking, but doesn’t say aloud. Her co-worker seems to be talking down to her about an issue that she feels so passionately about. For example, she writes their conversation, and he says “Yeah, you saw I'd posted about it like seven times”, then she responds, “Yeah, I tell you it makes me angry. " in reference to the rape case (Ruddy7-8). Ruddy then says “That's when I pull out the thick skin, the kind women always keep tied around their waists like an extra flannel shirt, ready to throw on before meetings or rape trials, or walking down the street, or making small-talk at the office, like, I'll try my best not to get offended by what you say, because I know how offensive it is to have my own opinion” (13-22). These lines are so important because they show the amount of resilience and strength women have to have in today’s culture. Women have to have a bit more tough skin at any time throughout their normal day that men don’t have to deal with. She is trying to show that in normal everyday activities, like walking down the street or talking in the office, to very un-normal activities like having to go through a rape trial. Women have to show more strength and tact when handling someone in the office offending them based on their gender.

Her poem continues and she writes the penultimate line. The line that she has been saying is so offensive and she was preparing herself for. Her co-worker says to her, "People are saying that it's 100% his fault and 0% her fault... And I agree... but—don’t you also agree that this whole thing could have been avoided if she had just been more responsible"(23-34). These lines are what connect the culture to this poem. Colleges, universities, and even society teach to not blame the victim, yet comments like this are said and sentences of three months are given teach a different lesson. The responsibility of the man is taken away and the victim, in this case the girl who was unconscious, is being blamed for being sexually assaulted. So many people believe this statement as truth. Our nation as a whole is showing with not only our words, but our actions that sexual assault is not as important as a man’s freedom. 

Because her poem is coming from a first-hand account of hearing what happened it strengthens her arguments. She was there to hear the comments he said and her reactions shaped the way in which the conversation continued. Rather than arguing, she simply walked away. Then she continues to say that as she is walking away, showing just how upset his comments made her, he has the audacity to say, “Seriously! Just think about it!” (Ruddy 70). This documents the opinion many people have of victims and sexual assault. They believe that the responsibility is on the woman to not get raped, rather than on the man to not rape her. That she could have prevented getting raped if she had just been more responsible. His responsibility is completely taken away.

Ruddy continues in her poem to explain just how as a woman she doesn’t have the privilege to not think about it. Because as a woman, she constantly has to worry and consider how culpible she is going to be. For example, she says, “Like I don't think about it when I go for a run after work and instead of using a timer, my personal best is just running faster than anyone who's following me” (Ruddy 75-80). This statement validates that even in the slightest most regular tasks she has to worry about whether or not she will make it back from her run safely.

She explains how so often women are told that the way they dress makes them guilty. For example, she says “Like I don't think about it when I pick an outfit from my closet and look at it like a piece of evidence, like, if I get raped when I'm wearing this tonight, how guilty would it make me? Like maybe they should mark it on the tag, 60% cotton, 40% her fault” (Ruddy 93-100). Women should not have to question whether what they are wearing is going to cause them to be guilty if they are raped that night. There is such a double standard in our culture that places blame on the victim for how she dressed, how she danced, did she flirt, but no one asks the guy why he decided to take advantage of someone else. The common saying comes to mind, “boys will be boys” is absurd, because boys should be held to a higher standard, just as women are. Men should be punished when they decide to take advantage of someone else rather than excused and released back into the exact same environment with no repercussions for their actions. 

Sexual assault and women’s inequality on college campuses has been an issue since women were allowed to begin attending colleges and universities. Women have made such strides and have continued to be an active role throughout their campus to insure that equality in education and experience is reached at colleges and universities. Unfortunately  statistics are still frighteningly high on how many college women are being sexually assaulted. Women need feel comfortable and trust their leaders that if something as serious as sexual assault happens that it will be taken seriously and handled. Which is not the case. Students who have been through a traumatic experience are being questioned, and told to be more responsible with the way in which they behave. Students and victims need an environment where they can feel trusted and safe, where they can find support rather than doubt. 
