Throughout the past, sentencing and dictating the punishment of rape in the United States has always been inconsistent and difficult. However, ruling of sexual assault becomes even more complicated when it occurs on a college or university. Sexual assault on college campuses creates extremely sensitive situations and has a variety of facts for both sides, which makes it almost impossible to correctly punish or free the accused. In most campus cases, alcohol and drugs are a main component of the incident, thus causing a lack of credibility from the accuser. The situations typically become "she-said, he-said" scenarios in which the case is either dropped or taken extremely harshly. Another factor that has caused issues with administering punishments is the "rape culture" surrounding colleges and universities. Rape culture has caused a "mass hysteria" where the accused have been given harsher punishments and are treated inhumanly. These difficulties that surround rape on college campuses calls for a change in current disciplinary actions. The dictation of punishing rape should result from the utilization of a sliding scale, where depending on the situation and factors of the case, the punishment comes forth thus standardizing the punishment but also giving it fluidity for each situation.

Sexual assault and rape have been rising issues on college and universities campuses for a long time. It reached an all time peak when the statistics read about "one in four women are attacked or assaulted" on college and university campuses and that "female university students are at a higher risk of getting sexually assault than other females" (Anderson). The alarming statistics and information about young women in college caused a demand for a more forceful solution that would legitimately protect the students. People began to inform the public, and society became more educated and understanding of sexual assault in the college atmosphere. It has developed into a national concern in which, the presidential administration has called for a change that will forcefully and consistently protect students and punish the perpetrators. President Barack Obama announced, "Sexual violence is more than just a crime against individual. It threatens our families; it threatens our communities ...  It tears apart the fabric of our communities" (Burleigh, 2). His declaration illustrates to people how sexual assault goes further than the person attacked; it endangers the entire college community and takes away from their experience at school. This ideology is illustrated through multiple college and university cases, Duke University and University of Virginia, where student bodies were divided and ruined because of the disagreements and hate surrounding the sexual assault cases. 

However, even though many people have become more educated on the issues of rape, "the vast majority of campus assault are never reported to the police, let alone the perpetrators arrested or tried in criminal courts" (Burleigh, 3). Although, even if the rapes are reported, the cases are taken to campus tribunals, where students and faculty are in control of the hearings (Burleigh, 4). These committees are ineffective and unqualified, and typically side with the accused to protect the college's name and brand or give the accused community service, while in a real court hearing the accused would be sent to prison (Burleigh, 4). These unethical problems present during the school hearings depict the flaws in the current system of punishing rape. These flaws made the White House declare, "It's time. It's absolutely time because the moral disapprobation of society is the most powerful tool for effecting change" (Gillibrand, 2). The futile system that schools have has created a call for change and innovation within the universities to protect its students from rape and help those who have been affected by this terrible problem. 

The public has an attitude that sexual assault is too inconsistent and chaotic to punish those who are accused or guilty. Nonetheless, the state of California is attempting to change the previous perception that nothing can be done if the situation has too many gray areas. The state already has the "yes means yes" law, requiring college disciplinary boards to use an 'affirmative consent standard'  --  defined as "affirmative, conscious, and voluntary agreement' to engage in every level of sexual activity" (Gray, 1). However, this new bill "would impose a mandatory minimum punishment of two years suspension for students found responsible for by colleges" (Gray, 2). This new bill brings about many new aspects that would protect students who have been sexually assault, hold schools accountable for rape, and possibly deter sexual assault from occurring. It would protect students who have been sexually assaulted by giving them some form of justice. If there was a case present and not enough evidence or information for the student to be expelled or arrested by the police the accused would still be held accountable by being penalized and suspended for a two year period of time. 

This new punishment would also make colleges more liable for when rape occurs on their campuses. Since the dictation of punishing perpetrators would be a law, schools would have to follow without objection. Thus, protecting their students more effectively and stopping colleges and universities from putting their names before the well being of their students. Trusting "schools to quietly and voluntarily prevent sexual violence on campus [has] been tried for decades, and [it failed]. It [failed] because schools that succeed at suppressing victims [from] reporting benefit from the impression that they don't have a 'rape problem' while the more transparent schools' reputations (and donations) take a hit" (Gillibrand, 2). The dictation of required minimum punishment would cause schools to come forward who have been hiding their sexual assault and allowing the victims to receive the justice that they have been denied. People have also argued "there will be more thought by perpetrators about whether they are going to endanger their education by engaging in this brutal behavior" (Gray, 2). By affecting the perpetrators future, there is more of a chance that sexual assault could decrease, a beneficial addition that could possibly help end rape on college campuses. The benefits of this new bill being proposed help provide justice for the victims of rape within the walls of colleges and universities that typically never receive justice.

The call for the modification of rape culture within colleges and universities is another solution for punishing sexual assault. As the public has become more aware, there has been a demand for a change of the definition of sexual assault. Many colleges have redefined rape "as any nonconsensual sexual contact, where consent must be a prior unambiguous agreement to each specific touching, whether or not consented to in the past" (Gillibrand, 1). However, in these definitions there is so much room for interpretation that it just becomes a useless sentence that people can manipulate if an assault occurs, these "unenforceable definitions of sexual assault are counterproductive" (Gillibrand, 1). These definitions are placeholders universities and colleges create so that they do not actually have to deal with confronting sexual assault. This leads to a lack of understanding and leave students more vulnerable to being attacked. The idea of rape culture has become some a norm at schools, many men and women expect sexual assault, that it is a typical part of college. It has become such a norm that people use this ideology as an excuse for to sexually assault someone (Anderson). 

Rape has transformed into such a meaningless term people have used it in songs, chants, and jokes, taking away from the real victims who suffer in silence (Anderson). For schools to effectively change rape culture and have a better handle at punishing sexual assault they need to clearly define what rape is, what situations rape occurs in, and why it is rape. Along with defining rape they need to have set punishments and disciplinary actions for those found having sex with an unwilling participant and report those to the police, so that college tribunals are not acting as the law (Gillibrand, 4). Colleges and universities have "to go from a culture of rape to a culture of consent" (Anderson). By changing to a "culture of consent", it would take away the blurred lines that alcohol and drugs create, by educating people that it can put one at risk of sexual assault. It can alter the ideology of "yes means yes" and changed it to "enthusiastic consent", taking away the negative aspects surrounding sexual encounters in college, and changing it into a positive scenario (Anderson). The alteration of rape culture in the academic world would allow for people to fully understand what rape is and allow those who understand to help bring forth the perpetrators. The modification of rape culture would help redefine college for young adults and enrich their time at school, instead of having them worry about their mental and physical safety. 

As colleges, universities, and the public gain knowledge of sexual assault, there are still underlying issues that cause doubt for a change in the current system. One major issue that has come about is the concept someone is "guilty until proven innocent" (Young, 1). Many people who are passionate about stopping rape have become blind to the facts and information, and assume or truly believe all accused are immediately guilty. This idea is depicted throughout the famous Duke University Lacrosse Case, where the some of the players were accused of sexual violence (Gregory, 1). Days after the case became public "the campus erupted: there [were] at least a dozen protests; some 500 people attended an annual Take Back the Night rally, chanting, 'Out of the dark, into the streets, we won't be raped, we won't be beat" (Gregory, 2). Throughout this case the students rallied and protested always believing the young men committed this crime because of who they were and "facts" that "proved" they were guilty, which was close to nothing.

This idea of "guilty until proven innocent" has caused the term "sexual assault" to become so ambiguous that any act can be considered assault. People have made the term so universal that people are claiming sexual assault even though it did not occur. This concept illustrates that rape culture is causing a mass hysteria of sexual assault (Young, 3-4). The momentum is partially fueled by the government, where they threatened to take away public funding for schools who did not fully punish those accused or found guilty of rape. This caused schools to take charge of their sexual assault problems. Unfortunately schools went about this haphazardly creating even more issues. Colleges and universities were expelling students, and using them as "sacrificial lambs, to appease the U.S Department of Education" (Young, 8). The education system became a hunting ground and bias towards female students, threatening the entire education system as a whole. 

This mass hysteria has led to discrepancies between cases where the dictation of punishment is overdone or underplayed (Young, 7-11). The perpetrators are either punished to fullest extent without any chance of reentrance to the school or they are found completely guilty and the accuser is played out as a liar. This idea was extremely present throughout the University Of Virginia during a sexual assault case in 2014, the accuser "was believed, no questions asked", even though her claims were outlandish and lacked evidence (Wilhelm, 28). One feminist argued, "we should believe, as a matter of default, what an accuser says" (Wilhelm, 28). The blind support coming through rape culture destroys the real victims credibility and stories while causing gender divisions. 

Rape culture has increased gender tension between male and females students. Women are blaming men for being overly aggressive and animalistic towards them. While men are accusing women of being the reason they are sexual assaulted (Bedera, 2-3). The male belief that women cause sexual assault has led to women receiving "rape prevention tips". However from these tips women are told that "there are no safe places for women, women can't trust anyone, women should never be alone, and women are vulnerable", essential depicting to the female population there is nothing they can do to save themselves (Bedera, 1). These "tips" cause women to panic and feel even more unsafe than before. They do not trust men and put even more blame on male students, causing even more gender problems. The gender problems that arise feed back into the rape culture making it more powerful. 

The other issue that is present within the college system is that the people dictating the punishment are school tribunals. The college and university tribunals are composed of students and faculty who are not qualified and denote ineffective punishments that rarely end the issue. The "immediate consequence of being found guilty by a campus tribunal are limited to academic or disciplinary sanctions", which do not actually truly punish the crime that has occurred as the police would (Young, 8). The schools refuse to get the police involved, so that the rape allegations tarnish the school's name or deter future students from wanting to attend. However if a school is willing to fully prosecute their students there are issues that schools face with regards to prosecuting students, "federal law compounds the rape problem by inviting secrecy. Schools can't make convictions public. When a rapist applies to another school, admissions officers have no database to check" (USA Today). Since the tribunals are the only form of justice the accuser and accused see and the cases are typically "skewed, misguided, and detrimental to justice [with] the crusade against rape culture" or in support of a wronged young man (Young, 3). These issues presented throughout illustrate why it seems like there is no possible way to properly punish sexual assault through college and university campuses. 

Nonetheless, there is a solution to make the dictation of punishment more effective within colleges and universities environment that would create equality and fairness between the accuser and accused. As the notion of sexual assault has changed over the years and now it occurs in multiple situations, the punishment should be able to deal with multiple scenarios (Kaiser, 2). This fluidity calls for a sliding scale, in which different punishments are given based on the situation in which they occurred. The punishments would be chosen by the criminal-judicial system, so that the scale is a good representation of an actual court case. If the situation involved alcohol in which both parties were impaired yet one said they did not want to be involved in sexual matters, there would be a set punishment or ruling already set up for that situation. The scale allows for fluidity and an unbiased approach, so that it is not favoring the accuser or accused, it gives equality to the parties involved unlike before. There would be multiple ways to punish someone found guilty of sexual assault without basing it off an emotional conclusion like other rape cases brought up through college tribunals.

 People "recognize that all sexual assaults are bad but, at the same time, acknowledge that some are worse than others. Some are more morally blameworthy, some are more violent, and some cause greater lasting harm", the sexual assault cases that involved more severe factors would have the more serious punishments (Kaiser, 3). This method would allow for there to be clearer rules and definitions of rape. The scale creates equality between both parties; it "respects the rights of the accused, as well as the rights of the accuser, just as [it] would have to do in the criminal-justice system (Gillibrand, 2). The college tribunals would become similar to an actual judiciary system and allow for the victim to receive the best possible outcome for their present situation. This method would cut back on the mass hysteria caused by rape culture because colleges would not be listening to the public about how the they should punish the student. Instead the universities and colleges would already have rulings in place that take away the stress of composing a correct punishment for the current situation. Rape culture would be suppressed and would become more contained with the utilization of a sliding scale, alleviating some pressure that rape culture puts on college campuses. The sliding scale creates a fair and equal environment and stops rape culture from taking over and generating an unfair advantage for one person. 

The administration of disciplinary actions within sexual assault cases should come from a sliding scale where different punishments are given based on the scenario in which the assault occurred. The utilization of the sliding scale allows for a complete change in the college and university systems. Many people argue that setting a minimum punishment would be the best way to punish the accused and set a precedent to stop those from committing a crime. However, this system is unfair because it takes away from the freedom of people having the right to represent themselves and be proven innocent without a punishment at all. While others argue the best way to punish and prevent rape is through the alteration of rape culture in which people are educated and define the exact definition of rape while at the same time enforcing "enthusiastic consent". Even though changing the perception of rape culture is beneficial it does not exactly set up a new system in how to punish the perpetrators. These faults within in the other systems illustrated how the sliding scale is the most beneficial option for the dictation of punishment during rape cases. The sliding scale is important because if implemented it would help end the difficulty surrounding punishments so that the colleges and universities could spend more time on modifying rape culture. By changing rape culture, colleges and universities would be makings steps towards stopping sexual assault on campuses altogether because they would be able to focus on creating and promoting positive and enthusiastic consensual sex. 

