Roughly one in four female undergraduates in college experience some kind of sexual assault while on a college campus. In the last few years, sexual assaults on campuses have been getting much more attention than in the past, which may be why more students are coming out with their stories and fighting for a change. The big spotlight that is now placed over universities concerning sexual assault should be a nudge for all colleges to become more involved to support victims that are sexually assaulted on campus through measures such as better education on assault, easier ways to report cases of sexual assault, and quicker and more serious investigative action by university officials whether the police are asked to be involved or not.

My interest for the topic of consent, and more specifically how universities handle these cases of sexual assault, has come strictly from an increasing amount of national stories on the news. Recently, the University of South Carolina even had a reported incident of sexual assault on campus and that made me even more drawn to the topic, as assault has got to come to an end one way or another. The topic of consent is growing more and more every day in the United States and it needs to be addressed sooner than later due to it simply being a tragic situation. 

Even though I have never been a victim of sexual assault myself, that does not mean I don't know people who are victims. Whether I am one of the few who know or one of the many who has heard one's story, I still gain some knowledge about sexual assault. In addition to hearing true stories from loved ones, I have also done research on this general topic  --  more particularly on human trafficking. The previous research I have done should work to my benefit, as it will better aide my understanding and knowledge. Though I am not an expert on the subject, my personal experiences and research experiences should allow me to argue well on the subject of the involvement of universities with sexual assaults on campus. 

On September 23, 2015, Kelly Wallace of CNN published the article titled "23% of Women Report Sexual Assault in College, Study Finds" to bring awareness to the issue of sexual assault. Wallace focuses on a large study that was done on 150,000 students from 27 different universities in the United States to inform others on the rising numbers for sexual assault on college campuses. The study, done by the Association of American Universities, reported that 23% of females in college have dealt with some kind of sexual assault in a variety of circumstances. The article provides evidence to show how assault is becoming such a big issue at schools all over the United States. One of the issues this article hits on is the reasoning for why victims do not report their attacks, whether it be due to feeling like they would not be believed or due to a variety of emotions that could make it hard. CNN is a very large and well known news channel that is constantly providing viewers with the latest information. The author of the article, Kelly Wallace, is a digital correspondent and editor-at-large for CNN. She worked as a CNN news reporter before reporting online about women's issues, in which she has been able to interview women such as Michelle Obama. This article specifically does not seem to be biased, even though CNN has been known to publish things with bias present. Wallace provides readers with reliable information to bring attention to a growing problem on college campuses around the country.

NPR, or National Public Radio, published an article on April 30,, 2014 by Joseph Shapiro titled "Campus Rape Reports Are Up, and Assaults Aren't the Only Reason" in attempt to show that more victims of sexual assault on college campuses are now starting to report their cases. Shapiro claims that increases in reported rapes on campuses is a good thing, as it means victims are becoming more comfortable with reporting their assaults. He states that colleges are providing more support to the victims and better education, which is the reason for this change. The US government is said to be the main shove behind this movement, which is making schools such as University of Michigan provide better education for assault prevention and also enhanced investigations for victims. The increased reports are also said to be positive since getting the help victims need is how recovery begins. NPR is a multimedia news organization and public radio station based out of Washington D.C. that informs people worldwide of the latest news stories. Joseph Shapiro is a NPR News Investigations correspondent with an interest in justice and health based stories. He had a television series on PBS Frontline and ProPublica, wrote for U.S. News and World Report, has won many awards, and is even the author of an award-winning piece. Shapiro gives insight to one of the biggest issues that college campuses are dealing with today and the measures that are being taken to solve it. 

On June 25, 2015 an article titled "University Survey Highlights Role of 'Verbal Coercion' in Sexual Assault" written by Eliza Gray, was published in TIME Magazine to detail the ways in which sexual assault can vary. Gray informs the reader on different types of sexual misconduct that students should be protected from with the help of statistics from surveys at different universities. The author claims that ten percent of victims at the University of Michigan were considered victims due to "verbal pressure", which is different that just sexual assault. As a result of realizing that "verbal pressure" was such a common occurrence, the University of Michigan took another step to expand and better the education that was already being given to the students. Also, colleges that have made their statistics available to the public have found many similarities between the results. TIME Magazine is an informational and entertaining source full of a variety of articles from politics to health from all around the globe. Eliza Gray is a staff writer for the magazine, in which she seems to have no biased stance on the subject of sexual assault on college campuses. Through this article, Gray helps raise awareness for the ways in which colleges are attempting to fix the outbreak of incidences for assault on college campuses.  

The involvement of universities when it comes to sexual assaults that happen on campuses can be controversial. This question is debatable simply due to the two sides of the argument. One side is that universities should be involved so they can best accommodate the student and the other side is that universities should stay out of sexual assault cases and let the police department handle it. Now, some people also prefer to allow both the police and the university in on the situation and ask them to collaborate. The variation between peoples' views may make answering this question a bit more challenging, but it is possible. With time, the level of involvement between university staff and sexual assault incidents will be known.

As numbers increase for the amount of young women sexually assaulted on college campuses, more individuals are taking action to turn it around to put sexual assault to an end. With the current statistics of college assaults, it is imagined that every student has at least one friend or classmate who is a victim of such assault, whether they know it or not. More victims are building the courage to share their stories, but other students will hide forever from their pain. The articles mentioned provide information such as how awareness about sexual assault is being brought up in the United States, how increased numbers of assault can imply that more victims are reporting their cases, and the ways in which sexual assault can differ. The debate on where the line should be drawn concerning the involvement of university officials and the involvement of the police is simply a personal view, but a decision does need to be made in order to create some type of change for sexual assault victims and possible future victims. Sexual assault on college campuses is a crime that not only needs to be accommodated better for victims, but also needs to be prevented from happening to other students down the road through the support from all universities. 

