Every 21 hours there is a rape on an American college campus. With sexual assault being such a common occurrence, what are schools doing to fight back? As a college student at the University of South Carolina, I personally had no idea of our campuses' policy on sexual assault until starting this research. 

We like to think that sexual assault will never happen to us but the grim reality of it is that it happens. It has recently just happened on our own campus. January 30th 2016 there was a sexual assault of a student on campus while she was walking back to their dorm late at night. The offender was charged with Criminal Sexual Conduct in the First Degree and Kidnapping. This is a concrete case of sexual assault but what about the blurrier cases? At the University of South Carolina what type of policy do we have? Since I, the general student had no idea what the policy is, I am also sure that many other students are left uneducated about our school's sexual assault policy as well. 

My first source is "The 'Yes' Means 'Yes' World" by Jake New. This article was written for the publication Inside Higher Ed in October 2014. The article discuses the transition from "No means No" into "Yes means Yes" on college campuses. Schools in California were the first to adopt the new policy with many states following closely after. The article expresses what was the flaw in the old slogan of consent of "No means No", a lack of resistance is taken for consent. Other approaches of consent are discussed also as in the Antioch approach where verbal or physical consent must be given for each step of the sexual interaction. This approach was highly criticized by many. The article ends with a call of action to get rid of the "No means No" approach to consent and to get a clear understanding of what consent really is and what it means to have it. The author, Jake New personally does not have much credibility alone; he is a reporter for a not very popular publication. With the usage of his concrete research and countless expert quotations, one may deem the article very credible. The understanding of what consent truly is, is a necessity in the college world. 

My second source I have selected is '"Yes' Is Better than 'No'" by Michael Kimmel and Gloria Steinem. This piece is from early September 2014, New York Times. In this work the two authors are defending not only the "Yes means Yes" slogan but also the Antioch approach of consent. This approach requires consent for each step of the process. They argue that yes can perhaps be one of the most suggestive words in the English dictionary. The article suggests that the law takes invasion of private property more serious than invasion of one's body. The article ends with yes meaning yes being the middle ground to the consent issues. In this article the authors already have credibility since the article was published in the New York Times. Further credibility is developed by reading about each author. Michael Kimmel is a professor of sociology and gender studies at Stony Brook University and Gloria Steinem is a writer, a feminist organizer and co-founder of Ms. Magazine and the Women's Media Center. Having both a male and female opinion on the topic makes for an extremely non-bias article. The idea that consent can be sexy is a revolutionary idea that can change the way college students think about consent.

My third and final source is a column originally written for the website Thoughts on Liberty in October 2014. The column "Why All Colleges Should Adopt Affirmative Consent" by Kelli Gultie argues the benefit of having an affirmative consent policy on college campuses. There is a clear definition of what exactly affirmative consent is, which goes into why it is necessary for college campuses to adopt it. The old consent policy did not take into consideration the multitude of ways in which an individual can be sexually assaulted or violated. There is criticism of the policy which then gets met with a plan of action: universities need better resources, to allow for a legal defense and regular Title IX investigations and oversight. The author is highly creditable since Gulite has degrees in both Political Science and Criminal Justice. Through the column the author uses expert opinions and quotes to build her own credibility. The plan of action provided in this article can be applied to all college campuses. 

My research question is very arguable. Many people may have different view points on how to educate the students of University of South Carolina on it's sexual assault procedures and policies. Others may argue that students already know enough about sexual assault policies on campus and that no further education is needed. After reading my articles I agree with the course of action with implementing the "Yes means Yes" consent presented by Kelli Gultie. You can't simply just change a policy and not have the infrastructure in the college to support it. Changes are to be made across the board to better support the students. My research question may be changed more into asking what type of sexual assault policy is the best for our school and how to educate the masses on it. 

Sexual assault being so widespread on college campuses is a call to action for colleges to not only have policies that reduce the number of sexual assaults but also to educate students on their policies. After having the recent event of sexual assault right here on our campus our eyes should be open. Sexual assault does happen, to protect ourselves we need to educate ourselves and know our school has the policies to back it up. Expert opinions all agree that "No means No" is out and "Yes means Yes" is the new approach to the on going issue of consent. Each campus calls for a different type of consent policy that is reflexive of the student body, so "Yes mean Yes" may not be the exact policy our campus needs. Do the students of the University of South Carolina know the policies concerning sexual assault and and ways are the best to educate the population on these policies? The more the students of this university know the less likely they are to sexually assault or if it does happen the students are more likely to know their rights and seek help. 

