Sexual assault on college campuses has been a big social issue in America for decades now and just recently has been looked at more closely due to the lack of policy and response by the colleges. Though sexual violence has been seen as a social problem for a long time, it has now become a political problem stemming from the anti-rape movement in the 1960s and 1970s.  Sadly, the statistics from the 1970s are a mirror-image of the statistics today; one in five women report being sexually assaulted just while attending university, whether it be completed assault or attempted.  On a college campus of 10,000 students, approximately 350 women are likely to be victims of sexual assault annually (U.S. Department of Justice). While the media shifts their views from campus sexual assault being called a problem, a catastrophe, or an epidemic; its label is not the issue as the issue is gender inequality. When a university implements policies regarding sexual assault on campus, they are being a voice for the victims of sexual violence and preventing future attacks from happening.

According to the United States Department of Justice, sexual assault is “any type of sexual contact or behavior that occurs without the explicit consent of the recipient.” Because of the lack of policy on college campuses or a lack of involvement by campus authorities in sexual assault cases, there has been less focus on the perpetrator and more of a “blame the victim” mindset. Without policy or involvement by school officials, a message of unimportance is given off to their student body. If there are no real rules regarding sexual assault and no punishment to go along with it, then where is the actual problem? With a lack of response by the authorities on campus comes a lack of speaking out for the victims for fear of nothing being done or to be slandered if their situation gets ‘thrown under the rug.’ Giving sexual violence on college campuses national attention helps to refocus efforts away from teaching women what they an do to prevent it from happening to them and gear it towards teaching all students what consent is. 

When trying to prevent sexual assault on college campuses, colleges should consider not what women can do to avoid being a victim, but focus on what they could teach their student body to prevent it. More than fifty percent of sexual assaults on campuses happen between the start of fall semester and Thanksgiving break, a span of time sometimes referred to as the “red zone” (Newman, 2017). Instead of requiring incoming freshman to take an online course before coming to college on drinking, partying and sexual relationships on campus, they should require a class that meets face-to-face which proves to be more effective. Incoming freshman are the most likely to be victims of sexual assault on college campuses, which could be due to their naiveté and the amount of new things they experience while attending college for the first few months. Young women arriving at college have widely been socialized to be friendly and likably, which can bind them to the aggressive advances they might encounter at a party (Newman, 2017).  Universities and colleges also need to provide a more “comfortable environment” for victims or people who are worried about their safety. Taking this step and providing the correct resources will help make a victims voice heard so the school can address the issue. Providing a more accepting facility for sexual assault victims/potential victims will get more people to seek help, which would help the universities and schools actually realize how big the problem is, hopefully putting a scare into the offenders making them think twice about their actions for fear of getting caught and further punishment. Implementing better resources widely for everyone to easily access on campus has proven to be effective and be successful in decreasing rates of sexual assault.

The New England Journal of Medicine published a study on an extraordinary successful campus sexual violence prevention program that essentially trained young women to ‘assess, acknowledge and, if necessary, rebuff unwanted sexual advances.’ The proposed changes and the studies that show what works to prevent sexual assaults on college campuses should be presented to the school board, along with administrators that might be higher up. Not only should the professors, administrators and school board be presented with the new policy changes, but the student body should have a big say in the potential changes considering they are the ones mostly affected by these heinous assaults.

The hardest part about preventing sexual assault is that while implementing different policies might help to decrease the likelihood, changing the culture and attitudes toward women and addressing the issues and gray areas of consent. Due to sexual assault being normalized and accepted on college campuses, many students don’t feel secure talking about it or addressing the issue themselves. Many of my friends, including I, can count on one or two hands the amount of times they have been victims themselves of sexual violence including strangers groping them to move by or because they thought it would be funny or having to leave a grocery store or gas station before they got done with what they needed to do because a male wouldn’t leave them alone even when the women is noticeably uncomfortable.  

Michael Kimmel and Gloria Steinem wrote a piece called “Yes Is Better Than No” which looks at consent and compares it to altered consent. The article gives relatable situations that occur on college campuses everyday like a woman consuming too much alcohol, not being in their right state of mind and “giving” consent because of their altered state of mind. The authors explain that legally no one in an altered state of mind has the ability to give consent to someone because they are under the influence and could possibly not make the same decisions they would make if they were completely sober. On the contrary, author Jake News piece, “The Yes Means Yes World” examines why shifting towards a ‘yes means yes’ culture when it comes to sexual assault on college campuses could lead to better awareness for students across the nation. New identifies what makes it hard for a victim to reach out for help after a sexual assault and why sometimes saying “no” is harder than saying “yes.” For a sexual assault victim, coming out and seeking help from the school can be really discouraging and lead to more problems than getting help. Many schools do not provide resources for victims to use when struggling through the aftermath of sexual violence. Schools also may not provide the training counselors, administrators and professors need to identify, help and coach victims through the process of getting their life back. 

One of the most important things for students to understand about sexual violence on college campuses is that it can happen to anyone, anywhere at anytime, but taking simple precautions can truly decrease a student’s chance of becoming a victim. While men can be victims of sexual violence, and there are current statistics for them falling victim too, studies have concluded that women are three times more likely to be a victim when they are aged between eighteen and twenty-four years old, which is the average range age of students on campuses around the United States (Rainn). Men have a one in thirty-three chance of becoming victims on a college campus, which is less than women see, but still a problem at that. Only twenty percent of the female student victims (18-24) report the crime to law enforcement. The reason many women do not report sexual violence varies by case, but some of the most common that are recorded from statistics are that the women believed it was a personal matter, fear of reprisal, they did not want the perpetrator to get in trouble or they believed the police would not or could not do anything to help them. Schools providing the right resources for their students who are victims have seen a significant increase in reporting because of their resources. The University of South Carolina offers help for survivors, training and education, explains their students rights and consequences for straying from their policies and who to contact if you need to make a report directly on their student health page. Not only do they make reporting and getting help readily available, but they implement the SAVIP program to help other Gamecocks reach out to report for their friends or people that might need help. Because there is such a low sexual assault report rate on college campuses, with only ten percent reporting the assault, perpetrators are not intimidated to commit the crime since it is easy to get away with if there are no laws enforced. For example, if no one in a class reports to their Professor that a classmate is cheating on an exam, or it has been reported but the teacher does not do anything about it, why would the student not cheat to make a class if there are no repercussions? Unfortunately, the same thing applies for sexual assault and many other crimes according to the Broken Windows Theory. Not only does underreporting influence other perpetrators to act to, but the situation will only get worse the longer it is downplayed as not a big deal. 

An important factor that goes into understanding and preventing sexual assault is to consider the perpetrator’s “ideal victim.” Some people believe that a woman or mans clothing is the “cause” of a sexual assault and that it is the victims fault for “asking for it.” Contrary to the popular myth, studies have shown that victims of sexual assault were often alone, wearing loose clothing, had their hair in a ponytail or had longer hair, or in something that was easy to grab and were not paying attention to their surroundings. Research continues to prove that on college campuses specifically, the victim and their perpetrator were often both intoxicated and the easiest time to “attack” a victim is when they’re alone and it is dark outside. According to one study, one and three sexual assaults on college campuses in the United States, only the perpetrator were intoxicated. In most cases, the perpetrator was under the influence of alcohol. (Hatterseley-Grey, 2012). So many college students spend their weeknights and weekends going out, to a party or a function, drinking in an environment with people they may not know. In preventing sexual assault while drinking, it is critical for students to not become vulnerable by getting so intoxicated that they lose complete awareness of their surroundings. While students should not have to think of ways to make them “less vulnerable” to a sexual assault situation, it is important for them to be responsible while drinking so that if anything ever did occur, they could still defend themselves if need be. Getting so intoxicated can lead someone to have poor judgment, when results in someone making irrational decisions because they cannot think straight. Many sexual assaults or rapes that happen to college students begin at the bar when someone has had too much to drink, whether it is the victim or the perpetrator. When someone gets too drunk, the awareness of their surroundings decreases significantly, you lose the ability to communicate clearly, you often time make bad choices because you can’t think clearly. When a perpetrator is looking for a target, they often times pick the “easiest and most conventional person” in their area, and since so many college students are drinking and partying every night, college campuses are the perfect place for perpetrators to commit their crime. Forty-three percent of sexual victimization incidents involve alcohol consumption by the victims and sixty-nine percent involve alcohol consumption by the perpetrators (Hatterseley-Grey, 2012). When students are attending college, being aware of how many drinks you’ve had and how many you can tolerate can make a big difference in your safety. Universities enforcing students to take educational classes on drugs and alcohol help students be aware of how much they are consuming. Not only will this give knowledge to students on what they should do if they or their friend get to drunk, or if someone needs medical attention, it also gives students the information they need to reach out for help if they find themselves in this situation. Universities who strive to provide support to victims of sexual violence, or to people struggling with addiction, along with enforcing strict punishments to those who break the policies implemented on the issue, tend to see lower rates of sexual assault on campuses.

Sexual violence is a very common, yet underreported, crime on college campuses throughout the United States. When dealing with sexual violence, it is important for colleges to implement policies, laws and support to their student body to better protect them if a situation ever goes arye. Instead of focusing on what makes someone vulnerable, like what they wear and where they go, putting laws in place that lower sexual assault rates should be the main concern. New laws that Universities are beginning to pass, like requiring students to take a class on drugs, alcohol, and sexual assault, can greatly decrease someone’s chances of it happening to them due to their newfound wisdom on what to do in that situation. In addition, other students speaking out about their story with sexual violence make other students be more aware and can encourage some struggling with it to seek help.
