Sexual assault occurs on college campuses across the country at an alarming rate. The statistic of 1 of every 5 women will experience sexual assault during college is a well-known one and many people have become desensitized to it because of that. But the problem is that just because people know about sexual assault does not mean that it is being handled correctly. Most, if not all, schools have implemented prevention programs for all incoming students to warn them of the dangers of alcohol and what counts as sexual assault, as well as how these two topics intertwine. The Clery act and Title IX were pieces of legislation put into place that were supposed to help victims of sexual assault but have frequently done the opposite. In recent years, more and more stories have come out exposing how some school officials will protect the accused depending on their status on campus, especially if they are athletes. Recently a student at UNC Chapel Hill went to the school board to report that she had been sexually assaulted. The school did nothing for six months so she got a lawyer and went public with her case. This story started to pick up traction only after it was found out that the accused was a star football player for the school. This story is not unique and deeply troubling. I have gathered the statistics, stories, and laws covered in this paper from government websites, organizations and court cases. This topic should not only be important to those who have been affected by sexual assault on campus, but all of those who are college bound, at college currently and anyone who has a loved one that is in one of the previously mentioned groups. The real question of this paper is, how well do colleges handle sexual? 

Most colleges require some form of sexual assault education before or while first year students are on campus. In my own case, here at University of South Carolina, I had to complete two online courses before I could register for classes. One was about alcohol on college campuses and how to stay safe, named Alcohol.Edu. The other online class was called “Haven” and it addressed issues of sexual assault along with relationship violence among other topics. Many of my friends at different schools had to do online programs like these but after these short classes are over there is not much more education on sexual assault at most schools. Some schools are trying new ways to prevent sexual assault such as mandatory classes once on campus and restricting hard liquor from certain parties among other things. Prevention programs are not proven to work but they are a start. Title IX was implemented in 1972 to stop discrimination against women and girls for federally funded education. Title IX has since added rules that require teachers or school officials to report sexual assault if they hear so from students, even if the students wish to not do so. This puts school officials and staff in a bind because they want to lend an ear to students but many times cannot if the student does not wish to come forward as being assaulted. The Clery act was enacted in 1990 to have campuses disclose all crime that is reported on campus but this can also show skewed statistics. This has been shown as in many cases there have been different numbers of sexual assault from when the campus security has done research versus a third party. Statistics do not always match up because the term “sexual assault” and “rape” have different definitions varying from state to state as well as university to university. These are some of the facts that have led our society to its current point with this issue. 

This paper at its core is about sexual but there are so many ways to go about understanding how sexual assault is dealt with currently, especially with the 24-hour news cycle and social media. There are many arguments to be made to get a better understanding of how to answer my original research question. The first topic I will talk about is how prevention programs alone are not effective in the long term because this, in many cases, is many colleges only education of sexual assault. I will then write about how Title IX does not handle sexual assault as effectively as it could as well as how the trials that happen at colleges are frequently unprofessional and unfair.  There are many restraints that were overlooked when passing the bill and they have made victims of many people who are trying to get help. Then I will argue how athletes are given unfair treatment by school officials, coaches, as well as the general public. The last argument I will talk about is how colleges do not accurately report sexual assault. These are the things I plan to go into more depth on and cover fully to share my view point on them. 

Many schools currently only have a single form of sexual assault education that all students are required to partake in. What I am talking about is called prevention programs, which is what I had to complete before I could register for classes here at USC. In my experience the online class was rather boring as well as it did not require much attention. It more or less just had to be clicked through with no tests, quizzes or anything else to see if you had retained any of the knowledge that was just imparted on you. The Center for Disease Control website writes “Few programs, to date, have been shown to prevent sexual violence perpetration.” This is a large problem is combatting sexual assault because there is no real learning that goes on during this and this is many school’s first and only line of defense against sexual assault that all students are required to take. In the article Campus Sexual Assault: Prevention, Response, and Aftercare written by Lindsay Ashworth she writes, “Statistical reviews of prevention programs have revealed, however, that interventions focused on attitude change alone produce short-term declines victim-blaming attitudes and have little effect at reducing sexual assault among program participants.”(Ashworth) This shows that most colleges only mandatory line of defense is not effective in the long run. This is extremely important because if this bare minimum remains the norm, then nothing will get resolved any time soon. The article goes on to explain for programs to be successful in the long term they must incorporate peer to peer delivery techniques, that separate learning groups by sex and these programs must focus on bystander intervention. These programs have known to increase empathy for the bystanders and have thus been more successful in the long term. There are other schools that have taken it upon themselves to put requirements into place to try reduce the risk of sexual assault. Dartmouth University has banned hard liquor from certain registered fraternity parties, as well as making outside bartenders be hired and security be present. Dartmouth also requires underclassmen to live in certain “communities” where group activities take place to help educate students on the dangers of college campuses. The use of prevention programs is not the problem but the use of strictly prevention programs is a huge problem. Many schools are either oblivious to this fact or simply do not want to go through the trouble of doing more to protect their students. 

Title IX was passed to stop discrimination against women at federally funded institutions. One of the stipulations of Title IX is that when a faculty or staff member at a college is told about sexual assault a formal investigation must be launched. This causes many faculty and staff members to cut off students who are attempting to confide in them. This causes many college officials feel conflicted because they want to provide support to victims but cannot fully unless the victim would like to launch an investigation. Just because an investigation is launched does not mean it will result in a trial but not all will. But even when the investigation leads to tribunal run by the school, it does not always run smoothly. In the CNN article “An imperfect process: How campuses deal with sexual assault” by Sara Ganim and Nelli Black there are multiple true stories of both accusers and accused of sexual assault on college campuses. The article talks about how the tribunals on campuses are often unfair and vary from college to college. The article writes “The procedures vary widely. Most schools hold disciplinary hearings, often made up of teachers and students, some with little training, acting as prosecutor, judge and jury. And though the punishment isn't as severe as in criminal cases, it's significant for both the accuser and the accused. It can end a college education, and critics of the process say it can unfairly damage lives” (Black, Ganim) showing that the tribunal can do more harm than good in many cases. Title IX made these tribunals mandatory but did not get specific in who should run them, thus leaving it in the hands of frequently incapable people to decide the fate of someone’s life potentially. Many speculate that when adding the mandatory tribunal rule to Title IX that the law makers wanted something to done quickly and did not think of the repercussions on their rash decisions.  The article writes about Title IX’s mandatory rule about tribunals, “Tribunals used to dealing with issues like cheating and plagiarism suddenly began delving into the complex issues of sexual assault. But the burden of proof is much lower in a tribunal; unlike criminal cases, where charges have to be proven beyond a reasonable doubt, the university panels only need to say it's "more likely than not" that the accused is responsible.” (Black, Ganim) displaying how these tribunals can frequently make inaccurate rulings more or less on a whim because proof is not as prevalent. The article talks about a John Doe from University of California, San Diego who had a troubling tribunal and was found guilty by it, and after appealing 2 times his suspension grew larger each appeal for now apparent reason. He talked of his experience in the tribunal and said “He was allowed to have a lawyer, but the lawyer couldn't speak. He submitted questions for his accuser, but not all of them were asked. … "I tried to object a few times," he told CNN, "and they reminded me that it was just a school hearing and it wasn't criminal so I wasn't allowed to do that” (Black, Ganim). He eventually took the case to court and the ruling was overturned by a judge because he had a lack of rights during the one side tribunal. John Doe’s experience was only one but this can be looked at as a something that can possibly be going on at all campuses and this is a serious issue that needs to be delved into and corrected before any more people fall victim to the, in many cases, ineffective or lopsided tribunal. This article paints a picture of Title IX that many do not know about and thus it does not have the public support it needs to be fixed. 

In recent years, there have many stories covered in the national media of athletes being either protected by their coaches or school officials so they do not get charged with sexual assault or the media twisting the narrative surrounding an athlete so they do not have public opinion brought against them. This has been happening for a long time but because of how large social media has gotten in our lives these stories and scandals have begun to take on lives of their own. One of the largest scandals in recent years in the Baylor football scandal. The investigation has been going on for over 2 years. The worst part about the story is in early reports there were only 5 football players accused of roughly 8 offenses but since the investigation has began those numbers have grown to over 31 players and at least 52 cases of sexual assault and rape between 2011-2014. In a Dallas Morning News article by Sarah Mervosh she writes “And these cases didn't garner sympathy from school officials, the filing says. Administrator and coach responses ranged from saying it’d be “great” if police kept “quiet” o questioning the women.”(Mervosh) This shows the leadership and faces of the football program at Baylor and how they handle serious issues. The law firm hired by Baylor to consider their problems found more than just sexual assault and rape. There was said to have been an “institutional failure” at almost every level. Art Briles has been caught saying things such as “What kind of discipline… she a stripper?” in response to a complaint of a player exposing himself to a masseuse. When Briles found out she was a masseuse he responded via text that it was “Not quite as bad.” These quotes were some of the many texts of Briles that were released between himself and school officials and coaches. These texts span from 2011 to 2015 and after they were released Briles dropped the lawsuit against Baylor which was originally for libel. The head coach Art Briles, Athletic Director Ian McCaw and university president Ken Starr were either fired or resigned in early 2016 due to all the media attention, implications, and eventual evidence of their involvements in the cover up. 

A case that took on a life of its own in the media, especially on social media, is the Brock Turner rape case. The details of the case were Brock Turner was found assaulting an unconscious victim behind a dumpster at Stanford University. The victim had her skirt pulled up above her waist and turner was on top of her digitally penetrating her. The only reason the assault was stopped and Turner was caught was 2 pedestrians passed by Turner and his victim, they yelled at him to stop, he ran away and they caught him and called the police. The reason this case went so viral was all the headlines read something along the lines of “Stanford star swimmer accused of sexual assault” with the second mugshot he had taken which was much more clean cut and better looking compared to his first where he had bloodshot eyes and shaggy hair. This at first outraged many people but what was worse was the sentence he received. He received a sentence of 6 months in prison for 3 counts of sexually assaulting an unconscious woman, and only served 3 months. In the CNN article by Jeannette Gagnon and Emanuella Grinberg they write “Little to no time in jail or prison is common among college athletes convicted of first-time sexual offenses -- if they are charged at all, according to judges, prosecutors, academics and criminologists who spoke with CNN,” the article continues “As with Turner, their age, clean record and community support -- athletic privilege by another name -- tend to weigh heavily in their favor. The athlete was 19 at the time of the assault.” These quotes showing that those in the criminal justice system are un-phased by this horrific miscarriage of justice, but they should not be because they have become so desensitized to it. This case caused so much backlash California passed a bill that now requires sex offenders to serve jail time and Stanford banned hard alcohol on campus. The problem is that many people in the media and the public tend to be more lenient on those who are athletic because of their lives ahead of them. 

The problem of inaccurate statistics regarding sexual assault has been a growing concern in recent years as more and more people have noticed the gap between what the school reports and what third party organizations report. The reasons for the discrepancies is the all the loopholes and limitations of the Clery Act, the act that was put into place to make colleges report annual crimes on and off campus. One of these loopholes is that schools can make their own definitions of sexual assault so the definitions vary from school to school as well as the statistics. The article on Publicintegrity.org by Kristen Lombardi writes “A comparison of survey data with the schools’ previous five-year average of official Clery totals shows that the clinic numbers are considerably higher, suggesting a systematic problem with Clery data collection.”(Lombardi) This is just one example of many of how the Clery Act was a good idea in theory but once in practice is just misleading. The article continues “‘Clery, in our minds, doesn’t do what it was intended to do,’ says Mary Friedrichs of the Office of Victim Assistance at the University of Colorado at Boulder. The 42 sexual assaults documented by her program in one recent year didn’t appear in the university’s Clery data because, as certified counselors with confidentiality exemptions, her staff doesn’t report them to the campus police.”(Lombardi) showing that schools typically will underreport on purpose because it makes their institution seem safer and therefore will attract more applicants. This is one of the many problems surrounding sexual assault on campuses is that schools are more concerned with the public opinion than attempting to prevent sexual assault or properly care for or recognize the victims after the fact.  

There are certainly other valid points of view when talking about the topic of sexual assault on campus. Many find that Title IX is great at combatting sexual assault. There are many facets of Title IX that focus on the health and wellbeing of victims and that is what is important. The website endrapeoncampus.org lists all parts of Title IX and how it is helpful. The website writes “When a student has experienced a hostile environment such sexual assault or severe, pervasive, and objectively offensive sexual harassment, schools must stop the discrimination, prevent its recurrence, and address its effects. This includes retaliation from other students, school administrators, or faculty. Schools must proactively prevent and respond to claims of sexual harassment, sexual violence, and other forms of gender-based violence, retaliation, discrimination, and must have an impartial and prompt process for investigating and adjudicating reported cases” exhibiting how helpful Title IX is and how effective it can be. The problem with Title IX is not the bill itself but in many cases it is how effective and efficiently it is used. A large problem is many schools know Title IX is mandatory but do not always follow the rules and this is when the victims are the ones who end up with most the burden. Another part of this issue to look at is the tribunals done by schools. Many argue that these tribunals are an effective way to resolve the complaints and reports that the schools must deal with. There are many cases of these tribunals being unfair and unprofessional, but there are also many tribunals that are ran effectively with the correct and qualified personnel. The tribunals are a good idea in theory but they description of them are too vague to be effective at this point. If they are looked at with scrutiny and given more strict guidelines they will be looked upon more favorably. 

Sexual assault is not an easy issue to deal with especially in today’s society with social media and many fake news outlets spreading false narratives. Even when taking this into account, we as a society do not handle the issue with the respect it deserves. Colleges must crackdown on this issue because of how college is known for a time in a person’s life to grow and experience new things, but this can come with drawbacks. In such an important point in a person’s development as to who they are, either being sexually assaulted or wrongly accused of sexual assault, it can throw a person’s life into shambles and stunt their potential growth. There are many great organizations such as Take Back the Night, Know Your IX, FORCE: Upsetting Rape Culture and many more that are making this issue be talked about at a higher level to fix the problems that go along with policing it and helping victims at the same time. Sexual assault is not a black and white issue and it is hard to prove but this is why more knowledge needs to be readily available to those who want and need it. There is not plausible way to entirely stop sexual assault on college campuses, or in general, but we can attempt to prevent it. In my opinion, colleges treat this issue with seriousness to the public, but if colleges were truly serious they would make more programs to spread knowledge about prevention mandatory for all students. I believe the best way to reduce sexual assault on college campuses is to make it mandatory for students to take a different awareness and prevention program each year while they attend their institution. This issue cannot be pushed to the back burner any longer and if people would like to see change, they must make their voices heard. 
