{"id":2641,"date":"2014-12-16T23:23:28","date_gmt":"2014-12-16T23:23:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/?p=2641"},"modified":"2016-08-14T04:46:19","modified_gmt":"2016-08-14T04:46:19","slug":"sexual-assault-on-campuses-what-to-do","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/sexual-assault-on-campuses-what-to-do\/","title":{"rendered":"Sexual assault on campuses: what to do?"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Sarah Cook<\/a>, Georgia State University<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

Nearly 24 years ago, Time Magazine\u2019s cover<\/a> featured a photo of Katie Koestner, a first year student at the College of William and Mary whose date had raped her. The red lettered words, DATE RAPE, dominated the page.<\/p>\n

Koestner\u2019s story was at odds with most people\u2019s image of rape, but not with scientific data. Just a few years before, a nationally representative survey<\/a> of higher education students had documented that approximately one in four women had been victimized by and one in 12 men had perpetrated rape or attempted rape.<\/p>\n

Twenty years ago, President Clinton signed the 1994 Violence Against Women (VAWA), a groundbreaking law<\/a> that focused on domestic violence but also addressed sexual assault on college campuses.<\/p>\n

Since then universities and colleges across the country have hired sexual assault educators, instituted offices of sexual assault prevention, and recognized student organizations devoted to preventing and responding to sexual assault. As a graduate student, I assisted the University of Virginia\u2019s first sexual assault education coordinator.<\/p>\n

But now sexual assault on campus is back in the headlines and not only because of the controversial<\/a> Rolling Stone article about an alleged gang rape at my alma mater, the University of Virginia, or Time\u2019s<\/a> \u201cRAPE: the crisis in higher education\u201d cover in May this year.<\/p>\n

Currently 88 institutions of higher education, including William and Mary, are under investigation<\/a> by the Department of Education Office for Civil Rights (OCR) for possible violations of Title IX relating to sexual harassment of students.<\/p>\n

What hasn\u2019t happened or isn\u2019t working, and why the flurry of investigations? Why did President Obama convene a White House Task Force to Protect Students from Sexual Assault<\/a> in 2014?<\/p>\n

The White House and university campuses<\/h2>\n

A number of interrelated factors may be at play, but several stand out.<\/p>\n

The fallout from Pennsylvania State University\u2019s abhorrent negligence of assistant coach Jerry Sandusky\u2019s extensive sexual abuse of boys, and its efforts to protect the university and its storied football team, revealed that many institutions were not fulfilling their obligations under the Clery Disclosure of Campus Security Policy and Campus Crime Statistics Act<\/a> that requires institutions to document and disclose information about crimes on their campus annually.<\/p>\n

Second, beginning several years ago, students began filing Title IX complaints and lawsuits against institutions over how reports of sexual assault were being handled by their college or university. This happened at a range of institutions – from Yale<\/a> to the University of Tulsa<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Most people associate Title IX with equal access to sports for women, but the law also ensures equal access to education. In 2011, the Office of Civil Rights in the Department of Education issued guidance stating that<\/a>, \u201csexual harassment of students, which includes acts of sexual violence, is a form of sex discrimination prohibited by Title IX.\u201d<\/p>\n

The third reason for the upsurge in investigations is the 2013 Campus Sexual Violence Elimination Act<\/a> (SaVE Act) that requires colleges to report more crimes in their annual Clery Act reports, including acts of domestic violence, dating violence, and stalking. The provision<\/a> also required institutions to adopt student discipline procedures related to sexual assault, and to prevent it.<\/p>\n

The White House\u2019s declared reason for entering the fray was stark<\/a>: \u201cThe prevalence of rape and sexual assault at our Nation\u2019s institutions of higher education is both deeply troubling and a call to action.\u201d<\/p>\n

The White House task force released its first report in April with four objectives:<\/p>\n