Today a woman studying for her undergrad has a 1 in 5 chance of being sexually

assaulted while in college(1). Sexual assault in college has been an ever growing problem.

While sexual assaults for college woman has been a problem for decades it was only in 1985

when Ms. Magazine and Mary R. Koss, psychology professors at Kent State University

surveyed more than 6,100 undergraduate women and men for one of the largest scientific

studies of date rape at that time. The survey reveals that one in four female college students

had an experience that met the legal definition of rape or attempted rape (2). When this

research came to light women began to fight for their protection while attending school. Despite

more and more research being done to prove the disproportionate rate of sexual assault in

college it still remains a pressing issue for schools across the country.

Many women are beginning to feel unsafe on their own campus in fear that they will be

sexually assaulted. According to the book Rape and its Victims, aside from murder, rape is the

biggest crime that women fear (11). If colleges do not take active strives to stop sexual assault

then the ramifications could be severe to both women and the school. Once a woman learns her

level of risk of a sexual assault she is no longer able to feel comfortable at her school and have

a secure sense of home. Along with this the fear of a sexual assault can directly affect a

woman's education. If a woman is fearful of a sexual assault she is forced to be more careful

around campus, such as being forced to leave a library early so she does not have to leave at

night or having to take precautions when scheduling her classes to make sure they do not end

too late and being unable to take certain classes. For all women, not just those in college, being

sexually assaulted and violating a woman's body causes her to be uncomfortable and no longer

be safe in her own skin. A women being unable to feel secure in her own body and not having

the ability to trust those around her is tragic and something colleges must take active measures
to stop. By instilling a universal protocol it would help prevent sexual assaults across college

campuses.

The increase in sexual assaults is tied into the increase of drug and alcohol abuse on

college campuses and is one of many factors that leads to this growing problem. In fact at least

50% of sexual assaults that occur in college are associated with alcohol use (12). As more and

more people bring this issue to light many colleges have been pressured by both their students

as well as the government to act and make the school a safer place. This is an issue that

schools are struggling to stop and the best way for schools to do it is to work with the

government, if the college is a state school, and look at how other schools are handling it in

order to find an effective method to stop sexual assaults. Once effective methods are found the

next step should be to instill a protocol at every college to ensure the safety of their students.

This issue must be addressed in order to protect women from becoming victims of

assault. This brief will focus on the disproportionate amount of sexual assaults that happen on a

college campus. We will look at research on how and why sexual assaults on a college campus

are so common. This brief will pay attention to the role that colleges play into helping to stop

these assaults and highlight different methods some schools have already put in place. After

reviewing the evidence we will suggest possible solutions that should be implemented across

both state and private colleges in order to stop sexual assaults on campuses.

Out of pressure from women across the country, Congress passed a series of Education

Amendments in 1972. Within these amendments was the introduction of Title IX. Title IX states

"No person in the United States shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be

denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any education program or activity

receiving Federal financial assistance." Under Title IX, discrimination based on sex can include

include sexual harassment, rape, and sexual assault. Any insitute of higher learning that
receives federal funds can be held legally responsible when it is aware and ignores sexual

harassment on its campus (3). In the Supreme Court case Davis v. Monroe County Board of Ed,

the court rules that a school can be liable for student-student sexual harassment if: the

harassment is so severe, pervasive, and offensive that it interferes with the victim's educational

environment; and the school knows about the harassment and its response is clearly

unreasonable under the circumstances.(4) Due to Title IX pressures many colleges have

become more active in minimizing sexual assault on campus in order to limit the number of

reports that need to be settled and out of fear of being sued for Title IX violations. Schools have

opened up several resources for students including offices such as the Office for Violence

Prevention in the University of Georgia and the Office of Victim Assistance at University of

Colorado (3). Colleges also train faculty and staff of the school to ensure they are all made

aware of Title IX and the proper way to handle what to do if they are approached by a victim of

sexual assault. Many schools have also taken it upon themselves to hire independent Title IX

advisor who is able to assist students on all matters pertaining to sexual assault. While Title IX

was a big push to help stop sexual assault in college it still is not enough. Title IX is an excellent

way of helping to handle the sexual assault issues on campuses, however they only help after

the fact. Meaning that it does not do anything to stop rape it just makes sure something is done

and someone is held responsible after the act already occurred. This is not stopping a problem,

but rather it is just like putting a bandaid on a cut instead of trying to avoid bleeding in the first

place.

In the most basic attempt to stop these assaults from occurring colleges have

implemented mandatory education programs for their students. These programs are either done

online through a module or in an hour long seminar in which student sit in a lecture room

listening to a university employee speck. In both instances it has been proven that these
education programs are ineffective and does not limit sexual assault among students. Linda A.

Anderson and Susan C. Whiston, psychology professors at Oregon State University and Indiana

University, conducted a study to determine the effectiveness of education programs in colleges

and universities. They studies 102 different programs in order to find the effectiveness of these

programs for five categories: rape attitudes, rape-related attitudes, rape knowledge, behavioral

intent, and incidence of sexual assault. They found that the outcome for rape attitudes,

rape-related attitudes, behavioral intent to all have an effect size of 0, meaning they had an

extremely low impact on students. Anderson and Whiston concluded that longer education

programs were much more effective than short one-time only programs (10). Sarah DeGue, a

behavioral scientist for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says "Knowledge is

important, but it's clear these programs don't prevent people from perpetuating sexual

violence.(5)" It has become very clear that a school can not implement a one-time program and

expect it to make a difference. However, for many schools, especially smaller schools with a

lack of resources, these education programs are all they can provide for a student. Situations

like these show the need for more outside intervention and government input in order to help

these schools stop sexual assault (5).

Greek Life on college campuses have alway been a controversial topic due to things

such as hazing, underage drinking, student safety, and sexual assault. It is no secret that just by

being in a fraternity house a woman increases her likelihood of being sexually assaulted. In fact,

a sorority member is 74% more likely to be a victim of sexual assault than non-sorority women

on campus (6). Many colleges are cracking down on fraternities and some are even banning

fraternity houses and Greek Life altogether. Colleges such as Williams and Amherst in

Massachusetts and Colby and Bowdoin in Maine have gotten rid of fraternities at their colleges.

Other schools have placed strict sanctions on Greek Life (7). At the end of March Penn State
University released a series of restrictions on Greek Life. These restrictions included banning

daylongs, limiting the number of socials per semester, restricting alcohol to only beer and

wine, and suspending Fall 2017 rush (8). While placing these strict restrictions on Greek Life

can help limit the possibility of sexual assault and stopping Greek Life does not stop underage

drinking or sexual assault a college campus.

There is no school that wants its students to live in fear of sexual assault. However, it

has become increasingly clear that schools across the country are not dealing with the sexual

assault crisis in college with the same weight. Some schools have taken it upon themselves to

be extremely proactive in their fight to stop sexual assaults such as Rutgers- New Brunswick.

Rutgers offers an office for Sexual Violence Prevention with counselors available daily and

offers students countless resources to help stop sexual assault in their campus. They have also

developed a program called SCREAM Theatre, in which students develop skits to show

instances in which sexual assault can take place and what people can do to stop it (13). Other

schools have been unable to make similar pushes to stop these assaults, many have even

failed to abide by Title IX requirements. In fact, at the end of Obamas final term a list was

released of 223 colleges and universities that were to be investigated due to Title IX violations.

Some schools even have been listed has being put under multiple investigations due to multiple

counts of violations, some of these schools include Stanford University, Indiana University,

Kansas State University, and Cornell University (14). According to a study done by the

American Association of University Women 91% of colleges reported zero incidents of rape in

2014. This finding showed just how infrequently campus sexual assaults are reported to the

school. The zero suggest that students may not feel comfortable coming forward to report a

sexual assault. This could be due in part to a school's lack of policies and programs developed

to combat sexual assault. The AAUW continues by saying that the more sexual assault
educations and awareness is discussed on a campus the more likely it is a student will feel

comfortable reporting the crime (15). In multiple schools perpetrators of sexual assault were still

allowed to stay on campus and continue attending that college with minimal punishment.

Students are beginning to let their frustration be heard. At Howard University, students

protested outside a dorm where a woman said she was raped by another student chanting No

means NO. The protest was in response to the student voicing concern about the lack of

interest the university showed toward her and how little actions were taken against her rapists

(9).

These sexual assaults are mainly tied into alcohol and drug abuse problems that nearly

every college faces. Often sexual assaults occur during or after a party after a woman has

voluntarily ingested large amounts of alcohol or a perpetrator has drugged a woman and is

unable to give consent. In about 55% of cases where a woman was sexually assaulted she had

also voluntarily consumed alcohol prior to the assault happening (12). However, the heart of the

problem is in the fact that college are not doing enough to stop sexual assaults in college and

that women have an ever growing fear of being assaulted while walking around campus.

In an attempt to help women feel face while walking around campus many schools have

implemented a Free Pickup Program. Essentially this is a program where students can call a

number and a driver will come and pick them up from anywhere, on and off campus, and take

them home for free. The program would be funded through the university making it safer than

an Uber and the woman would be more likely to use it because they will not have to worry about

the cost. This program should be instilled in all Universities as a way to ensure that women do

not have to be scared when trying to get home. In Universities where this has been put in place,

such as at Seton Hall University. The program termed Safe Ride is available to all students

with an ID and has helped keep students safe in the area. Students has said how grateful they
are for Safe Ride, especially when they are off campus and it is dark out and have consumed

alcohol. While this program will not necessarily significantly decrease the number of sexual

assaults on campus it will take care of the fear women have when they are walking around

campus alone at night. This program will help gives piece of mind to a woman and gives her a

way to getting home safely without worrying about being attacked.

In a majority of sexual assault cases there were bystanders who were there before the

act took place and where in a position to stop the assault but did not. It is estimated in about

85% of college sexual assault cases a bystander was present during the pre-assault phase and

could have been able to stop the assault from occurring (1). By educating students on what to

do as bystander in these situations it reduces the likelihood that a sexual assault will occur in

the first place. As stated earlier a majority of sexual assault cases involved the consumption of

alcohol making so the victim is not fully aware of what is going on. A bystander would be able to

help diffuse the situation and ensure that a potential victim is safe. Due to these findings many

colleges have shifted their prevention programs into those geared toward education students on

how to act if they see a sexual assault is about to take place. An example of one of these

programs is the Green Dot program, developed at the University of Kentucky in 2008. The

program trains students to have the tools necessary in order intervene and defuse a potentially

dangerous situations. After reviewing multiple sexual violence prevention programs the Centers

for Disease Control and Prevention found that education programs like Green Dot have positive

effects on helping to prevent sexual assaults.

So many people charged for sexual assault are often still able to stay on campus and

continue their education at that college. This sends a message to men on campus that they can

still commit an act of sexual violence without fear of being kicked off campus. If universities as a

whole cracked down on sexual assault cases and enforced stricter rules for it then assailants
would be more aware of the repercussions of their actions and be less likely to commit an act of

sexual assault. This is a fear tactic and will end the rape culture within a college that allows

someone to rape a woman and get off without harsh punishment.

Through looking at research and data conducted it is clear to see the seriousness of this

issue.. While some colleges have taken some measures to prevent these assaults such as Title

IX regulations, one-time education programs, and restrictions on Greek Life it still does not help

stop assaults in college. Instilling universal protocols in every college such as free ride

programs, bystander intervention programs, and enforcing stricter punishment for assailants

would bring forward a safer environment. These measures will allow for women to gain the

comfort of home which they are at school and make the campus much safer overall. After

reading the statistics and material presented in this brief we now press for university

administrators nationwide to adopt these methods and help create a safer learning environment

for women.
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