On-Campus Rape Research Papers

Introduction One second a student is at a college party having the time of their life but little do they know that the next moment could be the worst night of their life. This happened to a student attending Vanderbilt University. She was at a party and had not known she had been raped until she saw surveillance footage of two guys carrying her while unconscious. This is just one of the many stories of women in college campuses dealing with rape and sexual assault. The fear of trust and use of alcohol has increased the amount of sexual assaults and rapes on college campuses. In order for colleges to prevent this, campuses need to get more involved in sexual harassment courses, monitoring fraternity parties, and developing a on-campus hotline
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Description of Problem Over the past 16 years the number of rapes and sexual assaults on college campuses around the United States has dramatically increased. In 2002 1 in every 200 students were sexually assaulted on college campuses and as of 2016 the number has increased to every 1 per 5 students. In 2016, “Brown University and the University of Connecticut tied for the highest annual total - 43 each.” This increase has brought attention to the public and shows how poorly college’s administration and police throughout the United States are handling the reports.
More than 100 colleges and universities violated Title IX, a law against discrimination of gender, by underreporting the amount of rapes and sexual assaults on their campus. Around 63% of girls that are raped or sexually assaulted on campus do not report them or are scared to. Because of that, the number listed is lower than the actual amount of rapes that occurred. Colleges’ administration and police need to fix this problem in order to prevent this number from increasing more than it already has.
Explanation of Causes The main reason for the increase of sexual assaults and rape across college campuses is because of the overuse of alcohol. A survey that was given to college students came back with the response that 62% of the victims were drinking alcohol before the assault, also known as Incapacitated Rape. This makes frat parties the main suspect in the situation since that is
where most of the parties, drinking, and drugs on campus occur. Events such as football games increase the number of rapes by 41% since the amount of drinking and parties increase on game days. Four out of five students that have been raped at these parties has known the attacker which is one of the many reasons it is hard to report it to officials, ruining their friendships. Other reasons for why “Fewer than 5 percent of college women who are victims of rape or attempted rape report it to police” is due to the fear of reporting rapes include embarrassment, fear of their family finding out (especially if under the influence of alcohol), retaliation, or the fear of not being believed. The fear of not being believed is mostly caused by the poor way administration and police handle the situations. Most colleges do not report these rapes or do not do much to help them because they do not want to have a bad record or make their school look bad. When students go to the police, they do not get much help either. Their trials take an unreasonable amount of time, some cases up to four years, and other cases just let the accused free of charge. This creates the fear being on campus and feeling like they cannot be helped. A man named Brock Turner was sentenced to six months in jail and could be let out in three months or less if he had good behavior. Another girl named Delaney Robinson was raped by a football player and stated that when she went to the police “I was treated like a suspect” while they joked around with the football player and “They told him, ‘don’t sweat it, just keep on living your life and keep on playing football’ ”. Just because he’s a football player does not mean he should be let off the hook. These women and many others have been severely traumatized and are getting unfair treatment by both police and administration.
Proposed Solution As of right now, the Obama administration has launched a campaign called “It’s On Us” focusing on campus administration and Title IX along with the Campus Accountability and Safety Act which helps with the police departments.
Some college campuses throughout the United States have implemented many useful courses for their students to take before or while attending college. For example, at Elon University’s students have to take and online course about alcohol's effect and relationships, The University of California offers an intervention plan, and Dartmouth students take courses every year on preventing and responding to these situations. Some schools have started to use Green Dot which is a violence prevention program for students. In 2014 a “...study by University of Kentucky researchers showed that the Green Dot program resulted in a 50 percent drop in sexual violence over five years…” These are just some of the listed activities schools do to prevent rape and sexual assault on their campuses, however most colleges and universities do not do anything. All campuses in the United States should require all students to take an online course before entering college and attend a prevention class during their first week on campus. This will help give knowledge on what to avoid and how to act if in or witnessing this situation. Women in college will be able to gain trust in administration, police, and others. To avoid incapacitated rape, campus police should be required to
monitor the fraternity parties on campus and create a policy of having no more than 50 people at a party. Some colleges are creating a zero tolerance policy, but that will not stop students from participating in drug and alcohol use. However, monitoring the drinking that occurs on campus will create more safety for the students. To help the women feel safer, schools should develop an on-campus hotline to call if they fear they are endanger and to get help if needed. This includes help after the incident occurred. All of these ideas can help prevent the increase of rape and help students feel safer on campus.
Conclusion
Over the past 16 years there has been a dramatic increase in the amount of rapes and sexual assaults across college campuses in the United States. This is due to the use of alcohol and drugs, mostly present at college parties. Students cannot get much help since administration does not do much about the situation for the fear of ruining their reputation. If students go to the police, the trials take too long and the police treat the students unfairly. For these reasons, women are scared to get help or tell people about the incident. If schools implemented online courses, monitored fraternity parties, and developed an on-campus hotline, not only would women feel safer, but all students. All schools have to do is work with students to improve their campus safety.