Sexual Assault In College Essay

Sexual Assault

Each fall, college campuses make a concerted effort to create a welcoming campus for their students, whether that be organizing activities or featuring distinguished guests. However, colleges contribute to victimization instead of protecting its students from sexual assault. Stories of sexual assault victims substantiate that claim that colleges adopt a policy of indifference towards sexual assault, letting college ranking affect their willingness to support the victim and pursue the aggressor. Campus rape is a national problem. Universities’ attitudes intensify emotional turmoil for victims of sexual assault. College campuses fail to respond appropriately to sexual assault accusations, furthering the suffering of the victim

Other victims fear victim-blaming, which some consider more horrifying than the assault itself. For example, a University of North Carolina Student, Annie Clark states, “When I went to an administrator to report my assault, I was told that rape is like a football game. The administrator asked me if, looking back, there was anything I would have done differently.” (Hunting Ground; Huffington Post). Like several others, Annie’s own sexual assault faced scrutiny by the dean, who judged whether Annie did anything to warrant the assault. Men and women, like Annie, who are subject to further victimization explain why only 20% of female student victims, aged 18-24, report to law enforcement (Department of Justice). After receiving a negative response from their university, many lose the desire to find justice in the court system. Others, influenced by colleges’ claims that student safety remains a top priority, choose to report to their university instead of

Florida State, Baylor, Pennsylvania State, the list goes on of colleges who shield their athletes and fraternities from sexual assault accusations. Baylor University’s Board of Regents reported that Baylor’s former football head coach covered up sexual assault allegations involving his players (“The ‘Black Hole’ of College Sports). Florida State University is widely accused of protecting its star quarterback, Jameis Winston from sexual assault allegations. In fact, his accuser faced death threats from students at the university, who ardently supported their national-championship winning quarterback (Hunting Ground). To Baylor, and several other sports-oriented schools, athletics offer a major source of revenue. Losing players to sexual assault allegations represents a monetary loss. In addition, fraternities across the nation find themselves linked to sexual assault incidents. Different fraternities across campuses nationwide are often dubbed “rape fraternities”, in which fraternities are known for predatory frat brothers and a record of sexual assaults (KPBS Public Media). Additionally, the testosterone-driven, hyper-masculinised fraternity culture of heavy consumption of alcohol and casual sex links to sexual assault, in which fraternity brothers view the opposite sex as prey. Former fraternity members