Colleges Should NOT Be Allowed On College Campuses

When I was young, I was sexually assaulted. This fact is also true for all of my immediate family. Unfortunately, this experience doesn’t work like chicken pox. You don’t experience it once, and then it never happens again; every day I continue to run the risk of being assaulted. All people, especially women, run this same risk. Unfortunately, the risk has grown with the fact that I am in college. 1 in 5 women are raped while attending higher education institutions. This is a sad fact, but there is another part about this that provokes anger–colleges violate these women as well. It may not be in the same way, but many campuses are infringing upon women’s rights to due process and justice. The fact that there is no federal guideline

At a local level, there are some schools that have taken a stand to fight for the victim. "Bystander intervention" is the idea that you can get involved to protect those around you–making sure women who are not coherent don’t leave parties with strangers, etc. This mindset and training has helped on the campuses where it has been introduced: MIT, Michigan State, University of Montana, and others. On a state level, legislature is being drafted and introduced that recognizes the issue and offers guidelines in defining rape. In California, Bill SB 967 is helping to define what consent is and what rape is. By leveling the definition across the state, colleges are forcibly being held accountable to recognize and prosecute those who are unquestionably involved in rapes. Hopefully, this legislature will take the debate off “What is rape?” and turn it toward “What are we doing about

First Lady, Michelle Obama, has spoken out several times against schools that aren’t properly protecting their students. In addition, there are organizations like End Rape on Campus who work with activists to hold colleges accountable for their negligence. However, all of this is not enough. In my opinion, women should be free to attend any college or university in the country without having to take into consideration their safety. Therefore, federal law that blankets all schools are the only way to start making a real impact. Thankfully, a bill has just been introduced in the Senate. This bill, The Bipartisan Campus Accountability and Safety Act, will serve to set the standard for what every university is required to do. More specifically, it includes new resources and specialized advisors for victims, minimum training for all staff for responding to these crimes, transparency when it comes to identifying the issues, coordinating with law enforcement and not allowing subgroups to discipline, and stiffer penalties for schools who don’t follow the new guidelines. This is a wonderful bill that is a step in the right direction toward prosecuting rapists and protecting