Sexual Assault On Campus

Sexual assault on college campuses has become a hot topic in today’s society. From the Stanford swimmer, Brock Turner, raping an unconscious woman (Miller, 2016, para.1) to the Florida State star football player, Jameis Winston, being accused of rape and FSU covering it up (Dick, 2016, para 1), sexual assault on campus is everywhere. The prevalence of reported assaults are often skewed, due to women feeling uncomfortable about discussing what they went through. Many of these occurrences happen because of frats, and the alcohol they serve. But some believe they don’t contribute to this growing crisis. The problem is not just with the students, but the way colleges and universities handle these types of situations. There have been debates about

There is a debate about who should investigate these cases. Most women don’t trust colleges to do anything about their attacks. According to the information released by the Obama Administration, 55 universities are being investigated for not handling sexual assault cases correctly (Rubin, 2014, pg.86). Those who do not think the school is capable of investigating their complaints believe they should be handled by the police departments. “This is best left to the police specialists trained for this work. Sexual assault is a crime,” stated by David M. Rubin (2014) who served as a judge on academic integrity cases at Syracuse University (pg. 88). Then there are the opposing view of those who think the school should investigate these types of cases. “According to a recent analysis of Department of Justice data, only 3 percent of all rapists - not just campus rapists- will ever spend a day in jail” (Heldman and Brown, 2014, pg. 91). Both schools and the government are now beginning to take more legal action in order to prevent sexual

Students have begun using the resources they have at their fingertips in order to create a safer environment. “[Callisto] will allow students to report assaults though a digital portal in the comfort of their own homes” (Miller, 2014, pg. 121). Callisto along with other apps have been designed to improve the comfort for the victims of sexual assaults. But this kind of technology does not come without criticism. The prevention of sexual assault has become so popular that companies are charging fees to download their product. According to Tara Culp-Ressler (2014), “all rape prevention activist who spoke with Think-Progress express discomfort with the idea that the innovation in this field might be focused more on profiting than on ending rape” (pg.127). Another reason most people don’t like the idea of prevention apps is because it doesn’t challenge our “Rape Culture”. “Anti-rape tools are often designed in a way that required potential victims to be constantly vigilant...They’re citizens for feeding into rape culture by assuming that it’s women’s responsibility to take extra steps to prevent rape” (Miller, 2014, pg. 129). In the end, people are going to try and find ways to prevent this from happening but it is up to the individual to seek help when they are