1

Amanda Nicholson
Ms. Grant
UWRT 1103
11/10/14
Sexual Assault on College Campuses
The rate of sexual assault has been a national issue throughout the history of the
United States, but one type of environment has become particularly affected by this issue;
college campuses. Even with all of the preventative methods that are implemented,
college students are almost twice as likely to be assaulted than the national average. The
sexual assault statistics on campus are increasing every year, even with programs like
The Clery Act in place. The Clery Act requires universities to report their sexual assault
statistics to the federal government and make sure they are providing proper resources to
prevent assault from occurring. However, only about one-third of schools are fully
compliant with it since it went into effect in 1990. Currently, a campus of 10,000 students
can expect roughly 356 sexual assaults and/or rapes to occur each year (RAINN). Often
this issue is believed to only affect women, when in reality this issue affects both men
and women. Though statistically women are affected more often, this could be due to an
increased rate of men feeling embarrassed or that they will not be believed, showing that
students do not feel comfortable enough to report their cases without the fear of being

dismissed, because it is easier than handling a scandal. College students are much less
likely to report their abuse than the public. Students only report an estimated 5% of
incidents and generally these incidents are reported only 40% of the time. Through these
statistics, it is clear that students either do not feel comfortable enough, or do not have the
resources to report their assaults (Payne). The legal director for the American Civil
Liberties Union of Washington Sarah Dunne stated Universities tend to have fragmented
reporting channels rather than a centralized system where a student knows to come to.
(Smith and Van Der Woo), meaning that the way a typical universities reporting system
is set up, a student doesnt really know where they are supposed to go to report an
incident and give up.
The topic of sexual assault is usually avoided due to the fear of it being
controversial and awkward. However, not talking about it will not make the problem go
away, it will only make it worse. The more of a stigma that there is against victims of
assault, the less likely victims are to report their abuse. The more students that report
their assault, the better chance there is of stopping the problem. Harvard University has
the third highest rate of sexual assault on campus in the country, which spokesman Jeff
Neal explained by saying We firmly believe that more robust reporting of sexual
assaults by victims is an important component of our efforts to prevent these crimes and
to ensure that those affected get the support that they need (Anderson). In order to fix

the problem, the numbers have to get worse to get an accurate statistic of how large the
issue truly is. No reporting results, no statistic, and therefore, no prevention. As a result,
the statistics increasing may actually be a beneficial thing, it means students are starting
to feel safe enough to report their incidents.
It is estimated that 35 out of 1,000 college students are raped (NMCSAAS). One
of the biggest difficulties with this is that it is much harder to have male students be
willing to report their assaults since a social stigma has formed to cause them to become
more embarrassed. Statistically, one in four college women and one in seven college men
will experience sexual assault during their collegiate journey (Womens Resource
Center). However, this statistic may not even be an accurate representation of how often
men are assaulted, and we do not really have any way to make sure the information is
100% accurate.
The university that has become one of the most successful at encouraging students
to report their assaults is the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. This university
had zero reports of forcible sex offenses on campus, and an enrollment of 18,516
students, in 2012. The university took action immediately, as spokesman Paul E. Mason
stated.
We have a number of education programs for students and parents, but we
know that it is improbable that there would be no actual incidents as

reported in 2012. With that in mind, over the past several years we have
made an increased effort to educate our students on the importance of
reporting sexual assaults. (Anderson)
In 2013, the university received eight reports. This can actually be viewed as an
improvement, since schools with zero reports are probably not doing enough to encourage
students to report. In this case, an increased statistic can be helpful to solving the core
problem (Anderson).
The prevention of assault on campus reached a national level in 1990, after The
Clery Act was passed in honor of Jeanne Clery. Clery was a student at Lehigh University,
who was raped and murdered in 1986. Through this act, universities across the country
must do the following four things: 1) Publish an annual report describing the extent of
certain crimes occurring at the college/university over a three-year time frame. This will
allow statistics to be tracked and see if a universities rate is increasing or decreasing and
see what preventative methods are working and which are not. 2) Publish a crime log
available to the public. The public has a right to be informed, and when potential students
are making their decisions of which college to attend, it is important that they have
accurate safety information. 3) Provide crime data to the U.S Department of Education,
so that the government can make sure the universities statistics are up to standard and are
not increasing too much and get out of control. 4) Provide strategies to protect the rights

of sexual assault victims. It is the universities responsibility to make sure their students
feel safe and to provide resources for victims. This act allows us to get an accurate view
of how many assaults occur each year since universities now have to report their numbers
to the federal government (Womens Resource Center).
There are currently 55 colleges being investigated by the Department of Education
for the mishandling of sexual assault investigations and over 70 colleges under
investigation from the Office of Civil Rights (Womens Resource Center). The
mishandling of these cases can lead to an increased risk of assault, since it leads the
perpetrators to believe that they can essentially get away with whatever they want in
this sense. For example, the case of Columbia University student Emma Sulkowicz, who
claims that a classmate raped her on the first day of her sophomore year. Since her
alleged attacker was found not guilty, and still attends the university, Sulkowicz carries
her mattress around with her every day to show the weight she has to carry from this
experience. She explains the purpose further in the following quote.
"Rape can happen anywhere. For me, I was raped in my own
dorm bed. Since then, it has basically become fraught for me,
and I feel like I've carried the weight of what happened there
with me everywhere since then." (Sulkowicz)

The university did not require the assaulter to leave the school, and did not punish
the attacker although this was the third time he had been accused of rape. They even
allowed her attacker to delay the hearing; meaning Sulkowiczs case did not even make it
to a university hearing until seven months after the incident. She has filed a federal
complaint against Columbia University along with 23 other students who felt that their
sexual assault claims were not handled properly (Roy). This is a prime example of how
universities mishandle sexual assault cases. Denying that the victims are telling the truth
is much easier than having to expel the attackers and properly handling assault cases.
Situations like this lead to an increased rate of assault and do nothing to fix the core
problem (Barnes).

The University of North Carolina at Charlotte holds all faculty members

responsible for reporting sexual violence and believes the school needs to work together
to prevent it from occurring. The university provides a clear way to report an assault
through its website, and provides confidential resources such as the Student Health
Center, Counseling Center, and the Center for Wellness Promotion. It does not allow for
any sort of victim blaming and has a clear set of consequences for those proven to have
had committed sexual assault. It also allows students who would like a statistics report of
crimes committed on campus (including, but not limited to, sexual assault statistics) to

pick them up at any time at the Police and Public Safety office. The university has not
recently had any sort of sexual assault scandal, they believe this is due to their effective
preventative methods and zero tolerance policy, as the university states on their website:
"Sexual assault is wrong in any language and in any culture and will not be tolerated by
UNC Charlotte" (Police and Public Safety).

Throughout the recent years, sexual assault statistics have steadily increased,
which is initially viewed as a negative thing. However, through several studies, it is clear
that universities across the country are aiming to help students feel more comfortable and
therefore are giving them extensive resources and opportunities to report their assaults.
This shows that the increasing numbers really are just showing a more accurate depiction
of how large the problem of assault on campus truly is. The increased statistics are
attracting a lot of attention to the issue and are getting to the root of the problem,
allowing institutions to work on fixing it from the bottom up. Until accurate numbers are
reported, solving the problem is much more difficult. Schools with increasing numbers
may in fact be the ones helping to fix the problem more than schools with little to no
reported assaults.

Works Cited
Anderson, Nick. "Sex Offense Statistics Show U.S. College Reports Are Rising."
Washington Post. The Washington Post, 1 July 2014. Web. 02 Nov. 2014.
Barnes, Sarah. "Columbia University Student Will Drag Her Mattress Around Campus
Until Her Rapist Is Gone." The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 03 Sept.
2014. Web. 02 Nov. 2014
Criminal Victimization in the United States 1994 Report, Summarized by Betty
Caponera, Ph.D. Director, NMCSAAS. New Mexico Clearinghouse on Sexual
Abuse and Assault Services, Rape and Sexual Assault Statistics Report. New
Mexico Coalition of Sexual Assault Programs, Inc., 1994. Web. 03 Nov. 2014.
Payne, Brian K. "Challenges Responding to Sexual Violence: Differences between
College Campuses and Communities." Journal of Criminal Justice 36.3 (2008):
224-30. Web. 29 Oct. 2014.
Police & Public Safety. "Crime Prevention & Safety." Sexual Assault Prevention. UNC
Charlotte, 2014. Web. 27 Oct. 2014.
RAINN. "Campus Safety." Rape, Abuse, and Incest National Network. RAINN, 2009.
Web. 02 Nov. 2014.

Roy, Jessica. "Columbia Student Will Carry a Mattress Everywhere Until Her Alleged
Rapist Is Expelled." Daily Intelligencer. New York Magazine, 2 Sept. 2014. Web.
05 Nov. 2014.
Womens Resource Center. "Helpful SA Links." Student Affairs. University of Alabama,
2009. Web. 01 Nov. 2014.