Concerned About Bad Press, Colleges Provide Cover for Rapists
Published December 05, 2009 @ 06:04PM PT
As a recent college grad, I'd love to say that I was shocked by the findings of the Center for Public Integrity's nine-month investigation into the "culture of secrecy" surrounding sexual assault on campuses. But that would be a lie.
I think it's hard to be a woman on a college campus for four years and not be aware of what a serious problem sexual assault and rape is there; to not know personally one of the at least 150,000 students raped every year; and to not realize how few of those victims pursue legal action against their assailants or speak out publicly (less than five percent). Given that one in five college women will be the target of a completed or attempted rape by the time they get their diploma, you'd hope that administrators would be doing their utmost to address the epidemic of gender-based violence.
Instead, many of the precious few victims who seek to take action against their assailants are deterred from doing so, in either the criminal justice or campus disciplinary system, by college bureaucrats. Since the courts tend not to want to prosecute student rape charges due to concerns about weak "he-said-she-said" evidence, the campus system is the only other recourse. Unfortunately, worried about the college's reputation, these administrators focus more on keeping these young women quiet (using illegal gag orders and the threat of disciplinary action against them for breaching confidentiality) than on protecting their safety by investigating rape charges. The number of assaults reported to support centers each year are almost never represented in the college's crime statistics.
One survivor, advised by a dean to "do nothing," indicates, "It was insulting. This guy had just raped me … and that's her answer?" It also happens to be illegal, under Title IX -- better known for mandating equal access to sport, Title IX also considers sexual assault to be sex discrimination, which colleges are obligated to investigate and take action to put a stop to.
When the process does get under way, it tends to be confusing, opaque, and drawn-out, and often results in a slap on the wrist not congruent with the nature of the crime. Schools also often push mediation, a technique which should never be utilized in sexual assault cases due to the imbalance of power between the victim and her attacker.
This cavalier attitude is especially harmful given that, in most cases, these aren't one-time rapists -- they're repeat offenders, a danger to the rest of the female student population if their identity is kept hidden and they're allowed to remain on campus. Yet disciplinary review boards still fail to take adequate action even against those students whose names come across their desks more than once. Not surprising, then, that while the sexual assault rate hasn't decreased in 15 years, it might be going up.
Not to mention the fact that our culture still demonstrates a disturbing blame-the-victim mentality, voiced by college administrators, other students, and hack advice columnists alike. For peers of sexual assault survivors and their attackers, it is sometimes preferable to think of the woman as a liar than the man as a rapist. But when a rape victim confronts disbelief or questions about how "her behavior" might have led to the attack, she is violated a second time. In the Center for Public Integrity report, the mother of a rape victim who committed suicide after her complaint to the administration was essentially ignored, says, "No wonder why so many girls don’t come forward. They see what happens. They see how they are attacked all over again."
If you're a campus journalist, the Center for Public Integrity has put together a toolkit to help you investigate how sexual assault allegations are addressed on your own campus. There's almost nothing college administrations hate more than bad press -- so, if you do find out that they hush up sexual assault and put your peers at risk, hold them accountable and give them the bad press they deserve.
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