The probe reveals that students found “responsible” for alleged sexual assaults on campuses often face little or no punishment, while their victims’ lives are frequently turned upside down. Many times, victims drop out of school, while students found culpable go on to graduate. Administrators believe the sanctions administered by the college judicial system are a thoughtful and effective way to hold abusive students accountable, but the Center’s investigation has discovered that “responsible” findings rarely lead to tough punishment like expulsion — even in cases involving alleged repeat offenders.
I heard about the study on a report on NPR earlier this week, and flashed back to an event from my own college days. I attended a small private University in western New York - less than 2500 students total, undergraduate, graduate, and doctoral candidates - and we all heard stories of violence against women that went unreported, or were treated lightly by the Administration.
I believe it was either my junior or senior year, though, something happened that forces us all to confront the reality that these events need to be taken seriously. A young woman, living in a suite with three other women, had her door broken open by an ex-boyfriend who used a baseball bat. Not only did she go to school authorities, she went public; she refused to remain silent even though in the rare instances when reports of violence reached an official level, silence tended to be the rule.
It is still far too common for officials to treat rape as a "he-said-she-said" event for which there is little room to sort out competing narratives. Victims far too often have every bit of their sexual history revealed, while perpetrators are treated lightly. Women still face the accusation they somehow "deserved" the treatment they received, either because of a past history of sexual activity, their dress, or being in a place and time where their willingness to accept sexual advances might be implied. Yet, the report is clear that rape and sexual assault on college campuses is similar to such cases in the general population, i.e., the vast majority are the result of repeat offenders, young men who have a history of violence and sexual violence against women. Rather than focus on the the role of the victim, it seems to me that colleges and universities need to take cases of violence against women as indicative of a trend toward violence in the life of the perpetrator.
We still have a long way to go before we come to terms with the simple fact that women still face far too many threats, even on our college campuses. It would be nice that our so-called enlightened institutions of higher learning would be enlightened enough to deal with sexual assault without resorting to blaming the victim, or shielding the perpetrator (when guilt is found) from serious consequences for his actions.
