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Introduction to Campus Sexual Assault Policies, continued
Rape occurs in several different contexts, under many different
guises, and it is the context that seems to shape our thinking about
whether the act was in fact a rape. At one end, when a male stranger
attacks and rapes a woman on the street, we understand this to be
rape. We understand the violation, we want vengeance, we consider
the rapist to be a criminal. But if there exists any relationship
between the rapist and the victim-and a relationship does exist
in the vast majority of rapes-our focus shifts from the criminal
violation that has occurred to an examination of the details of
the story, and ultimately, the credibility of the victim.
Our focus on context takes attention away from the profundity of
the act of sexual assault. It divides us over issues of consent
and thus prevents us from addressing the more fundamental and important
questions necessary to consider in any effort to stop rape. To acquaint
yourself with some of the theories currently in play regarding rape,
see the Theories
of Rape section (note: this reading is optional). If you haven't
spent much time thinking or reading about the issue of rape, go
here
to take a short quiz on rape facts and myths. On college campuses-where
students' negotiations of sexual relations and expectations of sexual
behavior are in flux, where alcohol and drug use are often central
to social activities, and where dorm rooms are often places for
socializing-sexual assaults tend to occur under circumstances in
which legally insignificant details undermine the evidence of the
violence.
Campus sexual assault is particularly problematic as it limits a
woman's opportunities for educational advancement. The common reaction
to sexual assault on campus is that the victim, who in over 95%
of cases is female, withdraws from school, while the administrative
board decides how or whether to punish the offender. But, like so
often the case in other areas of male violence against women, the
burden is borne by the survivor.
Our Case Studies involving sexual assaults at Harvard University,
Boston University, Dartmouth University, and Catholic University,
will question the cultural tendency to dismiss the possibility of
acquaintance rape and will illustrate some of the ways in which
universities too often fail to support the rights and needs of the
victims. We will also consider the case of Christy Brzonkala, the
plaintiff in the first Civil Rights case initiated under the Violence
Against Women Act. After she was raped, she withdrew from Virginia
Tech after learning that her rapist would be returning to school
on a full athletic scholarship, even though he had been found guilty
of rape. We will then take a look at how the Campus Security Act,
the federal legislation mandating university crime reports, is and
isn't used effectively by universities around the issue of sexual
assault.
In considering the different claims made concerning the rape, we
will focus on the questions of Consent, Coercion, and Consumption.
These factors are central to rape analysis. Consent is the locus
of most disagreement about whether a rape has in fact occurred.
The discussion of consent is offered to encourage you to envision
new ways of imagining what real consent might look like in our society
where gender roles still dictate male aggression and female passivity.
Alcohol consumption and drug use necessarily play a role in understanding
consent and coercion when, according to the American Medical Association,
73% of assailants and 55% of victims admit to having used alcohol,
drugs, or both immediately before the attack. Unfortunately, when
rape cases involve alcohol use, and particularly underage drinking,
authorities' responses too often focus on the drinking rather than
on the assault itself. The most extreme example of this is the recent
Boston University student who reported being sexual assaulted on
campus and was then herself suspended for drinking while the perpetrator
was not disciplined. http://www.dailyfreepress.com/main.cfm?include=detail&storyid=153136
Alcohol use often becomes one of the many ways in which rape victims'
testimony and credibility are undermined in both campus disciplinary
and criminal proceedings. Furthermore, alcohol is often mistakenly
understood as the cause of sexual assault, when, in fact, it is
a mere weapon that aids the perpetrator in enacting violence. A
new conceptualization of consent will inform our analysis of different
university sexual assault policies and disciplinary procedures.
By focusing on campus sexual assault, we can clearly see how incidents
of sexual assault negatively affect a community. As STAAR (Students
Together Against Acquaintance Rape), a peer education program at
University of Pennsylvania, explains in its resource manual, "Your
school's academic mission depends on the mental and physical health
of its students… [H]ealthy students are better prepared to
remain in school and complete their studies. Unhealthy students
are at greater risk of poor academic performance, failure to complete
their coursework on time, and failure to graduate. Furthermore,
unhealthy students require an array of clinical services which are
costly for schools to support. We believe that prevention programs,
when designed to influence behaviors rather than to simply impart
knowledge, can reduce the need for more costly intervention and
clinical services." (http://dolphin.upenn.edu/~staar/manual/introduction.html)
As learning communities with philosophical missions to intellectually
enlighten their students and raise the moral standing of all members
of their communities, universities have unique opportunities and
unique responsibilities to eradicate violence and to promote healthy
sexuality among students. In Disciplinary Procedures and Model Policies,
we will consider several different measures that might be taken
to combat sexual violence on campuses, and we will begin to envision
the components that would constitute a model sexual assault policy.
In Campus Resources and Internet Activism, we will take a closer
look at a few examples of preventative education programs and on-campus
resources for victims of sexual assault. We will also explore several
ways that activist groups have used the Internet to promote their
anti-violence agendas on their own campuses and to facilitate political
mobilization among students from different universities.
Go
to the Discussion Board
Return to VAW Module I
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