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Campus Sexual Assault Policies
This module was composed by: Brina Milikowsky
(lead Teaching Fellow), Stacey Dershewitz and Jennifer Nash
Introduction:
In this module, we will look at the power of the Internet to mobilize
people around an enormously important and often divisive issue:
sexual assault on college campuses. Through an examination of the
prevalence of rape on all campuses and an analysis of the widely
varied preventative and disciplinary responses of different universities,
we will discuss how the Internet can be deployed as an educational
tool for universities and as a political tool for anti-violence
activists.
Campus sexual assault can be understood as a microcosm of the problem
of rape in our society. According to the US
Department of Justice, young women age 16 to 24 are most at
risk for rape. According to a study on sexual assault and adolescence
by the American Academy of Pediatrics:
"Large surveys of college students in both the United States
and New Zealand have documented that over 50% of women in college
had experienced unwanted sexual activity in the past, and up to
25% of all college women and 6% of college men reported having been
the victims of assaults that met the legal definition of rape. Virtually
none of these episodes had been reported to the authorities. Several
studies show that there is confusion among youth about what constitutes
sexual consent… Of the 25% of college women surveyed who reported
having had unwanted sexual intercourse, 84% knew their assailant,
57% of the episodes occurred on dates, and 41% of the women stated
they were virgins at the time of the assault. Between 25% and 47%
of date rape occurred on the first date, with an increased risk
of rape if the male had initiated the date, driven the car, and
paid for the date."
-- American Academy of Pediatrics "Sexual Assault and the Adolescent,"
94 Pediatrics 5, 761-765 (1994).
For optional reading, you may read the full article on the web
at http://www.aap.org/policy/00465.html.
Follow these links to read the rest of the module:
1. Introduction continued
2. Campus Sexual Assault: the scope
of the problem, the legal remedies available
3. Case Studies
4. College Administration Problems
5. Consent, Coercion, and Consumption
6. Campus Resources and Internet Activism
7. Disciplinary Procedure and Model Policies
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