Transitioning Times

Colleges and universities in the United States are required to disclose information about crimes committed on and around campus, as pursuant to Jeanne Clery Disclosure of Campus Security Policy and Campus Crime Statistics Act.   One of our staff members received the following message from Millersville University . "It is estimated that nationwide 20 percent of women and six percent of college men experience sexual assault or attempted sexual assault during their college years.  Data reveal nearly 50 percent of transgender people experience sexual violence.  No matter the demographic, the most common type of sexual assault is not committed by a stranger but by someone known to the victim, typically a date or other acquaintance. There are risk factors associated with sexual assault, about which it may be useful to be aware, but being at risk in no way shifts responsibility for sexual assault to a victim/survivor.  Studies of sexual assault show a high ...

Last week, there was a news report from Aljazeera on America Tonight about renaming sexual assault and rape as "non-consensual sexual contact" or "non-consensual sex" in policies regulating college campuses and in many people's vernacular. This is not right.  Words have power, and using a euphemism discounts the severity of what happened.  A crime occurred.  Someone's life was potentially turned into two periods: before and after.   Renaming sexual assault just reaffirms what many advocates know, that people are uncomfortable with the idea of sex and don't even want to think about rape.  It is much easier to think, especially on college campuses, that it is merely a miscommunication, instead of a premeditated attack on a vulnerable person.  If you aren't familiar with The Undetected Rapist, or David Lisak's research , please watch below. From a description of the video:  " What is also clear from this research is that so-called...

Did you know that fraternities are "the largest single provider of undergraduate housing in the United States?"  As such, fraternities have great power to influence the activities and culture on college campuses.  In a recent story on NPR , I learned that fraternities are insured.  Through this insurance, some research has been done about how to decrease their risk.  The number one claim against fraternities is assault and battery and the second is sexual assault of young women. In fact , 55% of gang rapes on college campuses are committed by fraternities. Consider that with these numbers, fraternities cannot be backed by a usual insurance company, they have had to self-insure through the Fraternity Risk Management Fund.  Instead of changing their culture to fit society's, and business's, rules of behavior, they created their own insurance fund, so that they could still exhibit this behavior, but also be protected from the cons...

Working for a sexual assault center can be trying.  We have a prevention education department, a statewide coalition against rape, mandated child abuse reporting laws, Sexual Assault Response Teams, an awareness month, and still, people are victimized.   There are small movements of victory in this battle, and today, I stumbled upon one on the internet .   Two young women, students at Syracuse University, were discussing their experiences as sexual assault survivors and in an effort to combat sexual violence on theirs and other college campuses, they started an organization aimed at creating a movement where women  “become active operatives to stop a rape from happening.”  And The Girl Code Movement was born. What does this mean?  They want women to watch out for other women.  There have been other calls to action along these same lines, but this is done in such a way not to blame victims, but to encourage onlookers and bystanders to get involve...

As Sexual Assault Awareness Month comes to an end, it beckons for everyone to reflect on how to continue opening other’s minds to the pandemic of sexual assault. This is not a 30-day sprint to educate the world about an ongoing oversight in public health, but should be seen as a month to brainstorm and reflect on progress, milestones reached, and the steps that need to be taken in the next year to continue the awareness.             A particular area of interest in sexual assault research and awareness is campus sexual assault. Many researchers have looked at a variety of causes and consequences of being sexually assaulted while attending a university. A recently published article investigated one of the many possible reasons why sexual assault is hardly ever reported, institutional betrayal. These institutions are often entrusted and are depended on by the individuals that are enrolled. When a sexual assault is reported a...