News Flash #3 College campuses must do more to prevent sexual assault
Sexual assault is an extant concern on many college campuses. There are many stories of sexual assault taking place on college campuses that convey the message that universities are not taking the adequate measures to prevent sexual assault. Statistics show that one in five college women will be the victims of a sexual assault. However, less than 5% of those assaults will be reported to campus authorities or the police (Webley 1). Last October, Yale University became overwhelmed with the pledging incident involving the fraternity Delta Kappa Epsilon. Members of this fraternity were caught on camera chanting, “No means yes! Yes means anal! No means yes! Yes means anal!” across campus. Obviously, the message being sent was to make light of the serious issue of rape/sexual assault. Making rape appear as a casual topic is detrimental to both men and women. Women feel as if sexual assault is not important enough to report (based on the statistics) and men clearly do not know the rules regarding consent and sexual assault. Clearly, colleges are not taking the appropriate steps to prevent this sexual assault and must do more to solve this pressing problem.
The Dean of Yale College quickly issued a statement two days after the incident expressing how outraged they were to have this situation encompass their University. However, she did not expose the punishment for DKE because she said that information was confidential under federal law and the University’s policy. There have been more statements following the first, however the punishments, as of April 18, 2011, have not been made public. In response to Yale’s management of the situation, a group of 16 students filed a complaint that Yale did not punish the men in a suitable manner and further shed light on a list of past incidents that have occurred. These students feel that Yale is overlooking this serious issue by not giving the response these students felt Yale should have. Moreover, these students feel that Yale is not making itself an environment where both men and women can succeed equally. According to Title IX, “Any educational institution that takes federal funding cannot discriminate against women. (Sexual harassment, sexual assault and rape are all considered discrimination on the basis of sex)” (Webley 1). It is clear that Yale has not upheld to Title IX and is currently being investigated by the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights for not rejecting this type of discriminatory environment. We often hear of Title IX in association with athletics, scholarships and funding as oppose to sexual assault.
Unfortunately, many other universities are dealing with the issue of sexual assault on their campuses. A story that hits close to home is my neighbor and classmate, Lizzy Seeberg who committed suicide after an alleged sexual assault by a Notre Dame football player. Lizzy had recently transferred to St. Mary’s College and reported her sexual assault to the school-counseling center. Shortly after the incident, she overdosed on prescription medicine and was found dead. After the night at the Notre Dame party, Lizzy received a text message from the perpetrators friends saying something along the lines, “Don’t mess with Notre Dame football or you’ll be sorry”. Her parents were outraged with the lack of investigation Notre Dame carried out. They were terribly upset due to the fact that many of the people in their family had attended Notre Dame and were strong supporters of the football team. They have since hired a lawyer to further deal with the school’s ignorance.
These events happen throughout all universities and even here at Colgate too. Enloe discusses how sexual assault is linked with trivialization and therefore both men and women are able to make light of the issue. She defines this trivialization with the factory managers who sexually assault their women factory workers. What makes men think this is okay in any setting? The fact that sexual assault is consider trivial makes men and women believe it is okay. I have heard many women talk about rape in a mocking way saying, “yeah we like raped him on the dance floor”. The term rape gets thrown around casually, therefore making it a trivial topic. It was interesting to discuss the topic of consent in class. We are all highly educated Colgate students, yet there were all sorts of questions regarding consent, which seems to be a black and white topic. However, everyone was asking questions seeming as if they were unsure of the laws of consent.
Masculinity scholar Michael Kimmel analyzes the Yale incident, breaking down the chant and the previous history of DKE at Yale. Kimmel focuses on the underlying meaning and message sent by the chant “No means yes! Yes means anal!” He points out how all the incidents involving DKE have taken place outside the campus Women’s Center. The Women’s Center is the building on campus where many victims of sexual assault seek help and assistance. Kimmel discusses how these pledging rituals take away the one place these women have to feel safe and sends the message that not even the Women’s Center is safe. After reading Susan Douglas, we can understand that we live in a day and age where women can act equally to men in regards to sex. Kimmel focuses on the feminist movement and how it is now acceptable for women to say “yes” or “no”. When interpreting the second part of the chant, Kimmel says, “if she says yes to intercourse, you have to go further to an activity that you experience as degrading to her, dominating to her, not pleasurable to her”. Now that women have ownership over their sexuality, men have to go farther to prevent women from being equals to men sexually. One question we can ask is why do students from a prestigious university such as Yale, feel the need to degrade women and display their masculinity? Kimmel answers this claiming these highly privileged Yale, DKE brothers feel powerless due to the fact that women have reached equality. According to Kimmel, these boys are “trying to re-establish a sexual landscape which they feel has been thrown terribly off its axis”. We can thank feminism for our strides towards equality that is making these boys so upset and pitiful (Kimmel 1).
Based on these articles, it is evident that college campuses are not doing enough to combat the issue of sexual assault. I have a few suggestions that could potentially lower the statistics for sexual assault on college campuses and raise the statistics of how many of these sexual assaults are reported. Colgate started working with Mentors in Violence Prevention (MVP) this year. MVP works to train men and women to take on leadership roles in their communities to prevent gender violence, bullying and school violence. A program like MVP should be implemented at every university to teach men and women how to prevent sexual assault as a perpetrator, victim and bystander. Another suggestion I have, is to make a class on gender violence/sexual assault a required course at Colgate so students can be educated on the numerous issues that stem from sexual assault on campus. Lastly, universities only need a “preponderance of evidence” proving that it is more likely than not to find a student guilty. Therefore, even if there is not enough evidence for a police report to find a student guilty, the university can still act. Many Title IX activists fight for schools to act on gender discrimination. I truly believe these three ideas can help solve the growing issue of sexual assault on college campuses.
Works Cited
Courtney. "Privileged Boys, Impoverished Ethics." Feministing | Young Feminists Blogging, Organizing, Kicking Ass. 19 Oct. 2010. Web. 22 Apr. 2011. <http://feministing.com/2010/10/19/privileged-boys-impoverished-ethics/>.
Kimmel, Michael. "Michael Kimmel: Men -- and Women -- at Yale." Breaking News and Opinion on The Huffington Post. 20 Oct. 2010. Web. 22 Apr. 2011. <http://www.huffingtonpost.com/michael-kimmel/men-and-women-at-yale_b_765683.html>.
Webley, Kayla. "Are Colleges Doing Enough to Combat Sexual Violence? - TIME." Breaking News, Analysis, Politics, Blogs, News Photos, Video, Tech Reviews - TIME.com. 18 Apr. 2011. Web. 22 Apr. 2011. <http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,2065849-2,00.html>.
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