Sexual Assault in College Students

Your University Sexual Assault in College Students Your Name Subject and Section Professor’s Name April 9, 2019 Introduction According to recent studies, one in five women and one in sixteen men are sexually assaulted in college CITATION NSV07 \l 1033 (NSVRC.org). However, despite this fact as well as the established long-term dangers of sexual assault, it is surprising that more than 90% of the victims remain silent after being assaulted. In fact, 81% of women and 35% of men report significant short-term or long-term impacts such as Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). In light of this, it could be seen that sexual assault is gradually becoming an extremely serious and prevalent problem in colleges in America. Students who have such experiences were confirmed more likely to experience depression, become addicted to alcohol and drugs, and fail in their academic life. Thus, this shows that all stakeholders, such as the students, campuses, and even the State, must take a proactive approach in protecting the students from such acts. However, opponents to this idea do not want to spend too much money and energy on this section because they fail to strike a chord with this topic, with some of them believing that the victims should be blamed for their own actions. Nevertheless, I believe that protecting the students from sexual assaults should be one of the foremost responsibilities of campuses, in order to promote real academic freedom, which leaves room for personal expression without fear of being violated by another. Particularly, campuses must take more careful measures in educating, assessing, and responding to the issue of sexual assault. Sexual Assaults on Campuses As stated in the previous section, sexual assault among students is one of the most prevalent and pressing matters that both school administrators and state agencies seek to address. This is due to the fact that sexual assault is difficult to end due to a number of factors (internal and external) that leads to it being ‘easier’ to commit, and ‘harder’ to prevent. One example of an internal factor that leads to the perpetration of sexual assault within campus is the hesitations of the student victims in reporting instances of such violation. In a survey conducted by NSVRC.org, they found out that about 90% of those who experienced sexual assault decided to remain silent rather than reporting it to the proper authorities. Upon closer examination, some of the major reasons why students fail or refused to report these instances is because of their own perceptions (i.e., anxiety or fear) and affinity with the perpetrator (i.e., friend or professor), among others CITATION Wad17 \l 1033 (Wade). On the other hand, there are also some external factors that could affect students’ capability or choice on reporting these violations. This includes differences in status, knowledge of their rights, accessibility of treatment centers, peer pressure, or even external threats, just to name some. In the article written by Wade, a professor of Sociology in Occidental College, she noted that status plays a difference in how students choose their sexual relationships with others. Specifically, those students who have ‘higher status’ as compared to others, can take advantage of the ‘hookup culture’ that is prevalent in several campuses in the United States (and perhaps the whole world). Consequently, this ‘choice’ does not only refer to their capability of finding a partner, but also rejecting those who they do not want. In contrast to this, the same study shows that students who have lower status suffers the possibility of harm (i.e., sexual assault) and exclusion. The Role of Campuses in Preventing Cases of Sexual Assault As noted earlier, campuses have one of the biggest roles when it comes to reducing, if not stopping, the cycle of sexual assault towards students. These days, several laws and policies, based on thorough studies have provided campuses a guideline as to how to address such matters. Some of these include (1) enforcing and strengtehning policies and laws, (2) engaging in educational discussions, and (3) increasing accessibility of ‘help centers’ for students. Each of these would be discussed in the suceeding section. Enforcing and Strengthening Laws and Policies These days, both campuses and State institutions take a proactive approach against sexual assault by taking different, yet complementary measures to address sexual assaults such as (1) enforcing stricter rules and (2) increasing information dissemination to the students. For example, in the study done by Lund and Thomas, about Sexual Assault Information (SAI) on College and University websites, they found out that 88.2% of such websites contain pertinent information about sexual assault. Additionally, 83.3% and 72.2% of these websites, contain information about the related University policy and contact for law enforcement authorities, respectively CITATION Lun15 \l 1033 (Lund and Thomas). Aside from this, there are also other State-mandated policies to address sexual assault within campuses. One of which mandates Undergraduate Resident Assitatnts to act as Responsible Employees (RA’s), which are designated to help and report any cases of sexual assaults filed by a student CITATION Hol171 \l 1033 (Holland and Cortina). This policy was enacted by the State, in line with the fact that Student assistants are closer to their fellow students a...