(Photo: Nation of Change)
April is Sexual Assault Awareness Month, and as one of the 94 universities with a pending Title IX sexual violence investigation , we at Penn State should be taking this month very seriously.
Although it is a prevalent issue on college campuses today, sexual assault is still a difficult topic to talk about. No one wants to hear that 1 in 4 college women will be sexually assaulted, or that 9 in 10 victims of campus rape and assault will know their attacker. Every 21 hours a rape will occur on an American college campus, and it is our inability to engage in conversation about sexual assault that allows jarring statistics like this to remain unchanged.
As we work to educate ourselves about sexual assault on our campus and what we can do to stop it, it is important to see the effects of this problem nationwide. Here are three cases of sexual assault on campuses across the country that you should know about.
1. Vanderbilt University
On June 13, 2013, four (now former) Vanderbilt football players sexually assaulted an unconscious woman in a dorm room and sent pictures and videos of the assault to friends. The victim woke up with no recollection of what had happened. Two days after the assault took place, housing staff was reviewing surveillance footage from that night as part of an investigation of vandalism that had occurred within the dorm. The footage showed four men dragging an unconscious woman and one of the men covering the camera with a towel. Later, testimonies revealed that multiple students witnessed the victim being moved, but said nothing. The victim learned of the assault three days post-assault when police sought her out after reviewing the dorm’s surveillance footage. She had allegedly been told by one of her assailants that she had gotten sick in his dorm and he’d spent the night taking care of her. After 19 months, two of the former Vanderbilt football players were convicted on multiple counts of sexual battery and aggravated rape. The two other men accused in the case still await trial. The victim said in a statement, “I want to remind other victims of sexual violence: You are not alone. You are not to blame.”
Read more about the Vanderbilt case HERE.
2. Florida State University
In 2012, Erica Kinsman met quarterback Jameis Winston at a Tallahassee nightclub. Kinsman recalls taking a shot with Winston, which she believes was tainted because she then found herself in a cab with him and two other men. Kinsman claims that back at Winston’s apartment, his first attempt to rape her was interrupted by his roommate pleading with him to stop. Winston then took Kinsman into the bathroom, where he allegedly pushed her face to the floor and raped her. Kinsman later went to the hospital, where a rape kit was performed but not analyzed until months later. At the hospital, Kinsman claims a Tallahassee police officer, an FSU grad, prompted her to think twice before filing a report. The police took no action in the case for 10 months and when investigations were finally launched, Kinsman’s account of the assault was met with criticism. Days before Winston was set to play in the College Football Playoffs, an FSU conduct code hearing cleared him of any wrongdoing. Winston himself asserted that the sexual intercourse was consensual. After continued harassment and death threats, Kinsman dropped out of school. She opened up about her story in a documentary entitled “The Hunting Ground,” which focuses on the issue of sexual assault on campus.
Read more about Kinsman’s story HERE.
3. The University of Southern California
In June of 2013, the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights began an investigation of multiple reported failures of USC to prosecute rape. This investigation was in response to a Title IX complaint filed in May. Thirteen students, along with others who chose to remain unnamed, claimed to have suffered because of their school’s failure to properly respond to their reports of sexual assault. One student claimed that campus police told her no rape occurred because her attacker did not orgasm. Another student reported that she had been sexually assaulted at a fraternity event, and an officer told her and a friend that women should not “go out, get drunk and expect not to get raped.” Student Tucker Reed said that even after providing audio recordings of her ex-boyfriend admitting to raping her, USC dismissed the claim. The investigation is still ongoing.
Read more about the USC investigation HERE.
Sexual assault is a major problem on college campuses, but it is one with a solution. Don’t be a voiceless bystander. Speak up when you see wrongdoing, and show support for the countless victims that feel silenced by a societal tendency to victim-blame. Sexual Assault Awareness Month only lasts through April, but let it spark the change that lasts for years to come. If these stories and statistics are any indication, change is long past due.