Last week Niles North’s fem club had a showing of, The Hunting Ground, which is a documentary about rape and sexual abuse and the way it’s addressed and treated on american campuses. The intro alone indicates a well thought out and put together film and argument. In the first 20 minutes you’re bombarded with statistics and numbers that will send chills down your spine and might even cause you to pause the movie just to swallow it all. 1 in 5 women are sexually assaulted while in college. Let’s stop for a second. Girls- count four of your female friends and imagine one of them or even yourself being a victim to this. Boys- it might be hard to see sexual assault as a real threat because it happens mainly to women(9 out of 10 victims of sexual abuse are women) but count five of your sisters, cousins, or even your girlfriend. When statistics are put into perspective the impact is more receptive among a larger group of people, especially if they will most likely never encounter the issue.

The question is, why have we not heard more about this in the media? Well the process for victims of sexual assault reveals many barriers to report an incident due to colleges wanting a clean record when they complete their annual security reports.
This results in less than 5% of rapes and attempted rapes to be reported. The feeling of uncertainty is present when a college’s rape and sexual assault numbers are low, is it because they have a stricter policy and no toleration or because they have more hurdles for victims to go through?

So how do you ensure your own safety when in college? Under Title XI of the Education Amendments of 1972 you are protected from sex discrimination which is to be upheld by every university, this includes discrimination of your sex for your education, prejudice for pregnant or parenting students, intolerance for sexual harassment, gender-based discrimination and sexual violence(sexual violence includes attempted or completed rape, sexual assault, stalking, voyeurism, exhibitionism, intimate partner violence and verbal or physical sexuality-based threats). Your campus must see these threats as a real issue and make an attempt to rid and spread awareness of these incidents. If needed there is a Title XI coordinator on campus that you can report to, they are required to report it immediately and not allowed to hold anything against the victim. While these laws seem like rational and sensible measures for colleges to take, the statistics to show otherwise are disturbing and disappointing.

[box type=”shadow”]Every 21 hours there’s a rape on an American campus.

90% of rape on campuses happen by a person the victim knows.[/box]

[learn_more caption=”Click here to learn more”]If you feel like your school is violating your federal laws contact the U.S Department of Education, Office for Civil Rights at (800) 421-3481 or email [email protected]. You can also fill out a complaint on http://www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ocr/complaintintro.html[/learn_more]

Educate your family, educate your friends, educate yourself.