Sexual Assault on Campus
Florida State University
Advocacy (or lack thereof)
Summer of my junior year in high school, I visited American University in Washington D.C. for a medical program. It was during this trip that my eyes were opened to the substantial amounts of sexual assaults that occur on college campuses. In every bathroom stall there was a poster containing information about what defines sexual assault and the steps to take if you become victimized. During my transition to Florida State University, it became clear that widespread education of sexual assaults is not implemented. Granted, it's a much larger campus, I have been here for weeks now and have yet to see a single piece of information posted relating to sexual assaults.
The Seminole community here at Florida State is notorious for having the utmost quality of education while also being an enjoyable atmosphere for parties. Just about every day of the week, there’s a party going on somewhere in Tallahassee, and everyone is invited. It’s through these parties that students make friends that last a lifetime, but they can also have their world turned upside down.
One of the largest problems on campus is sexual violence. Not only the forced acts from one student onto another, but the lack of widespread education of sexual consent. Sexual consent cannot be defined in a dictionary. It would be easier if social norms followed the simple "yes" or "no" but it's much more than that. Body language must be taken into account, but even that is problematic when alcohol is put into the picture. According to "The Week," the American Association of State Colleges ranked campus sexual assault as #3 on the most concerning issues of higher education in 2015. Following tuition policy as #1 and state appropriations as #2, it's clear that even the national government recognizes that sexual assault on campus is prominent. But what steps are being taken towards treating the problem across campuses nationwide? As a student living on campus at Florida State University, the lack of advocacy is shocking. Sexual assault is an epidemic lurking campuses across the nation, and it's time for the universities to come clean.
University Involvement
Do students even know about the prominence of sexual assaults? Do they know how to report them? Being a new member of the Seminole community, I feel almost as if the topic is hushed. Yeah, there is information out there, but it's extremely hard to dig up. Even when the information is found, it's doubtful whether or not it's accurate.
College presidents take sexual assault "seriously." After watching the documentary on Netflix, The Hunting Grounds, it's apparent that they do all but that. John Thrasher, president of Florida State University, has a letter in response to the film posted on the university communications website, unicomm.fsu.edu. "We want to assure you that FSU takes all allegations of sexual assault seriously..." Who would have thought the word 'seriously' could be used so loosely? The Chronical of Higher Education looked further behind the documentary The Hunting Grounds in attempt to gain insight as to how universities handle accusations, Florida State specifically. This film was created in an effort to spread awareness of colleges' lack of attention towards sexual violence. Repeatedly, president after president, "we take sexual assault very seriously..." It's become outright insensitive. David Edelstein of New York magazine states, "Any parent sending a child off to college should consider this a required viewing." Students and parents are both unaware of what does and does not go on behind closed doors.
A documentary on Netflix is the ideal mode of sending a message to those joining the college community nationwide. Almost every college student has a Netflix account or at least has access to a another person's account, so there's really no reason not to watch this documentary.
Living on Campus
On the topic of sexual assaults on campus, I interviewed my Resident Assistant, Tamara Gluck, in Jennie Murphree Hall. Overall, she feels safe on campus. Tallahassee isn't the safest area, but on campus is definitely an area where she doesn't need to be on alert all the time. Tamara has no issues travelling alone at night, and she carries pepper spray in the case of an emergency. Typically, sexual assaults occur as a result of parties. As Tamara laughs, "It's not really going to be anybody hopping out of the bushes to attack you." Unfortunately, it's the people have known or had just met at that party who become the attacker. During her time on campus, she couldn't recall any specific occurrences, but made it very clear that there's many different shapes and forms of assault, "and with that comes many gray areas." Sexual assault itself is a form of the more broad term sexual violence. She believes that research shows assaults to be so prominent in the college community due to the party atmosphere. When alcohol and drugs are put into the picture, people aren't in the right mind. Therefore, not everybody is aware of what they're doing. In correlation with the link between sexual assaults and parties, Tamara stated that’s is her belief as to why Greek life is so prone to assaults, fraternities specifically. Only females are allowed in sororities, but the males allow females into fraternities for parties all the time. "There is a very great association between fraternities and sexual assaults. Well, at least a stereotype."
Towards the end of the interview I brought up the topic of the university police department. When asked if she feels that charges follow through against students for sexual assault, she responded, "Florida State follows a very intense Title IX statement and it's as fair as possible. There could be false accusations, but it's built to prevent students being charged falsely." Florida State Title IX defines sexual misconduct as, "all forms of non-consensual sexual activity and unwelcome sexual conduct including: sexual violence, relationship violence, stalking, sex- and gender- based discrimination, sexual harassment, and other forms of sexually exploitative behavior." All students are protected under Title IX, both males and females as victims, but it is implemented effectively in charging violators. It does not address preventing the crime to begin with.
Title IX
“No person in the United States, shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any education program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance.” Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, and its implementing regulation at 34 C.F.R. Part 106 (Title IX).
In a superficial reading, Title IX addresses gender equality in terms of education. When broken down, almost how we analyze poetry, it becomes much more complex than that. Men and women are not only equal educationally, but in all aspects of life, including sex. Although most sexual assaults are against women, men as victims are commonly excluded as a misconception. It's not common to see masculinist groups nowadays, but the qualities are still burrowed in day to day life.
It is commonly known that fraternities are notorious for sexual assault, and they correlate with the ideas of a masculinist group. In an article exploring the social structure of masculinist fraternities (Fraternities and Rape on Campus), Hummer and Yancey evaluate the large array of qualities and sum it up as, "...a narrow complexion of masculinity that stresses competition, athleticism, dominance, winning, conflict, wealth, material possessions, willingness to drink alcohol, and sexual prowess." Pledges are commonly wealthy, athletic, heterosexual males. Essentially, fraternities display cult-like qualities. They practice under secrecy, which is a large contribution to the trend of them rarely being charged for rape allegations. Fraternities operate with alcohol as their weapon to force their "masculinity" onto females as if it's some game.
Reporting Sexual Assault
Vladutiu, Martin, and Macy compiled research in an article titled "College-or University-based Sexual Assault Prevention Programs." The most outstanding piece of information from this article stated that about 20-25% of undergraduate females will experience attempted rape or rape during their college experience. This article concluded that the best prevention programs are gender specific, individually targeted towards males and females. This article explicitly states, "[e]ffective sexual assault prevention programs are professional-facilitated, targeted at single-gender audiences, and offered at various times throughout the students' tenure at college." All of this information was found and compiled through an array of sources, so there really is no excuse for colleges not to have an effective sexual assault prevention program implemented.
Florida State addresses sexual assault as "power based personal violence." Clearly, most people would not type that into Google when looking for information regarding assaults on campus. Besides the fact, knowmore.fsu.edu includes a few statistics regarding sexual violence on campus:
"2.9% of FSU undergrads experienced sexual penetration without their consent.
4.8% of FSU undergrads experienced stalking.
7.4% of FSU undergrads experienced an emotionally abusive intimate relationship.
2.4% of FSU undergrads experienced a sexually abusive intimate relationship.
1.7% of FSU undergrads experienced a physically abusive intimate relationship."
The main question being raised, are these statistics reliable? Aside from the argument whether the university itself is credible, it's clear that not all instances are reported, so how are percentages useful towards gaining information in any way? Nowhere on this site does it state that these percentages are estimations of assaults or just the instances that were actually reported.
According to the Harvard Journal of Law and Gender, there is a very minimal instance of sexual violence reported under the Clery Act. Essentially, the Clery Act was created in effort to collect accurate statistics in crime on college campuses. Sexual violence goes unreported not only because the victim is too frightened, but they simply don't know how to go about reporting it.
Knowmore.fsu.edu is the main portal to getting help when dealing with sexual violence. Immediately upon arriving to the page, there are options to report an incident, talk to someone, support someone, and even a link if you simply have no idea what to do when learning to recover from assault. Not many people know, but you don't have to be the victim to report violence. The "I Want to Report an Incident" tab gives options to report as a witness, organization, parent, etc. "I Want to Talk to Someone" breaks down the different organizations to reach out to for help and includes which circumstances and phone numbers to reach. "I Want to Support Someone" provides information for an outside party to aid a loved one through their healing.
There is much more to sexual violence than the act itself. It takes a long term emotional and mental toll on the victim, whether it be male or female. Not only is the victim affected, but so are their friends and family. The information given on knowmore.org is limited, but it provides and adequate foundation for a person just learning about what steps to take and spark further research for the benefit of their loved one.
Overall, not enough is said. We're passed the age and time where sex is kept hushed. It happens whether you like it or not, so why turn your back and pretend it doesn’t exist? There are students out there struggling with their day to day life because something was taken from them and that number is growing day by day. For the benefit and wellbeing of all people, something needs to be said. Florida State University definitely has a lot to improve on when it comes to dealing with sexual assault. It takes a lot more effort than just giving free condoms to students in the Health and Wellness Center.
Annotated Bibliography
1. LIPKA S. On the big screen: Accusations of sexual-assaulty 'cover-ups'. Chronicle of Higher Education. 2015;61(27):A14.
College presidents take sexual assault "seriously." After watching the documentary on Netflix, The Hunting Grounds, it's apparent that they do all but that. This film was created in an effort to spread awareness of colleges' lack of attention towards sexual violence. Repeatedly, president after president, "we take sexual assault very seriously..." It's become outright insensitive. David Edelstein of New York magazine states, "Any parent sending a child off to college should consider this a required viewing." Students and parents are both outright unaware of what does and does not go on behind closed doors.
As pertaining to the topic of genre, a documentary is the ideal mode of sending a message to those joining the college community. Director Dick Kirby definitely knew his audience and chose an effective method to reach them.
2. OEHME K, STERN N, MENNICKE A. A deficiency in addressing campus sexual assault: The lack of women law enforcement officers. Harvard Journal of Law & Gender. 2015;38:337-372.
The Harvard Journal of Law and Gender points out that it is currently federal law for colleges to keep record of an array of crimes on and around campus. The Clery act was aimed towards collecting accurate statistics of crime, but has higher effects than that. Named after a student who was raped and murdered on campus by a fellow student, the Clery Act helps spread awareness of ongoing occurrences. But like any other process related to sexual assaults, the number of Clery reports in relation to sexual violence are minimal. When universities report zero instances of assault, it's clearly unrealistic. We don't live in this idealistic world where bad things don't happen. Unfortunately, crime is a part of everyday life, sexual assault included. The question raised by these minimal reports is then raised. Are students not reporting instances or are they just being covered up by the university?
3. Biemiller L. The week. Chronicle of Higher Education. 2015;61(18):1.
According to "The Week," the American Association of State Colleges ranked campus sexual assault as #3 on the most concerning issues of higher education in 2015. Following tuition policy as #1 and state appropriations as #2, it's clear that even the national government recognizes that sexual assault on campus is prominent. But what steps are being taken towards treating the problem? As a student living on campus at Florida State University, the lack of advocacy is shocking. Currently, the only information posted regarding sexual violence is found in the Health and Wellness Center. Campus is a total of 476 acres, but information is only posted in a single building. Granted, there are many important issues to address throughout campus, but sex is a topic that people struggle with discussing normally- let alone in terms of assault. Why should that be hushed?
4. Martin, Patricia Yancey, and Robert A. Hummer. "Fraternities and rape on campus." Gender & Society 3.4 (1989): 457-473.
I strongly recommend this source to be read by any sociology major. It explores the social structure of masculinist fraternities and stresses the lack of study done on the topic. Composed by two alumni of Florida State University, the focus pertains to a numerous amount of students not only in Tallahassee, but around the country. Hummer and Yancey evaluate the large array of qualities and sum it up as, "...a narrow complexion of masculinity that stresses competition, athleticism, dominance, winning, conflict, wealth, material possessions, willingness to drink alcohol, and sexual prowess." Pledges are commonly wealthy, athletic, heterosexual males. The typical cliché as seen in movies. When looking for new pledges, the fraternity essentially weeds out the men who portray the most stereotypical feminine qualities, such as what today's youth would call "soft."
Essentially, fraternities display cult-like qualities. They practice under secrecy, which is a large contribution to the trend of them rarely being charged for rape allegations. Fraternities operate with alcohol as their weapon to force their "masculinity" onto females.
5. Vladutiu, Catherine J., Sandra L. Martin, and Rebecca J. Macy. "College-or university-based sexual assault prevention programs: A review of program outcomes, characteristics, and recommendations." Trauma, Violence, & Abuse 12.2 (2011): 67-86.
The most outstanding piece of information from this article stated that about 20-25% of undergraduate females will experience attempted rape or rape during their college experience. That is, if I had the same group of four friends, one of us would at least have been sexually violated. Being a young female, seeing research like this is sickening. You would never think that the people around you on a regular basis would attempt to violate you. This article concluded that the best prevention programs are gender specific, individually targeted towards males and females. This article explicitly states, "[e]ffective sexual assault prevention programs are professional-facilitated, targeted at single-gender audiences, and offered at various times throughout the students' tenure at college." All of this information was found and compiled through an array of sources, so there really is no excuse for colleges not to have an effective sexual assault prevention program.
6. "Title IX and Sex Discrimination." Home. US Department of Education (ED), 15 Oct. 2015. Web. 19 July 2017.
Title IX is applicable to all public institutions funded financially by the federal government. If an institution is found to violate this gender equality law, they can face vast monetary penalties. The United States Department of Education's goal is to "promote student achievement and preparation for global competitiveness by fostering educational excellence and ensuring equal access."
7. "What Is Power Based Personal Violence?" KNOW MORE. Florida State University, n.d. Web. 19 July 2017.
Florida State addresses sexual assault as "power based personal violence." Clearly, most people would not type that into google when looking for information regarding assaults on campus. Besides the fact, this website includes a few statistics regarding sexual violence on campus. The main question being raised, are these statistics reliable? It's clear that not all instances are reported, so how are percentages useful towards gaining information in any way. Nowhere on this site does it state that these are estimations or just the instances that were actually reported.