Sexual assault: The real story

It was a warm fall night with leaves whistling around him; the stars were bright and there were whispers of laughter filling the thick air. Annoyed while watching his date dance with another guy, Tony left the bar to go back to his dorm. A few minutes later, he received around ten drunken calls from the girl telling him to come back. He put on his shoes and headed over to the bar to pick her up. Once he arrived, they started walking to his dorm where she began throwing up all of the alcohol in her body. Tony took her to his room, tucked her in his bed and supposedly slept on the floor.

The next morning, they cuddled for a bit, got some breakfast and parted ways. He walked into his dorm expecting it to be a normal day but his roommate started screaming at Tony saying “you raped her, you raped her.” His roommate claimed that Tony had violated her while she was unconscious.   

Colleges all over the United States have problems with sexual assault. Because many women choose not to report cases, statistics about sexual assault should be taken with a grain of salt. Of the reported assaults, the Association of American Universities found that 20% of female undergraduates are victims of sexual harm. Other studies have found that an additional 6-8% of male undergraduates have experienced sexual abuse. From not addressing students’ concerns to invalidating their experiences, schools need to be held accountable for the various problems throughout their campuses. 

Recently, a story has come to light about a student at a Southern university. She is known to enjoy partying here and there along with the majority of her peers. Most times when she would go out, her friend group would stick together to make sure everyone was safe. But that night, they all went their separate ways. A few days after the night of partying, one of her classmates showed up to her dorm informing her that he believed she was raped. Frightened, she went to her school administration for support hoping they could guide her on what to do next. A close friend of hers, who chose to remain anonymous, said that “They were extremely unhelpful. It’s not that they wanted to get it off their hands, they didn’t even care to have it on their hands.”

The university sent her and a friend to a hospital to get a rape kit, but upon arrival, they were informed that the hospital was understaffed and lacked supplies. That hospital sent her to a second one and then to a third. After almost 24 hours of being shuffled around the city, she was finally admitted and checked out. She was worried because it had been so long that the rape kit might not be able to detect any remnants of her sexual partner. The doctors found severe bruising on her cervix and told her that she should go to her school, report what happened, and get support. But when she got back to school they didn’t help her investigate: “She had to do everything on her own. She had to get all the receipts, all the facts. She had to bring it over to a lawyer on her own, not even using [the university’s] resources.”

This is an example of a school that was more worried about their reputation than the well-being of their students. The documentary The Hunting Ground elaborates on this idea saying, “The student comes to the administrator with a problem. It’s not that the administrator wants that student to be harmed, it’s not as if the administrator wants the harm to be perpetuated, but their first job is to protect the institution from harm not the student from harm.” Some colleges seem to forget that the institutions would not exist without their students. 

On the other hand, there are examples of supposed sexual assault occurring and colleges immediately take action without any investigation. It’s hard for schools to find the balance between right and wrong when dealing with an allegation such as sexual assault. 

Take Kwadwo Bonsu as an example. Bonsu was an involved, exemplary student at the University of Massachusetts. He was hooking up with a girl one afternoon and a few hours later she claimed that he had sexually assaulted her. As soon as a complaint was filed he had interim restrictions. The Atlantic Article: “The uncomfortable truth about Campus Rape Policy” said “Bonsu was told that because of the later allegation, a new set of interim restrictions was being put in place. Effective immediately, Bonsu was banned from all university housing and was allowed on campus only to attend classes.” Despite a mound of evidence proving his innocence, he was kicked out of school.

Both of the stories above involve sexual assault cases at their universities but have opposite outcomes. Sexual assault has been a problem on college campuses for a long time and there have been very few effective solutions to the problem. 

One tool college students have to advocate for themselves is Title IX. Title IX says, “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.” Any school that receives federal funding is subject to report all cases that fall under the category of Title IX. Avani Rambharose, at American University, feels that she and her peers are given a voice because of the Title IX office on her campus. She says that “they really try to work on inclusivity and making people feel comfortable. Even if you don’t specifically go to the Title IX office, if your friend goes, they will reach out to you” if they hear about a situation. They say: “If you want to talk to us you can come in” or they will give you a bunch of resources.

But, that wasn’t enough protection. Wanting a further, stricter push on Title IX, Obama introduced the Dear Colleague letter in 2011 which “required schools to adopt a minimal standard of proof—the preponderance-of-the -evidence standard—in administering student discipline, even though many schools had traditionally employed a higherclear-and-convincing-evidence standard.” Many legal experts criticized the letter saying “improper pressure upon universities to adopt procedures… do not afford fundamental fairness.” Instead of making it easier for schools to respond to sexual misconduct, this letter took away from the purpose of Title IX. Not only did it lack the most basic components of fairness and due process, but the accused almost fully lost their rights. It took away one of the things our country values most in it’s legal system which is a fair trial. 

Conversely, the Me Too Movement was created to give a platform for survivors of sexual violence. Since the movement began in 2006, there has been an increasing amount of pressure placed on believing the victim. While this is inherently good, it can also take away from the process of going about a trial fairly. 

Criminal defense lawyer, Colin Cooper says, “They want to believe it happened, they want to be sympathetic, they want to be empathetic and that’s good. But the problem with that is it has changed to narrow-mindedness and myopia where people think, okay, if an accusation is made, then let’s go out and punish people, regardless of the truth and evidence at hand.” It is certainly inspiring to watch women gain more power and be heard, especially when it comes to sexual violence. This being said, courts and colleges need to figure out how to conduct investigations fairly without giving in to societal pressure of always believing something when they first hear it. 

As people are growing more comfortable speaking out, we see the accused being punished for their crimes. The process is becoming full circle, which makes it feel like our country is being changed for the better. But, there are cases of individuals making up stories about sexual violence in order to hurt someone to make up for their own pain. 

According to Rambharose, one student at her school “came forward [about sexual assault], and she ended up lying about it just because this guy chose another girl over her and she was very upset. She went and created all these rumors about him” due to jealousy and anger. This creates immense danger for all that women have worked for because it destroys the credibility of existing victims. There is less incentive to believe them because some might assume they are making it up too. 

Many students have had trouble trying to figure out who to believe and this can cause strain in mental health for all parties involved. Because of the insistence on believing the victim, questioning them can cast people in a bad light. Jacob Monk at Tulane University says “it is very warranted to believe someone in that position [of being raped]. You can and should believe them, but I don’t think you can draw conclusions before there is any evidence known.” Every case is different but as a base line, the victim should be believed. There needs to be an investigation before any long term consequences are made. 

There needs to be a broader system in place where things can be done fairly, but also situationally. “The protocol is highly dependent on the facts… Each situation is very different,” says New York lawyer Julie Gershman. If every person or school conducts an investigation and prosecutes an individual differently, then there won’t be protocol for campuses to follow. The problem with that is with no precedent or rules to abide by, it borders the line of legality. Gershman also notes that “If you are deciding whether something is okay because it is legal, that doesn’t necessarily make it ethical.”

But before all of this, before going out and making accusations, “Figure out what happened, how it happened, why it happened, and mostly, how we can work towards a result where everybody benefits. The person who’s accused of something isn’t slammed for something he or she did or did not do but also is maybe allowed to work on redemption. The person who is victimized is made whole, the community is made better,” Cooper remarks. If investigations were completed before any harsh decisions were made, then some of the problems colleges experience regarding fair trial and conviction might lessen. 

This being said, having an investigation is just half the solution because students should not have to experience harm in the first place. There needs to be protection and education about sexual assault; more specifically about what it is, what falls under the category, and how to stay safe. Schools are so focused on codes of honor and being on time to class that sometimes the most important things are neglected. 

Acadia Schimmel, a student at Elon University, spoke about the sexual assault seminars they had to complete: “We had to do the online course before we got here. When we came here we had orientation. For the first three days in our orientation groups we had to do another course and they told us what we do if [we were sexually assaulted], how to avoid a situation and how to be helped.” While she found the online discussions hard to pay attention to, she spoke about how empowered she felt knowing that there is a place for her to go if she ever found herself in a situation needing it. The emphasis Elon puts on their non tolerance for sexual assault on their campus is something that many university’s do. But it’s the actions that school’s take beyond making statements that prove them to be different. 

Students at colleges all over the country claim they had to do seminars like this one. But for the majority of schools, it’s a hollow gesture because of the lack of care put into creating them. Schimmel says that there are still improvements to be made, but the effort and voice Elon gives their students is something that all schools should be aiming for. Rambharose talks about American’s Title IX office saying it would be more helpful to “designate a group or organization to teach people about this. They should have more available resources and make it known that this is something [American] cares about.” It might make it easier for students to go to the Title IX office if it’s normalized and publicized, she adds.

It is hard to say whether schools should be aiming for solution, prevention, or both. The big question is: which is more effective? So many people are focused on making sure the victims are taken care of and that is important, but there needs to be protocol in place so that situations do not reach the point of sexual violence. Of course, it can never be fully prevented because that is not the world we live in, but there are certain procedures that can be implemented. For example, colleges can have intensive, mandatory training on how to deal with sexual assault including how to deal with a perpetrator, helping a victim out of a situation, or helping someone report a case of assault.

While prevention can (and should) be put in place, it doesn’t mean much until schools start showing improvements. They need to be held accountable and students need to be put first. Frances Kalpakis at Tulane University says “Overall, there are so many people our age that are still really uneducated on this matter. It’s such a big issue at college, and the fact that universities don’t help really needs to change. Students at our school take matters into our own hands and create our own resources because our school has been unhelpful.”  She, along with students across the country are tired of having to fight for a safe living environment. Colleges and universities alike need to work together to create a system that can have outcomes that benefit students who were wronged and create consequences for the perpetrators. There needs to be ongoing investigations until the truth is reached and justice can be served. 

We live in a society that says Gen Z is the generation that is going to make change. The more that students get shut down, the louder they get, and for a lot of people that is uncomfortable. It means that older generations are losing control, and without control, they begin to lose power. It can be discouraging to see voices being silenced when you know they are fighting for a good cause, but the most important thing to remember is to not give up. If you get knocked down, get back up again. 

Keep holding administrators accountable for their actions as well as perpetrators of sexual violence for theirs. Keep fighting for what you believe in and educate yourself and the people around you about what is happening on college campuses across the country. In order to affect change, someone needs to make an action and do something. If we all live under the mindset that someone else is going to make the change that we want to see, nothing will ever be accomplished.

Be the person that speaks out, but more importantly, be the person to make change. If you want something to happen, you have to do it yourself and do not give up until you are satisfied with the outcome.

*Due to privacy some names have been changed*

*Name changes are italicized*