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Caroline Vallotton
Prof. Spielvogal
Cas137H
April 4, 2016
Issue Brief: Sexual Assault at Penn State

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With the common alerts Penn State students receive about sexual assault through text
messages, emails, and notices on dorms, its hard to ignore this prevalent and pressing issue that
haunts students on campus everyday. A recent survey conducted by the Association of American
Universities (UAU) shows that about 23% of female students have experienced some sort of
unwanted sexual contact.1 In addition, a huge part on college campuses is Greek life, which is
very prevalent at Pennsylvania State University. Not surprisingly, one study conducted by
Violence against Women concluded that
sorority women are 4 times more likely to
be sexually assaulted than women not apart
of these organizations.2 At the University of
Oregon, it was found that 1 in 2 sorority
women were victims of nonconsensual
sexual contact. This study also found that
that fraternity men are more likely to
commit rape than non-fraternity men.3 This
infographic, coming from the University of Oregon also explains that individuals affiliated with
Greek life are much more likely to be involved in non-consensual sexual experiences, whether
they are a male or female. These statistics mirror what goes around throughout the nation when
dealing with the Greek community and sexual assault, including Penn State.
Penn State has a notoriously high rate of sexual assault, especially becoming nationally
recognized by the incident with Jerry Sandusky, Penn States old defensive coordinator who
sexually abused 8 boys over a period of 15 years.4 In 2012, there were 56 reports of sex offenses
on campus, which is more than double of what was reported the previous year in 2011 and the

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highest reported in 2012
out of all college
campuses, which university

officials attribute to the Sandusky scandal. This high increase led to a federal investigation by the
U.S. Department of Educations Office for Civil Rights in 2014.5 In addition to this, the fraternity
Kappa Delta Rho were kicked off of Penn States campus after a for multiple cases of illegal
activity including having a Facebook page filled with pictures of naked women being sexually
assaulted. These incidents put Penn State in the spotlight for issues with sexual assault.6
There are certain stigmas that revolve around the issue of rape culture on college
campuses including Penn State, leading the victim to leave the issue unresolved by not reporting
the incident. Many of those who have been sexually assaulted dont feel comfortable coming
forward to the police or other authority figures and reporting the incident, due to shame, selfblame, and other wrong assumptions about the definition and cause of sexual assault. According
to Sophie Karasek, the co-founder of End Rape on Campus, concludes that the low response rate
of this survey, 19%, explains the issue of reluctance of coming forward.7 Not reporting goes back
to gender roles, stereotypes, and assumptions that play out especially on college campuses and in
Greek life. The biggest issues dealing with sexual assault is the mental and physical effects, the
inability to report, and the common misconceptions. Because of this, its necessary to implement
greater education, especially in the Greek community at Penn State, not only on the issue of
sexual violence and the process that goes along with reporting these incidents, but also the
underlying assumptions made before and after the incident happens stemming from gender
norms, stereotypes, and fear.

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Mental and Physical Effects of Sexual Assault

Victims of sexual assault face detrimental short and long-term effects of sexual assault on
an individual. For example, PTSD, or Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, is found within many
victims. This mental condition is triggered by a traumatic event and can include flashbacks,
nightmares, and severe anxiety relating to this event.8 Many victims also face serious depression
that is accompanied by feelings of hopelessness, self-worthlessness, and loss of interest in
previously enjoyed activities.9 These individuals may also face dissociation, which is detachment
from immediate surroundings, leading to inability to concentrate on any type of schoolwork. All
of these effects can translate into substance abuse and self-harm.10 There are also immediate
physical effects like bruising, bleeding, difficulty walking, soreness, broken or dislocated bones,
sexually transmitted diseases, and even possible pregnancy.11
To deal with the stress of the sexual assault, survivors often turn to coping mechanisms.
For example, some use denial of the severity of the incident, saying that it wasnt that bad or it
only happened once.12 Others turn to minimizing the incident, comparing their incident to
another, explaining to themselves that theirs was not a bad as someone elses. In addition,
victims have a false sense of reality, seeing some safe situations now as unsafe and have an
inability to trust. They also tend to blame themselves because it is difficult for them to blame the
perpetrator. They now feel dirty or permanently flawed, not feeling like they deserve any
type of support.13
Common Misconceptions
There are a multitude of common myths about sexual assault that are enforced within
American culture that can hold an individual back from reaching out to authority figures and lead

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to self-blame and self-shame. For example, a common misconception is that victims provoke
sexual assault by dressing and acting provocatively. Because of this myth, particularly women
put the blame on themselves for having someone rape them, but in reality, sexual assault can
happen to anyone, male or female, no matter what they are wearing because the act stems from
the desire to control and display power over another individual.14
Another common myth that is associated with sexual assault is that its not sexual
assault if it happens after drinking or taking drugs.15 In Pennsylvania, if someone is under the
influence, they are legally not allowed to give consent.16 Just because someone is drunk does not
mean that they are too vulnerable and deserved to be raped and sexually assaulted. Its especially
hard to put this in the mind of the victim, who leaves the blame to themselves. It is the never the
victims fault because if the individual gave sexual consent, the rapist would not have to use any
type of force, according to Penn State Behrend.17
Inability to Report Sexual Assault
Many times, students arent fully aware about the truths of sexual assault because they
never had proper education of how and why rape happens. A study conducted by the U.S.
Department of Justice in 2007 concluded that 35% of victims did not report the incident because
they felt that it was unclear that it was a crime or that harm was intended.18 In addition, cultural
norms that people grow up with lead individuals to make quick assumptions about the questions
of how and why. Many incidents of sexual assault go unreported and untreated, leading to major
psychological issues for the victim and the perpetrator goes without any consequences for these
reasons. Victims also do not report these incidents because they do not have faith in the justice
system, they are afraid of their rapist, or worried that no one will believe them.19 According to

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the U.S. Department of Justice, rape or sexual assault is the crime least often reported to law
enforcements.20
Feelings of Powerlessness

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Another big issue with the lack of reports for sexual assault is that many students dont trust
authority figures, whether its the court system, police, or university authorities. This stems from
the issues that universities have with prosecuting the perpetrators. Some of the schools in
Virginia, like James Madison University, University of Richmond, and University of Virginia,
were under pressure for how they dealt with the sexual assault reported to their authorities. In
2014, the U.S. Department of Educations Office for Civil Rights investigated the possibility of
these schools violating Title IX specifically relating to sexual violence. More specifically, an
incident at James Madison University left people around the country upset for the lack of
attention a case of rape received. Three men were found guilty of sexually assaulting a girl and
spreading a video of it around campus and all they received was expulsion after graduation
while the woman was forced to drop out of school due to the emotional trauma caused by these
three boys. There was public outrage due to the lax enforcement the school placed on the sexual
harassment issue.21 This is one of many examples where a victim is left feeling voiceless and
powerless, something a victim of sexual assault should never feel. Not only do individuals not
feel safe reporting to university authorities, but also the police. According to the survey
conducted in 2007, 21% of physically forced victims and 12% of incapacitated victims did not
report because they didnt think the police would take the crime seriously and 13% of forced
victims and 24% of incapacitated victims feared the police would treat them poorly. The worst
part about this statistic is that rapists are often repeat offenders, going on to abuse other
individuals.22
Solutions
The most important step that Penn State should take to face the issue of sexual assault on campus
is to increase the education that we have. Greek Care is a 6-week program for individuals

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involved in Greek life to participate in that educates the people most commonly associated with
rape and sexual assault, which is already a step in the right direction. In addition to this, Penn
State also requires all incoming Freshmen to take an online information module lasting about 45
minutes called Penn State AWARE to teach about different types of abuse like sexual
harassment, sexual abuse, stalking, and relationship violence.23 There are also many resources on
campus for victims like the Center for Women Students, although not exclusive to women. Their
services include assisting with relocation, obtaining a Protection of Abuse if there was a
relationship between perpetrator and victim, creating a safety plan, and generally providing
support by working with CAPS, or Counseling and Psychological Services at Penn State.24
Outside of the Center for Women Students, there is help offered to allow a smooth transition of
taking a break from classes through trauma drop while also offering to help pay for the basic
rape-related expenses that the Nittany Medical Center and University Health Services and
offering assistance with the campus police.25
Penn State already adequately deals with the immediate physical effects left on individuals after
the assault, although there isnt enough knowledge about the support survivors can have when
dealing with the psychological effects. When a victim doesnt come forward, they dont know
about all of the help that they can get, whether its at CAPS or with the Center for Women
Students. A solution to this is to increase awareness of these programs built to cope with mental
health issues by putting more flyers around campus and making it particularly aware when
students come to Penn State, not only their first year, but every year following. In such a big
school, its easy for students to feel lost and alone, especially after dealing with the issue of
sexual assault. Students should have reminders during syllabus week of the resources that they
have on campus, maybe coming from their advisor or in specific classes.

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Along with this, Penn State can also offer more education on not only sexual assault, but
the process that happens after sexual assault to deal with the other two issues most prevalent with
sexual assault: inability to report and common misconceptions. Preventing sexual assault is very
difficult and its much more realistic to tackle actual reporting of the incidents. Because a
majority of victims dont feel comfortable reporting the incident for whatever reason, its
important for the university to take extra steps towards enforcing that students understand what
sexual assault is by proving the assumptions enforced by stereotypes and gender norms wrong
and making students feel that they and the police are a safe and understanding group of people to
report to. The university should go above and beyond the module to enforce these ideals by
maybe talking about it in the freshman seminar. This provides a small and safe environment for
freshmen to understand the realities of sexual assault in an undergraduate campus setting. Here,
they can allow police and campus officials to come in and talk about what the process is to
dealing with sexual assault after it happens. Its also important to introduce how to deal with the
situation of knowing someone who went through an incident like this, which is a very common
predicament. Not only should the students be aware that reporting the incident is vital, but the
university should make sure to follow through with the guidelines within the student handbook.
The only way for students to feel completely safe is for Penn State to do exactly what they said
they would do, rather than pushing it under the rug as they and other universities have done in
the past.
Focusing more on Greek life because of the high prevalence of sexual assault, individuals
involved in this community should have more requirements to fulfill when pledging and
becoming a member of their fraternity or sorority. They should go through additional information
sessions both in person and online learning how to deal with sexual assault in case it happens to

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that individual or their brother/sister. Catering this education to Greek individuals can be highly
beneficial because they may feel that its more personalized. This education should give relevant
and previous scenarios and teach the exact steps that someone should go through in case
something happens. These types of educational information sessions should be mandatory for
everyone, and can even be turned into a sister/brother bonding event. Greeks also have a huge
impact on campus and can be great role models to other individuals on campus. When people see
that the Greek community is looking to become more educated on this serious issue, the whole
campus might take it more seriously. A lot of people, especially those not involved in Greek life,
feel as though some of these issues stem from this group of individuals, so knowing that they are
dedicated to it would be a big push for the whole campus.
Sexual assault is an issue that is a bit of a taboo to talk about because of how emotional it
can be. This stigma needs to change. Its important that all individuals feel safe around Penn
State and all other university campuses around the world and this can only be done through the
education of students, particularly Greek affiliated students, and staff members on the realities of
the rape culture on college campuses and what both can do about it before and after the incident
may happen.

1 Wallace, Kelly. "Study: 23% of Women Sexually Assaulted in College."CNN. Cable News Network,
n.d. Web. 12 Apr. 2016.
2 Robbins, Alexandra. "Sorority Secrets: The Dark Side of Sisterhood."Marie Claire. Hearst
Communications, Inc., 20 July 2015. Web. 12 Apr. 2016
3 Ibid
4 "Penn State Scandal Fast Facts." CNN. Cable News Network, 24 Dec. 2016. Web. 12 Apr. 2016.
5 Anderson, Nick. "Statistics Show U.S. College Reports of Sex Offenses Are Rising." Washington
Post. The Washington Post, 1 July 2014. Web. 12 Apr. 2016.
6 Kingkade, Tyler. "Kappa Delta Rho Fraternity Expels 38 Penn State Members As Whistleblower
Sues." The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 8 June 2015. Web. 12 Apr. 2016.
7 Wallace, Kelly
8 "Effects of Sexual Assault and Rape." Joyful Heart Foundation. Joyful Heart Foundation, n.d. Web.
12 Apr. 2016.
9 Ibid
10 Ibid
11 Ibid
12 "The Effects of Sexual Assault." WCASP. Washington Coalition of Sexual Assault Programs, 22
Dec. 2015. Web. 12 Apr. 2016.
13 Ibid
14 "Myths and Facts about Sexual Violence." Georgetown Law. Georgetown University, n.d. Web. 12
Apr. 2016.
15 Ibid
16 "Pennsylvania Sexual Assault Laws - FindLaw." Findlaw. Thomson Reuters, n.d. Web. 12 Apr.
2016.
17 "Sexual Assault." Penn State Behrend. The Pennsylvania State University, n.d. Web. 12 Apr. 2016.
18 Gray, Eliza. "Why Don't Campus Rape Victims Go to the Police?" Time. Time, 23 June 2014. Web.
12 Apr. 2016.
19 Ibid
20 Ibid
21 Kingkade, Tyler. "For Years, Students Have Accused Virginia Universities Of Botching Sexual
Assault Cases." The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 1 July 2014. Web. 12 Apr. 2016.
22 Gray, Eliza
23 "First Year - Education and Learning Modules." Student Affairs EDGE Featuring PSU SAFE and
PSU AWARE. Pennsylvania State University, n.d. Web. 12 Apr. 2016.
24 "Know the Facts - Rape and Sexual Assault." Center for Women Students. Pennsylvania State
University, n.d. Web. 12 Apr. 2016.
25 Ibid
Infograph 1: Freyd, Jennifer. Digital image. The UO Sexual Violence Study. University of Oregon, 30
Oct. 2015. Web. 12 Apr. 2016.
Infograph 2: "Sex Offenses on U.S. College Campuses." Washington Post. The Washington Post, 2012.
Web. 12 Apr. 2016.

Infograph 3: Reporting Rates. Digital image. Rape, Abuse, & Incest National Network. RAINN, n.d.
Web. 12 Apr. 2016.