4/16/2017

ISSUE: SEXUAL ASSAULT ON C AMPUS

Submitted by: | KAYLA MARIE OLOWIN

 Issue Overview

In recent years, college and universities increasing, about one in every one hundred
across the country have been put under the students will become a victim of sexual
microscope for their efforts to address and assault.
prevent sexual assaults from occurring on
The Pennsylvania State University at
their campuses. Pressure has been increased
on university administration since 2011, University Park sent out a survey in 2015 to
all of the students in regards to sexual
when the federal government increased the
enforcement of Title IX to investigate and assault and related crimes. Between all of
the campuses nine thousand and five-
resolve any and all reports of rape. Fueling
these concerns are the overwhelming hundred students responded to the survey
and the findings were similar to those from
statistics the United States has gathered
through recent studies of campus sexual the national surveys that found a high
number of female students that report they
violence. One of the more alarming statistics
from the surveys reporting that among had been assaulted. Out of the students that
responded to the survey, more than twenty
undergraduate students, 23.1% of females
and 5.4% of males will experience rape or percent of the women assaulted were
incapacitated from alcohol or drugs when
sexual assault during their time spent in
college (rain.org). For many students, the assault occurred and more victims said
their attacker was another student whom
college is supposed to be one of the best
times of their life where they are finally they knew (philly.com).
receiving the freedom most teenagers crave
but this is also of the most likely times for
these young adults to fall victim to these
heinous crimes. These surveys follow the
numerous accounts of sexual violence
occurring on campuses all over the country.
Penn State is no different than any of the
other colleges and universities around the
country. In fact within the span of one year
about one-hundred students report being
victims of sexual assault where ninety-nine
of those victims are female and one is a
male. At a University with almost one-
hundred thousand students attending every
year and the influx of students seeking
enrollment at this university steadily
This is not just a womens issue, this is a
social issue with the impacts stretching far
and wide. Men are less likely than women
are to fall victim to sexual assault but men
when surveyed have also claimed to be less
likely than women are to report the crime.
Though sexual assaults on men are rarely
reported to authorities, a Washington Post-
Kaiser Family Foundation poll of current
and recent college students found that 1 in
20 men said they were sexually assaulted
while in school (washingtonpost.com). The
most common reason men surveyed claimed
to not report these crimes was fear of not
being taken seriously by those they report it
to as well as by society. When the topic of
sexual assault comes up, the first instinct is
that it happened to a female by a male and
while this stigma is mostly true, the
occurrences of sexual assault happening to
other groups and by other groups is
significantly increasing.
Sexual assault is a crime in Pennsylvania
and is defined as a person engaging in
sexual intercourse or deviate sexual
intercourse with another person without
their consent. The definition of sexual
assault in Pennsylvania is extremely limited
in the respect that this law does not cover
any other type of assault that may occur.
Instead of branching these crimes together,
there is a separate charge titled indecent
assault. Indecent assault is similar to sexual
assault in some ways. It involves contact
with the victim, including the victims
contact with the defendants seminal fluid,
urine or feces with the purpose of arousing
sexual desire in either the victim or
defendant, and it is done without the
victims consent, forcible or under the threat
of force, or performed under some severe
incapacity of the victim (i.e.
unconsciousness, mental incapacity,
intoxication of the victim, youth of the
victim).
Consent is defined as: a clear and
unambiguous agreement, expressed
outwardly through mutually understandable
words or actions, to engage in a particular
activity.
The Pennsylvania State University has been
under severe scrutiny since the Jerry
Sandusky scandal in 2011 and our sexual
assault statistics speak for themselves. These
crimes are heinous and significantly
increasing as more and more students flood
the university. While Penn State follows the
same law as the state in which they reside
and the university has created a task force
for sexual assaults, the numbers of students
that are either victims or offenders are
considerably high and something must be
done.
 State Policy

In response to calls for increased public
policy to support survivors of campus sexual
violence and intensify prevention efforts on
campus, state policy leaders have taken a
number of legislative actions. During the
20132015 legislative sessions, at least 23
states introduced or enacted legislation
covering at least one of four primary policy
areas: defining affirmative consent,
clarifying and expanding the role of local
law enforcement, creating or expanding
requirements for transcript notations
covering major conduct violations, and
addressing the role of legal counsel in
conduct hearings centered on sexual
violence (naspa.org). As of the time this
article was released, Pennsylvania was still
pending on the enactment of policies
involving consent and transcript notation.
Pennsylvania has been working to enact
these policies in a way of attempting to help
combat the sexual assault epidemic that has
struck colleges all over the state. State
policy makers and citizens alike see the
issue of these crimes and are seeking the
same goal to better the lives of citizens by
lowering the occurrences of sexual assault as
well as by bringing attention to these issues.
By making the moves to tackle this issue
head on, the state has made it known that it
will no longer deal with this problem as a
reaction and will instead be proactive to
approach this topic.
offered at these high schools is sub-par at
the least. Most of the students surveyed at
Penn State had received some form of
sexual education during high school but they
also claimed that the education they received
was not enough to properly educate them on
sexual health and most courses focused on
abstinence instead of other types of
education students could have been learning
in order to properly educate and prepare
them for the real world beyond high school.
What was even worse was the number of
students that stated they never received
sexual assault education or sexual education
in any capacity. When students are
uneducated on a topic in a formal method,
they will seek this education elsewhere and
it usually comes from their peers with less
than accurate facts and little to no support
from the school causes students to try and
figure out these issues on their own often
leading to misunderstandings and lack of
proper education.

The only problem with the states concern

on this issue is that there has been a lot of
talk but very little action taken to actually
cause a reduction in these crimes happening.
There are currently no sexual assault
education courses offered at the high school
level and the sexual education if even
 Task Force: Campus Sexual Violence
In 2014, President Eric Barron of The
Pennsylvania State University announced
the creation of task force would advise the
University on how to improve the campus
climate and programs. In January of 2015
after working for approximately five months
on this issue, the task force released a report
that contained over two hundred pages of
resource materials touching on not only the
crime but also the responsibility of Penn
State employees and the communities for
helping to curb this issue. The report focuses
on trying to find causes and solutions while
also working to define the scope of the
problem which the task force found to be
extremely difficult on a national scale or
even just at the university. During their
research, conversations were had on
anything ranging from assaults, reports,
investigations, misuse of alcohol and its
involvement in these cases, etc. While the
university offers hundreds of educational
programs on sexual assault, sexual
harassment and other domestic or
relationship violence, a key problem was the
lack of a central authority and a lack of a
unified message among these events the
university sponsored. Among the eighteen
recommended items found by this task force
are ideas of requiring all employees to
complete annual mandatory training,
diversify the type of training administered to
cover international students, male students,
students victimized by same-sex
interactions, and students of color. These
were just a few of the top ideas this task
force brought forward to President Barron
and among the many policies that have been
implemented and continue to be
implemented. While these solutions are a
step in the right direction, much more needs
to be done and at a quicker pace than the
university is moving in order to see real
change brought to this campus. As a whole
the country has seen an increase in sexual
assault occurrences and it is up to society as
a whole to be willing to make a significant
adjustment in the right direction in order to
see a change brought to society.
One initiative that has taken hold at Penn
State is the Stand for State which is the
universitys bystander intervention program.
The week of Sept. 12-18 was Action Week
for Penn States Green Dot program as a
part of Stand for State, Penn States
bystander intervention program. A green
dot represents a choice a person makes to
keep someone safe or to say we do not
tolerate violence in our campus
community. The Action Week goal was to
generate as many green dots as possible. As
of Sunday night (Sept. 18), Penn States
green dot count was 11,584
(diggingdeeper.psu.edu).
 What the Students Say
The fact of the matter is while these students
have spent their time teaching and learning
about bystander intervention, more than half
of the population here at Penn State has had
no type of formalized training or education
on the matter simply because they never had
this opportunity in high school where they
would have had to attend these programs.
In a formalized deliberation held in March
of this year, students from all walks of life
gathered around a classroom on a dreary
Sunday night to discuss this issue exactly.
As the moderators of the discussion began
by dividing the group in half to form smaller
and more personal groups to discuss a
matter of this severity, students came in to
have their voice heard. Many of these
students claim that the university is not
doing enough to combat these issues at
hand. One of the common themes in the
discussion was the facelessness of sexual
assault. No one expects it to happen to them,
and the reports we get on our phones and
emails have lost much impact despite how
often they come in. Students in our
discussion wanted to put a face to how we
are educated about this prominent issue
through programs such as staff mentoring,
or a class that could be taken by all Penn
State Students. This class would be
specifically geared towards bystander
intervention and learning about ways to
avoid and prevent rape. This could include
education about information specific to our
university, like maps of high danger zones,
or a requirement for students in these classes
to do preventative volunteer work in the
community. By having a class like this that a
large volume of students take, students will
have one more thing to tie us together, and
we will have integrated something impactful
directly into our culture. Graduates of the
university will have one more thing to
connect them, something that will give our
amazing university one more thing to be
proud of and make our country a better place
to live.
Another potential solution to the epidemic of
sexual assault in our country that was
mentioned in our deliberation was to better
the forcible sex offense notifications that
students and faculty receive. The Clery Act
requires the university to make public any
report of sexual assault, however, it does not
require any follow up after the case has
begun. A widespread feeling that these cases
should not be left open ended was heard
throughout the room. When the notifications
are sent out, very little detail is provided.
We feel as though following up on the case
after an investigation had occurred would
not only make the campus feel safer but also
show the students and faculty how serious
these cases are being taken. This would
make the notifications more meaningful, and
less dismissible. Safety and security for all
members of our community is of the utmost
concern, and by providing this information
to our student body would further the
change in our culture at this university so
that people feel safer and be better informed
about offenders.
One more serious topic that was discussed
was bettering the S.A.F.E. and A.W.A.R.E.
programs. The first change would to make
the program more personal because often
times our students take the courses and pay
little to no attention to what they are doing.
They rapidly click next to finish it as soon
as possible. We would like to see this course
either happen in person at NSOs, or be
revamped to make it more specific to the
Penn State campus so that students attach
more importance to it. The other change
would be to actually follow through on the
mandatory aspect of this training. Currently,
if you do not complete the training, you will
receive an email reminding you that you
must complete it, but no punitive action is
truly taken. By actually making the training
mandatory, students will be forced to take it
and actually learn about this topic instead of
ignoring it and remaining uneducated.
During this deliberation, students proposed a
variety of issues that came with many
advanced solutions in order to take these
issues head on instead of waiting to have to
react to another tragic case of sexual assault.
While the university like many others across
the country has made a significant effort to
combat this issue, their ideas are not enough
and are not resonating with the students and
are therefore not creating the significant
change this university desperately needs in
order to become as safe as the officials claim
it is. The faculty of this establishment need
to take a look at the bigger picture here and
address both the topics they have found to
be of importance but also the topics that the
students whom have to live with these issues
on almost a daily basis have recognized. An
addition of students to the task force on
sexual assault would provide the perspective
of the voice those who have been through a
day in the life of a student and not just
officials and leaders of the university who
may not truly know what life on a college
campus is for those who are actually living
it.
 Concluding Thoughts

Sexual assault is and has been a significant issue impacting thousands of men, women, and
children every year but it does not have to be. The country and officials can come together to
better society for everyone involved. When it comes to college campuses, the officials of the
universities and campuses around the country tend to provide significant ideas to change their
campuses for the better but fail to include students in these decisions and would have a more
significant impact and create the ability for real change to occur if the voices of those who
actually live this on a daily basis were included in the conversation. Everyone involved has the
best interest of the students and faculty at heart and have begun to make steps in the right
direction and with continuing efforts, the occurrences of these crimes will begin to diminish.
 Sources Cited

o "Pennsylvania Sexual Assault Laws." Findlaw. N.p., n.d. Web. 16 Apr. 2017.
o "Task Force Report Details Recommendations for Halting Sexual Misconduct." Penn
State University. N.p., n.d. Web. 16 Apr. 2017.
o Barron, Eric J. "Stand for State. We Care. We Act. We Are." Digging Deeper. N.p., 20
Sept. 2016. Web. 16 Apr. 2017.
o Campus Sexual Violence: Statistics | RAINN. N.p., n.d. Web. 16 Apr. 2017.
o Overview: Important Statistics. N.p., n.d. Web. 16 Apr. 2017.
o Snyder, Susan. "PSU Releases Sexual Assault Survey Results." Philly.com. N.p., 13 Apr.
2016. Web. 16 Apr. 2017.
o State Legislative Developments on Campus Sexual Violence: Issues in the Context of
Safety(n.d.): n. pag. Web. 16 Apr. 2017.
o Svrluga, Susan, Steve Hendrix, Nick Anderson, and Emma Brown. "Male Survivors of
Sex Assaults Often Fear They Won't Be Taken Seriously." The Washington Post. WP
Company, 12 June 2015. Web. 16 Apr. 2017.