Sexual Assault on College Campus

        Sexual Assault on College Campus

The problem

Sexual assault on campus is a common phenomenon in institutions of higher education in the United States. A study examining the prevalence of sexual assault in campuses reveals that female students bear the greatest burden of sexual assault victimization (Winerman, 2018). The author revealed that the percentage of women who become victims of sexual assault vary between 19 and 27 per cent while the data on male victims vary between 6 and 8 per cent. The phenomenon of sexual assault has invited federal, state, and local responses. In 2015, 27 per cent of female students revealed that they had encountered sexual assault (Withers, 2019). The phenomenon manifests in unwanted contact. Sexual assault on campus has attracted significant attention from the media and the federal government.

Historically, university administrators had the exclusive jurisdiction of adjudicating on cases of sexual assault and rape in universities, away from the criminal justice system. Victims of sexual assault encounter devastating consequences which can affect their learning and normal life (Withers, 2019). Due to the increased focus on sexual assault, the U.S. Congress introduced the Campus Sexual Violence Elimination Act to enforce mandatory training for students and employees. Despite the enactment of the Act, some campuses encounter difficulties in complying with the law. Newlands and O’Donohue, (2016) attributed the failure of compliance to the limited guidance that campuses have received regarding enforcement of programs for prevention. Guidelines by the administration of President Barack Obama offered little information regarding the implementation of the policies that the administration had recommended to avert sexual assault in U.S. campuses. Despite the challenges of implementing prevention strategies, the need to reduce the rates of sexual assault in U.S. campuses cannot be underestimated. The next section of the paper highlights some of the strategies for preventing sexual violence.

Solution

The prevalence of sexual assault on campuses in the United States has raised concerns regarding the safety of students on campuses. In the recent past, there have been concerted efforts by federal, state, and local authorities to address the problem of sexual assault in higher learning institutions. The centre for disease control and prevention developed a plan focusing on the prevention of sexual assault on campus (Dills, Fowler, & Payne, 2016). The plan focuses on primary prevention and emphasizes the reduction of statistics on sexual violence. CDC utilizes a social-ecological model to foster an understanding of the effects of the strategies for preventing sexual violence (Dills, Fowler, & Payne, 2016). The approach reveals the link between the individual, relationship, community and societal factors.

Exploring Opportunities for Prevention

The campus community encompasses large and small communities. In this regard, the audience that sexual violence prevention campaign should target include the entire population in college and stakeholders, such as students, parents, staff and faculty (Bao & Gosney, 2015). Taking specific actions by these categories of the audience is paramount. Fundamentally, the campus audience should identify champions that can keep and make prevention efforts visible. Champions in the campus context include students, the leadership of the institution and staff. In so doing, the champions can enhance the public conversation around prevention efforts. There is a need for campuses to develop a memorandum of understanding (MOUs) with partners in the community (Dills, Fowler, & Payne, 2016). The MOUs should detail specific roles and responsibilities on the courses of action that should be pursued to mitigate sexual assault on campus. The MOUs enhance thoughtful discussion and specifies the roles of each agency in the prevention efforts (Dills, Fowler, & Payne, 2016). The MOUs also allow mutual involvement between various actors in the promotion of prevention and response to the incidences of sexual assault cases in campuses.

Engaging students in the planning and programming of sexual assault interventions is paramount for effective response. Students are the victims of sexual assault, and they play a pivotal role towards the development, implementation and evaluation of programs for prevention (Dills, Fowler, & Payne, 2016). By creating roles for students, the campus community will ensure that students become peer educators and advisors on matters relating to sexual assault. Active student participation will ensure the development of useful messages that can inform various audiences on campus on mitigation measures. According to van Brunt et al. (2019), developing partnerships with health services is an important strategy for responding to cases of sexual assault in campuses and colleges. Sexual assault is a health concern, and partnerships with health services can facilitate prevention and promote student health (Dills, Fowler, & Payne, 2016). Health departments, local emergency departments, and wellness centres offer first-hand assistance for survivors of sexual assault.

Fostering Protective Environments

Sexual assault intervention requires a policy framework that facilitates prevention. Campuses should develop relevant policies that offer a legal framework for the prevention of sexual assault. The policies should include prevention messages in classroom training as well as during events on campus (Dills, Fowler, & Payne, 2016). Policy formulation towards sexual assault prevention should also underscore strict codes of conduct for students. Usually, the student handbooks that students receive during admission emphasize the need for adherence to the codes of conduct. In this regard, reinforcing the codes of conduct by student leadership and faculty leadership can promote responsible student life in campus and reduce the incidence of sexual assault. In the campus environment, students should easily access sexual assault policies through the websites of respective universities (Winerman, 2018). Such websites should be easy to navigate to allow students to read and comprehend the expectations of behaviour that their institutions desire from them.

Supporting Victims/Survivors of Sexual Assault

Sexual assault portends far-reaching psychological implications on victims/survivors. In this regard, there is a need for the staff and faculty in campuses to respond to the psychological impacts of sexual assault such as trauma. The provision of resources for students and encouraging disclosure of sexual assault cases is paramount (Winerman, 2018). Staff and faculty should make deliberate efforts to refer students in dire need of help to counselling centres to promote recovery from the effect of sexual assault. Such students can also be referred to wellness centres and advocacy centres for support. In 2013, the U.S. Congress, through an act, mandated institutions of higher learning to offer training on the awareness and prevention of sexual violence in campuses (Newlands & O’Donohue, 2016). The act targeted new students and employees that join campus. The act sought to offer protection to students from any incidences of sexual assault/violence and required universities to employ programs that practically decreased the rates of sexual assault. Separate gender programs for both men and women can effectively address sexual violence in colleges and universities.

Conclusion

A review of selected sources of literature has shown that sexual assault is a phenomenon in U.S. campuses. Female students represent the highest proportion of victims. Although U.S. universities exercised exclusive jurisdiction on sexual assault cases since the 1960s, recent Congressional intervention, such as the enactment of Campus Sexual Violence Elimination Act, offers a legal framework for preventing sexual assault. Some of the solutions suggested in the literature include a partnership with health services, identifying champions, fostering protective environment through policy formulation, and supporting victims and survivors of sexual assault.

References

Bao, W., & Gosney, J. S. (2015). Chapter 159: Justice for Sexual Assault Victims or Big Brother in Your Dorm Room: Expanding Surveillance on College Campuses. The U. of Pac. L. Rev., 47, 599.

Dills, J., Fowler, D., & Payne, G. (2016). Sexual Violence on Campus: Strategies for Prevention. Atlanta, GA: National Center for Injury Prevention and Control, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Retrieved from https://www.cdc.gov/violenceprevention/pdf/campussvprevention.pdf

Newlands, R., & O’Donohue, W. (2016). A critical review of sexual violence prevention on college campuses. Acta Psychopathologica, 2(2), 14.

Van Brunt, B., Murphy, A., Pescara-Kovach, L., & Crance, G. L. (2019). Early identification of grooming and targeting in predatory sexual behavior on college campuses. Violence and gender, 6(1), 16-24.

Winerman, L. (October 2018). Making Campuses Safer. American Psychological Association. 49(9). Retrieved from https://www.apa.org/monitor/2018/10/campuses-safer

Withers, M. (2019). Preventing Sexual Assault on College Campuses in the United States. In Global Health Leadership (pp. 107-117). Springer, Cham.