It is a conversation that doesn’t seem to be over. Government figures show that women between the ages of 18-24 are the most likely targets of rape and sexual assault. Exact numbers are hard to come by since not all cases are reported but campus rape has become an all too frequent news story. I already wrote about the problem here in past blog posts recently. New legislations is why I am talking about it again. The White House addressed the problem with the It’s On Us. org   Movement.  In many cases as in on campus rape, it is up to the school to sort things out and figure how to deal with the problem.

Girls often remember saying no to the sexual advances and the boys continue on ignoring their pleas. The boys act like they are entitled to their advances. In the hours before the assault often they have both been drinking. There is no intimacy involved and if the girls were sober they feel that perhaps they could have had the energy to fight them off more. The boy’s response is usually to tell the girls in the aftermath to forget it and get over it.  Some girls go to the police and are promptly told that there is usually not enough evidence to proceed with charges.  Now schools are stepping up and finding the boys guilty of non-consensual sex and follow up with school suspensions.

It can take a month before the school actually takes action. The same Title 9 Rules that bans discrimination on the sports playing field also bans sexual harassment at school. New York Senator Kirsten Gillibrand agrees that under Title 9 that colleges are responsible for maintaining a safe environment for the students. There are nearly 100 colleges under investigation for possible violations of Title 9 in the cases of rape and or sexual abuse. Now some schools who are not sure of liability are paying a victim a year of college tuition which could be about $33,000 dollars.  Is that an admission that the college mishandles cases?  What about the guy who rapes the victim? No mention of him?

Now some males are stepping up and saying the school unfairly convicted him of assault as in Boulder, Colorado.  An Attorney representing many male students from various colleges suggest that males shouldn’t ever be alone in a room with a girl to prevent accusations.  No one wants injustice on either side of the sexes but something has to be done in this he said she said problem. The Senator’s solution to this problem is to sponsor a bill that would require colleges to make it easier for victims to come forward and fine schools that didn’t comply.  She believes that the bill might even pass this year with this congress.  Maybe then students will have a little more faith in their schools.

Everyone agrees that this needs to stop.