Pressured by Activists and Legislators, Colleges Grapple with Rape on Campus By Cynthia L. Cooper Yale law student Alexandra Brodsky said they want immediate police Pennsylvania, which conducts train- stepped into the U.S. Senate Dirksen engagement or required reporting of a ing for college administrators. "Higher Office Building last summer to par- campus sexual assault to the local police education is held to a higher standard, ticipate in a roundtable on campus by campus authorities or a complainant. and it should be," Kiss adds. sexual assault convened by Sen. Claire During her turn to speak, Brodsky said Although few close to the issue McCaskill (D-MO). Brodsky, campus officials discouraged her from challenge whether sexual assault needs an activist, rape survivor, and found- going to the local police after she was to be better addressed on campuses, ing codirector of the influential raped, but she rejects the mandatory differing opinions emerge on how best website KnowYourIX.org, slept at a involvement of local police. "I would to tackle it. friend's apartment the night before and have never come forward if that had Should policy refer to a "victim" prepped in a nearby D.C. cafe. been the only option," she said. or an "accuser"? Should "consent" At the roundtable, she sat with col- A whir of activity during the past be redefined as an affirmative "yes"? lege administrators, justice advocates, 15 months—an Obama task force, What standard of proof should be used and members of Congress. "It was so headline coverage, state and federal in student disciplinary hearings? Are remarkable for me to remember that I legislative proposals, a documentary complainants entitled to have an advo- was an undergraduate only four years movie, online advocacy, and student cate at disciplinary proceedings—and earlier and we couldn't get a meeting protests—catapulted campus sexual what about the accused? with our own school president. And assault from a simmering concern to And the ultimate question:What now we were being heard," says Brod- cauldron-bursting urgency. will bring about lasting change in end- sky, currently a rising 3L at the New "We're really starting to see an ing sexual assault on campus? Haven, Connecticut-based school. investment of resources from college Campuses are grappling seriously The issue at hand—if and how local leadership. What we've seen is a para- with these questions—and, suddenly, police should be involved with campus digm shift," says Alison Kiss, executive legislatures are, too. sexual assault complaints—did not have director of the 25-year-old Clery Cen- "Institutions are so used to consensus. Some roundtable participants ter for Security on Campus in Wayne, being insular. So many campuses are 4 Perspectives ©Evy Mages/Getty Images struggling with what to do," says San- by prevention, training, investigation, as a lawyer that I would see it. Student dra Henriquez, executive director services and protection for survivors, and activism has helped to bring this to the Sen. Claire of the California Coalition Against prompt and fair adjudication. forefront. And you have an administra- McCaskill (D-MO) Sexual Assault in Sacramento, which OCR intensified attention to tion that wants to make college a safe (center) spoke as a released a student-advised report on sexual assault on campus with an place for people." group of bipartisan sexual assault in November 2014 rec- important "Dear Colleague Letter" in senators held a ommending survivor centeredness, 2011, putting federally funded educa- Movement Toward Change news conference community collaboration, and com- tional institutions on notice that they No single force has moved the nee- to discuss the prehensive prevention. would be held to rigorous standards. dle, but slight tremors are softening the reintroduction of Student activists, including sex- ground. In the past year, major colleges a strengthened Urgent Action but Longtime ual assault survivors Annie Clark and and universities have revised and version of Concern Andrea Pino (pictured, opposite)— implemented new campus policies. the Campus The problem of sexual assault on both featured in the new documentary The Massachusetts Institute of Accountability and campus is not new. In 1986, Jeanne film The Hunting Ground—filed Tide Technology (MIT) in Cambridge Safety Act, while Clery was raped and killed by another IX complaints in 2013 on the poor became the first high-profile institu- assault survivors student at Lehigh University in Beth- handling of their cases at the Univer- tion to conduct a sexual assault campus and advocates lehem, Pennsylvania. In 1989, a New sity of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. climate survey, releasing the first set of Andrea Pino (2nd York Times article raised an alarm about Founding an online site, End Rape on results in October 2014. from left) and Annie a 33 percent increase in "acquaintance Campus, they helped students at other Sarah Rankin, MIT's Tide IX coor- Clark (right), looked rapes and sexual assaults" at a state uni- colleges and universities do the same. dinator, says this survey was launched on at the Capitol versity in California. Lawyers also filed claims; some sued in early 2014 when newly appointed on February 26 in What's more, in 2009, the National schools. By the end of 2014, 102 Tide Chancellor Cynthia Barnhart asked Washington, D.C. Institute for Justice, based in Washing- IX complaints about sexual assault on for help in understanding the issue of (photo opposite). ton, D.C., released a comprehensive campus were filed, compared with 19 sexual assault on campus. "It's MIT, analysis indicating that one in five in 2011; in the first quarter of 2015, 51 right? We're a place of inquiry, and data Photo below: college women is a victim of an already had been filed, according to a driven," Rankin says. Cynthia L. Cooper attempted or actual sexual assault. That Department of Education letter to Sen. Collecting data seemed like a natu- same year,"Sexual Assault on Cam- Barbara Boxer (D-CA). ral first step. "We had nothing specific pus:A Frustrating Search for Justice" In April 2014, the White House about MIT," Rankin adds."Commu- by investigative reporters at the Cen- Task Force to Protect Students from nities respond better to specifics about ter for Public Integrity and National Sexual Assault released "Not Alone," their own community" Public Radio, both based in Washing- a report and website (wwwnotalone. Students replied vigorously-35 ton, D.C., probed slipshod handling of gov) calling on institutions of higher percent of the almost 11,000 students campus rapes. education to conduct sexual assault cli- completed a voluntary survey. One While sexual assault on a cam- mate surveys, provide better prevention question permitting open comments pus, as elsewhere, can be prosecuted and response programs, and improve had 1,200 responses."The climate as a crime by local law enforcement, a disciplinary mechanisms. At the same survey itself raised important conversa- university or college has an "indepen- time, OCR issued clarifying 53-page tions in the community," Rankin says. dent responsibility to investigate and guidance on student rights and school Survey results indicate that address sexual violence," according to obligations and released the names of unwanted sexual behavior was expe- the Office for Civil Rights (OCR) of campuses under investigation that were rienced by 24 percent of female the U.S. Department of Education. The previously kept under wraps. students and 7 percent of male stu- matters are handled through school By fall 2014, the White House dents. Less than 5 percent of those disciplinary proceedings—adminis- launched another website, It's on Us affected reported the incidents. Gradu- trative hearings in which student or (itsonus.org), urging bystander inter- ate students and undergraduates alike faculty adjudicators review complaints vention."Understand that if someone expressed difficulties with unwanted and apply institutional sanctions up to does not or cannot consent to sex, it's sexual behavior and confusion about and including expulsion. rape," it states. how.to access campus resources. Three federal laws apply to issues "The last five years there has MIT held town hall meetings, related to sexual assault on campus:Title been change that feels like a genera- revamped reporting processes, and added IX, the Clery Act, and the Family Edu- tional shift," says Colby Bruno, senior staff to its sexual violence prevention cational Rights and Privacy Act (see legal counsel of the Victim Rights program.The university posted tools on sidebar on page 7). Colleges and univer- Law Center in Boston, who has been a dedicated section of its website, shar- sities are expected to report on crime working on the issue for more than a ing its climate survey planning design, statistics and take action on sexual assault decade. "I never thought in my time focus group testing, implementation, Commission on Women in the Profession Summer 2015 5 post-survey review, evaluation, commu- require federally funded colleges and committees with power to override nications, and tips.These tools can be universities to conduct annual sexual victim anonymity; require college and used on other campuses, too. assault climate surveys, give victims a university employees to report sexual In January 2015, the Association of private right of action, establish a fed- assaults; create agreements for services American Universities in Washington, eral interagency task force, and provide with a local rape crisis center; and place D.C., announced that it intended to fines for Title IX violations rather than a notation on transcripts of accused stu- conduct a comprehensive sexual assault the sole (and improbable) sanction of dents who are suspended, expelled, or climate survey on 28 campuses. the school's losing all federal funds. withdraw The state leapt into the spot- Advocates report that quiet changes The Campus Accountability light because of a later-retracted story are helping on the ground.