Rape on America's campuses (2007)

At American universities students immerse themselves in many extracurricular activities, partly for personal interest but partly to increase their job prospects. Universities invest heavily in their sports teams as much revenue is made from televised games and sporting merchandise. Unique to the American university system is the Greek system of sororities, for women, and fraternities, for men. These sororities and fraternities vary in size, importance and function, but dominate the student scene at many universities, especially universities that are not in urban locations. Many students will pledge to join a particular sorority or fraternity because their parents or older siblings were in the same one when they were at university. Alumni networks are stronger and more financially supportive of their universities and new alumni than in the UK, as are the alumni networks of sororities or fraternities, and this fact alone will attract prospective pledges eager to bolster their future job prospects.

One in four American university women report surviving rape or attempted rape. In a study of 5,000 students across 100 American universities, one in five reported that they had been raped (OneInFourUSA.org).

Over the course of one academic year, 3% of women at university in the United Stateswill be a victim of rape or attempted rape (US Justice Department's National Institute of Justice & Bureau of Justice Statistics 2001). This same study estimated that 13% of women had been stalked since the beginning of the academic year. 60% of rapes that occurred on campus took place in the victim's own residence and 31% in other living quarters. The study also found that 10% of all rapes took place at fraternities.

There are many factors that affect the way that the universities handle rape cases. Whilst all colleges and universities are mandated by federal law to have and distribute policies that deal with rape and sexual assault, they are often aimed at minimising the ensuing damage done to the university's own reputation. Most universities have their own police departments that are not linked to the city or county's official police departments and the health centre or student welfare centre is usually run by the university's own administration.

A 2000 joint report from the US Department of Justice, National Institute of Justice and Bureau of Justice Statistics found that rape and sexual assault on campus is highly underreported; less than 5% of college women that are victims of rape or attempted rape report it to the police. Many factors may affect their decision to report, especially if drugs or alcohol were involved as most universities have clear and stringent zero-tolerance policy on drugs or under-aged drinking (the US legal age for the consumption of alcohol is 21).

V-Day is a global campaign to end violence against women. As part of this campaign performances of Eve Ensler's The Vagina Monologues are performed in communities across the globe to raise awareness and funds for local organisations working to end violence against women. Since 1998, as part of the V-Day College Campaign, college and university communities gather to watch its women stage performances for V-Day. This creates spaces and impetus for dialogues, debates and actions to end violence in their communities.

After a V-Day performance to raise money for a local rape crisis centre at an American university this year, one of the student actresses reported that she had transferred to the university in the middle of the academic year because of the way that her rape case was handled by the university administration and wider community at her previous university.

She was raped at a fundraiser held at her rapist's fraternity. Her rapist was a star player on the university's football team, and his father, one of the university's alumni, was a major donor to the university and the rapist's fraternity. The university told her to 'consider the impact of (your) decision on (your) future' and it was impressed upon her that university's extensive alumni network would not be supportive of her future job applications that privileged alumni. Her parents filed a civil suit against her rapist but agreed to settle out of court, the main reason being that, without the prospect of another scholarship at another university, she would not be able to complete her education. One of the conditions of settling out of court was her silence.

She said, "Although I am legally bound not to mention his name or speak about anything that happened, I feel like I am able to say everything I want to every night that we do this show. You can see that all the girls have dragged their frat boy boyfriends to this so when I get up there I am talking to each of them."

ORGANISATIONS & WEBSITES

Campus Justice

http://www.campusjustice.com/

Rape is…

http://www.rapeis.org/activism/campus/campus.html

Security on Campus

http://www.securityoncampus.org/

V-Day

http://www.vday.org/

http://www.vdayuk.org/

POLICY & REPORTS

Facts About The Issue (pdf download)
Students Active for Ending Rape (SAFER)