Mullins 1

Starr Mullins
Dr. Elizabeth Cuddy
30 October 2016
English 101
Sexual assault on college campuses.
After graduating high school, young adults around the world prepare to leave their
families to go off to college where they start their lives as independent college students. Going
into college students look forward to an exciting year of participating in events such as
Homecoming, joining clubs of their major, and even making new friends. Although this is not
always the case, unfortunately many students do not have the opportunity to experience college
because they are sexually assaulted while on campus. It is more common for females to be
sexually assaulted on campus than males, but males can still be assaulted. Activist, writer, and
educator, Stephanie Gilmore, gave a 90-minute talk at Western Kentucky University on
September 17th, 2014 about sexual violence on college campuses. She states that 45 people will
be assaulted on college campuses (Gilmore) and according to the U.S Department of Justice
statistics show that one in six women and one in thirty-three men will be assaulted during their
time in college (U.S Department of Justice). No one wants to leave their home for the first time
without their parents or guardian and experience a sexual assault. Sexual assaults on college
campuses are ignored because of the views of rape culture, the injustice of victims, and a flawed
justice system. Although there are negatives about rape, like many blame the victim and they
rarely get justice, people and organizations such as RAINN, Womens Law, After Silence, and

Mullins 2
End Rape On Campus, who support rape victims and their families come together to make their
voices heard.
Women do not receive the attention they deserve when it comes to a sexual assault
because society has the outlook to either blame the victim or to make excuses for the suspects of
these assaults. This is often known as Rape Culture. Rape Culture can be defined as a way to
blamed victims of sexual assault and normalized male sexual violence. For example, when a
woman is raped, she always gets questioned; What was she wearing? or Was she drinking/
how many drinks did she have? (WAVAW). Instead of trying to help a victim, society tries to
make the victim feel guilty or ashamed of being violated for something they had no control over.
In 2013, the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs made a tip list to prevent a rape from
happening. Some of the tips included telling your attacker you are menstruating or that you
have a disease. It even went as far as to vomiting or urinating on your attacker so that they
can leave you alone(Mungin). Some students on the campus asked why werent more effective
ways of preventing rape. We live in a society that tells girls and young women to not get raped
instead of telling boys and young men not to rape. The university took the step of having a
seminar about teaching young women how to not get raped instead of having one for the males
telling them why it is never okay to rape anyone.
In October of 2014, a young woman was raped in her dorm room at Old Dominion
University. The young woman said that the campus police interfered with her getting medical
attention to save any evidence left behind. Rather than been taken to the hospital for medical
treatment, the victim (who wanted to remain anonymous) was taken to the police department for
interrogation. While in interrogation, she was not allowed to eat, drink, or even use the
bathroom. They even asked the victim questions like Do you like rough sex? and made

Mullins 3
comments like Im just trying to find the crime here. (The Associated Press). These officers in
no way, shape, or form helped this innocent young woman find who did this horrible thing to
her. Instead, they made her feel even more violated. It sounds like the police took her being
assaulted and violated as some sort of a joke. Old Dominion Universitys police should have had
some sort of consequence for their behavior because this is probably not the first time an incident
like this has happened. A similar situation happened at Columbia University when Emma
Sulkowicz was raped in her dorm. When the chairperson of the University decided against
expelling the student that assaulted her, Emma carried her mattress around campus until she got
justice(Warren). But sometimes going after justice by yourself doesnt always work out.
The justice system sometimes fail when it comes to getting justice for victims of sexual
assaults. They tend to look out for the person that did the assaulting rather than the person who
got assaulted. For instance, David Becker was accused of two counts of rape and one count of
assault and battery after two people fell asleep at a party. As a replacement for serving two years
in prison, Becker was given two years of probation and was allowed to serve his probation out of
state where he planned to attend college. In addition to getting probation, Becker did not have to
register as a sex offender and if he finishes his probation, the charges will not appear of his
record (Boston Herald). In the case of Brock Turner vs. the People, Turner, who was a swimmer
at Stanford University, raped a 22-year old women who was intoxicated and unconscious in
January 2015. He was indicted with five charges, but only plead guilty to three of them. While
the prosecutor urged the judge for a six-year sentence, he was sentence to six months in a county
jail but only ended up serving three months in custody (Grinberg and Shoichet). The judges on
these cases gave the suspects a slap on the wrists for serious crimes. When it comes to sexual

Mullins 4
assaults with unconscious victims, witnesses, and evidence, probation should not have been on
the table as a consequence.
Although rape is a terrible thing that no one should have to go through, there are people
and organizations that help take a stand to help those who have been affected by sexual assaults
and violence. RAINN (Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network) is the nations largest antisexual violence organization that created and runs the National Sexual Assault Hotline. RAINN
also partners with local sexual assault service providers and operates the Department of Defense
helpline. They have programs that prevent sexual violence and help victims get justice. After
Silence is an online support group, message board, and chat room for survivors. It is designed to
help victims talk to one another while recovering from a sexual assault. Their mission is to
support, empower, validate, and educate survivors as well as their families and supporters.
Womens Law is an organization that provides legal information and online support to victims of
domestic violence and sexual assault. End Rape On Campus (EROC) works with students and
administrators to make sure the best practices are being enforced on campus when it comes to
sexual violence on college campuses. Their vision is to have a world where everyone has an
education that is free from violence, and until then, all survivors are believed, trusted, and
supported
Sexual Assault on College Campuses is a serious problem that doesnt get the attention
that it needs. Organizations like Womens Law, RAINN, After Silence, End Rape On Campus
and many more, take the time out to help those victims of sexual assaults. Preventing sexual
assaults should be more of a males role in society than a female because males cause most of
these assaults. Colleges around the nation can learn from the mistakes of other universities like

Mullins 5
Columbia and Old Dominion. There can even be a call out to local and state governments to
make sexual assaults known so the issue can get to a federal level.

Mullins 6

Work Cited
"About RAINN." RAINN. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 Nov. 2016. <https://www.rainn.org/about-rainn>.
"Home." END RAPE ON CAMPUS. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 Nov. 2016.
<http://endrapeoncampus.org/>.
Gilmore, Stephanie. "Sexual Violence on College Campuses"" Western Kentucky University,
Bowling Green, KY. 18 Sept. 2014. Access World News [NewsBank]. Web. 28 Nov. 2016.

Grinberg, Emanuella, and Catherine E. Shoichet. "Brock Turner Released after 3 Months in
Jail." CNN. Cable News Network, 2 Sept. 2016. Web. 06 Nov. 2016.
<http://www.cnn.com/2016/09/02/us/brock-turner-release-jail/>.

"Judge Assailed after Giving Probation for Sexual Assault." Boston Herald [Boston] 24 Aug. 2016,
ALL ed., NEWS sec.: 8. Access World News [NewsBank]. Web. 6 Nov. 2016.
<http://libweb3.hamptonu.edu:2090/resources/doc/nb/news/15EF7F478CFE3F88?p=AWNB>.

Mungin, Lateef. "College Women Told to Urinate or Vomit to Deter a Rapist." CNN. Cable News
Network, 20 Feb. 2013. Web. 04 Nov. 2016.
<http://edition.cnn.com/2013/02/20/justice/colorado-rape-prevention-guidelines>.

Mullins 7
Warren, James. "Gilly Targets Campus Rape." New York Daily News 9 Apr. 2014, SPORTS FINAL
REPLATE ed., NEWS sec.: 2. Access World News [NewsBank]. Web. 5 Nov. 2016.
<http://libweb3.hamptonu.edu:2090/resources/doc/nb/news/14D15DDCA60EA918?p=AWNB>.

WAVAW.ca. "What Is Rape Culture?" WAVAW Women Against Violence Against Women. N.p., n.d.
Web. 16 Nov. 2016. <http://www.wavaw.ca/what-is-rape-culture/>.

"Welcome to After Silence, an Online Support Group, Message Board, and Chat Room for Rape,
Sexual Assault, and Sexual Abuse Survivors. You Are Not Alone, You Are Not Broken, and
You Can Heal." Rape & Sexual Abuse Survivor Message Board, Support Forums & Chat Room.
N.p., n.d. Web. 14 Nov. 2016. <http://www.aftersilence.org/>.

"Woman on-campus Rape at ODU Was Followed by 8-hour Interrogation." WAVYTV. The Associated
Press, 13 Oct. 2016. Web. 05 Nov. 2016. <http://wavy.com/2016/10/13/woman-on-campus-rapeat-odu-was-followed-by-8-hour-interrogation/>.