Tannika Winston

Ms. Scaife
Rhet 1312
October 25, 2016
Creative Title
If you were sexually assaulted or harassed on your school campus would you feel safe
and protected? Who would you run first? Do you think the issue will be resolved or overlooked?
Being a student on campus you should know the answer to each of these questions. Every
university should have a policy that fully protects students from any form of sexual assault.
The first question that should be clarified between students and faculty is What is rape?
In a documentary that gave perspectives on rape by Framingham State University students
answered this question. One of the students referred to rape as forcefully having sex with
someone. Yes that is the common definition that people have for defying rape. Another way it
was defined was a person getting taken advantage of. How can the University of Arkansas-Little
Rock or any university better equip faculty or staff for when any form of assault is taken place.?
No matter how a person finds a way to define it. Rape is assault.
Universities dont have a good handle on how frequently sexual assaults take place. The
reason is that there is often little or no cross checking between the police, and counseling centers.
This was stated by source named Colleges in denial about campus sexual assault problem.
Universities should have a grip on how often sexual assaults happen. Once there is an
understanding they should have a process on how each case should be resolved. When it stated
on how universities should compare with the police and counseling centers. It could be very
helpful on how to at least get the time period on when assaults are at its highest and what type of

assault takes place. With the evidence it could lead to more ways to decrease campus assaults. It
could also open up to other assaults that would have taken place at the same time. Universities
should take the time to analyze and compare with people that students might run to first that
aren't teachers or faculty.
All universities should agree that sexual assault is one of the main things that could
happen on campus. If the University of Arkansas- Little Rock was asked if they were positive
that their policy system protected students from assault and the process to finding the accuser
was reliable and secure? What would their answer be? It should be clarified in the policy that
was developed was reliable. Even a statistic could be helpful on how many cases were resolved
and how the assaults are possibly decreasing each year. Using information again from The
College Presidents are still in denial about assault on campus. The title gives it away why are
the leaders of a university still negligent to what is taking arise. The article states that sixty-eight
percent of college presidents disagreed that sexual assault was major on their campus. Which left
a lingering six percent that agreed that assault was the case. Taking from these numbers
universities presidents could still be unaware of the assaults taking place on campus. Opening the
eyes of the presidents concerning overlooked situations that could start to affect the school
majorly is something that should be addressed.
What if universities sexual harassment policy prohibited factors that could help lead to
assault? A statistic that was given was that more than 50% of sexual assault cases on college
campuses are directly related to alcohol use (source). Universities should have an area on how to
handle these types of situations because it is likely to take place on campus. Could the misuse of
alcohol be the key to stopping majority of the assaults that happen on an university campus?
When the students were asked how in control they were of themselves when they drink. Most of

the interviewees said that it depends on how much they drink. So when a student drinks more
they become more vulnerable to being taken advantage of (source). Drinking should be not
allowed on campus, it should be a matter that is followed through with.
When trying to find out how safe each student actually feels on campus could be nearly
impossible, but there is a survey that can be taken by each student. AAU climate survey on
Sexual assault and sexual misconduct. This will result in the overall climate of the campus and
from there the universities start making steps to improve the climate or make sure it stays
positive. Knowing what is the factors are makes it easier on how to approach the situation as a
whole. What major things are reoccuring within the school and what could be done to help.
Taking the survey periodically could keep the university be informed on how the climate has
become better. Who knows could be one of the reasons a person chooses to go to the university
because they know that they will be in an safe environment while trying to get an education.

Works Cited
http://pact5.org/
This a website that started a national movement to prevent assaults from happening on college
campuses. It is full of student documentaries on situations that they have experienced assault or
they know of someone who has. It was started by students and faculty in 5 different universities.
They would like for other universities to join the movement. I believe this is something that
UALR should do to have more awareness on campus about the topic.

http://invw.org/sexual-assault/
This is a organization that tries to strengthen communities and engage citizens in civic life and
help set the policy agenda in the Northwest.
It provides links to different helpful sources. One link that I like that they provided and believe
will be helpful is the one titled Colleges in denial about campuses sexual assault problem
advocates say http://invw.org/2010/02/25/colleges-in-denial-abou/

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/03/16/college-presidents-sexual-assault_n_6875002.html
This article gave information on how they were collecting surveys on universities presidents.
How they felt about their college on assault if they thought it was a major issue or not.

http://www.aau.edu/Climate-Survey.aspx?id=16525
This article will help on the climate survey for campuses.was to provide participating institutions
of higher education with information to inform policies to prevent and respond to sexual assault
and misconduct. Possible survey that could be taken at UALR.

Streng, Tara K., and Akiko Kamimura. "Perceptions Of University Policies To Prevent Sexual Assault On Campus
Among College Students In The Usa." Sexuality Research & Social Policy: A Journal Of The NSRC (2016):
PsycINFO. Web. 27 Oct. 2016.