Argument on Campus Sexual Violence

Did you know that twenty to twenty-five percent of undergraduate women are victims of

sexual assault? Did you know that ninety percent of those women dont even report the

violence? Out of all these women who get assaulted, only ten percent report their abuse! Nancy

Chi Cantalupo is one of the many to address this, and argue for a solution. In 2014, Nancy Chi

Cantalupo voiced her opinion in the article How Should Colleges and Universities Respond to

Peer Sexual Violence on Campus? What the Current Legal Environment Tells Us. She argues

that colleges need to do more to encourage the reporting of campus sexual assaults (P1).

Throughout this text, Cantalupo takes advantage of the three appeals- logos, ethos, and pathos- in

order to expertly craft her piece and create an excellent argument.

As said above, Cantalupo wishes to persuade her readers that colleges need to do more to

encourage reporting sexual violence. She starts off her argument with two eye opening

sentences, summed up to the idea that ninety percent of the women who are assaulted dont

report because they think no one will believe them and that various authorities, especially legal

and medical authorities, will be hostile (P1). Another shocking fact she provides is that college

men say they may rape because of the failure of institutions to treat such violence seriously

(P1), and that they would continue to rape so long as they dont get caught. For a conversational

piece, Cantalupos argument is masterfully organized; its chronological (in order of

importance), its climatic, and it is very easily understandable for its intended audience: any

scholarly student or government worker. In order for her reader to understand, she places her

argument into several different categories; first is the introduction, then Understanding Legal

Developments, followed by Institutional Responses Must Change, Encourage Survivors to

Stay in School, and Avoid the Criminal Justice Model. In order to achieve this mastery
however, there must also be appeals so that the reader doesnt bore out and stop reading; this is

where perhaps the most commonly used appeal comes into play: logos.

Throughout her argument, Cantalupo makes use of all verbal appeals, however logos is

most often used to direct her argument and prove her points. She uses facts and studies from as

far back as 1972 (P2) to as recent as 2008. Take an example from paragraph two: First, laws

such as Title IX, the Jeanne Clery Disclosure of Campus Security Policy and Campus Crime

Statistics Act, and the Violence Against Women Act have increasingly focused on campus peer

sexual violence. This, and the two sentences afterwards, are observational facts, relying on past

information and relating it to current day. Cantalupo uses many versions of this, as it is seen

again in paragraph four; however, it is not the only type of fact she uses. Statistical facts,

surveys, and quotations are all used to help further her argument. With these facts do come some

form of fallacy though. In most cases, Cantalupo will present facts, and then use opinion to back

them up, as is done in paragraphs six and seven. Despite this fallacy in logos, Cantalupo is still

able to convey and convince readers that she may be onto something when presenting her

argument. Logos alone isnt enough to persuade her readers however, therefore she also makes

excellent use of pathos.

Sexual violence is a very emotional topic, so it is only right that pathos is used to convey

Cantalupos message. The objective of this argument is to convince people that colleges need to

do more to encourage reporting of sexual violence. Cantalupo takes advantage of this by

providing opinions from those who have been assaulted (P1) and from those who have assaulted

(P1), automatically invoking an emotional response from her readers; whether it be sadness,

relief, anger, or justice, the reader will experience some sort of emotional response in

support/denial of the argument at hand. Most of the time, pathos is used directly after a fact has
been stated, such is the case in paragraph one. An absolutely great way to start an argument is to

provide a fact that will make the readers jaw drop in disappointment; such is the case with

Cantalupos opening sentences. She provides the shocking fact that ninety percent of sexually

abused college women dont report their abuse, and gives reasons why they wont report and

why the perpetrators think they can keep abusing. Examples like this are used throughout the

paper, and each time a reader first comes across these facts and emotional responses behind

them, they start to stand behind Cantalupos argument more and more; she leaves no room for

one to question the logic behind her reasoning.

Lastly, no argument can be truly believable unless some sort of credibility is presented

about the arguer. Cantalupo is assistant dean for clinical programs at the Georgetown University

Law Center in Washington, D.C., where she constantly has dealt with abuse cases (Profile Nancy

Cantalupo). She provides that she has written her argument so that schools comply with various

legal mechanisms in order to encourage those who have been victimized to come forward and

not be afraid of reporting. At the end of her argument, she provides books and periodicals used to

help further her research and prove her point, also furthering her credibility as an author. By the

end of her argument, there is no denying that she has done research on the topic and that she can

be a trustworthy source, perhaps being the last step in which people need in order to finally side

with her argument.

Unfortunately this issue is still very relevant today. Campus sexual violence has long

been an issue, but it has never ceased or stilled in any way. Most people turn a blind eye to those

claiming they have been victimized, and further discourage the reporting of this violence. By

providing her argument, Cantalupo aims to stop the nonsense. She shows how much of a

problem sexual violence truly is towards women, and how unfair and unequally they are treated
if they try to report it. This just adds to the fact that women are looked down on when they claim

to be victimized; they are automatically treated differently and subsided from their group. The

argument is created so that this may never happen again; it is created to combat all the

ridiculousness women have to go through and feel when they report; it is created so that

reporting may be supported and encouraged instead of looked down upon. Nothing is needed to

change in this argument, as Cantalupo clearly knows what she is writing about and is able to

convince any of her readers that her argument is indeed valid and needs to happen within the

next generation.

Works Cited

Cantalupo, Nancy Chi. "Colleges Need to Do More to Encourage Reporting of Campus

Sexual Assaults." Sexual Violence, edited by Amanda Hiber, Greenhaven Press, 2014. Opposing

Viewpoints. Opposing Viewpoints in Context,

link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/EJ3010163418/OVIC?u=viva_jmu&xid=d736626d. Accessed 4

Oct. 2017. Originally published as "How Should Colleges and Universities Respond to Peer

Sexual Violence on Campus? What the Current Legal Environment Tells Us," Women in Higher

Education, vol. 3, no. 1, Sept. 2010.

Nancy Chi Cantalupo. Profile Nancy Cantalupo , Georgetown Law, 2015,

www.law.georgetown.edu/faculty/cantalupo-nancy-chi.cfm#.