March 7, 2002

by Cindy Hanford, Web Writer

"I felt betrayed, because I went to the university seeking help, and in the end, they basically did nothing about what happened to me," a female college student told The Washington Post this week. "All I wanted was for him to be kicked out of school so I could try to move on with my life and not have to see him."

This recent sexual assault case at Catholic University in DC illustrates the problems faced by women on college campuses when universities attempt to adjudicate violent crime as if it were academic cheating. A board of three Catholic University officials observed while the 18-year-old woman had the harrowing experience of confronting her attacker with graphic details about what happened and of being questioned by him. The board found that the male student had sexually assaulted his classmate while she was intoxicated, but his only punishment was to lose his housing privileges for a short time. Meanwhile, the woman feels she cannot return to school there in the fall.

According to a federal study, about three percent of college women are sexually attacked and thirteen percent are stalked during an academic year. "The Sexual Victimization of College Women" was released last year by the U.S. Justice Department's National Institute of Justice and Bureau of Justice Statistics. The report is based on interviews with 4,446 college women (employing a nationally representative sample) and examines the frequency and nature of sexual assault on college campuses in the United States.

Of the women surveyed, 2.8 percent experienced either a completed rape (1.7 percent) or an attempted rape (1.1 percent). The victimization rate was 27.7 rapes per 1,000 female students; 22.8 percent of the women were raped more than once, for a rate of incidents of 35.3 per 1,000 students. For a campus with 10,000 women, the number of rapes could exceed 350 per year.

The study recognizes that "college campuses host large concentrations of young women who are at greater risk for rape and other forms of sexual assault than women in the general population or in a comparable age group." The vast majority of the sexual assaults occurred in the evening and in residences, with 10 percent taking place in a fraternity residence. Ninety percent of the victims knew their attacker, who was usually a classmate, ex-boyfriend or acquaintance.

Respondents in this study reported sexual attacks to law enforcement officials less than 5% of the time — demonstrating the difficulty in trying to adequately document rape statistics. Victim advocates know that victims rarely report rapes to authorities because of the social stigma still attached to the victim and the difficulties of pursuing a rape charge in the criminal justice system. This study of college women found that they "do not characterize their sexual victimizations as a crime for a number of reasons (such as embarrassment, not clearly understanding the legal definition of rape, or not wanting to define someone they know who victimized them as a rapist) or because they blame themselves for their sexual assault." In order to overcome these barriers, questions in this telephone survey were specifically designed so that respondents would give answers detailing the specific nature of the attack.

A number of factors make it particularly difficult to document the problem of rape on college campuses. Campus officials try to discourage the reporting of rapes to the proper authorities and to handle the matter through campus disciplinary measures — a totally inappropriate response to violent crime. This is done in order to protect the image of their campus and despite the strengthening of reporting requirements in the Campus Crime Statistics Act. The female student at Catholic University said university staff did not explain the process of reporting the crime to police, nor the importance of having police collect forensic evidence immediately.

If a student insists on filing an internal complaint, the system used by Catholic University is typical of those employed by many colleges and universities to handle allegations of rape and sexual assault. A decision by a university committee carries no weight in criminal or civil law, and the worst punishment could be expulsion. If the man had been convicted of criminal sex abuse in DC, he could have faced 20 years in prison. Victims facing a lifetime of repercussions from their traumatic experiences often feel betrayed by the light punishments handed out by campus committees. The Catholic University student said that her experience has made her more reluctant to file charges and participate in a trial. "I am not sure that I want to be put through that whole process again and face him and answer his lawyer's questions and have them question my character," she said.

In addition to the threat of campus rape and its aftermath, college women are also more likely than other women to be stalked. "The Sexual Victimization of College Women" also documented stalking, an issue not often studied. The women were asked, "Since school began in fall 1996, has anyone — from a stranger to an ex-boyfriend — repeatedly followed you, watched you, phoned, written, e-mailed, or communicated with you in other ways that seemed obsessive and made you afraid or concerned for your safety?" For an academic year, the study reported an incident rate of 156.5 per 1,000 female students — 13.1 percent of the women in the sample. By contrast, a National Violence Against Women Survey (by the National Institute of Justice and the Centers for Disease Control) found that 8 percent of women of all ages had been stalked at some time during their life. Again, college women are more vulnerable.

Because of the advocacy and hard work of women's rights groups, Violence Against Women Act funds are available through the Department of Justice for colleges and universities to address the issue of campus violence against women. Advocates hope that colleges will make use of the available funds rather than ignoring or denying the problem — a practice that endangers women's lives.

To order a copy of the complete study or to download the full text, go to:
http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/abstract/svcw.htm

See "Campus Rape Ignored"
http://www.now.org/nnt/fall99/campus.html

More information about problems with documenting crimes on campus, see:
http://www.campussafety.org/