Maybe Society Is Getting Better

In 2012, 40% of colleges in the US reported zero cases of sexual assault. Four years later, ex-Stanford swimmer rapist Brock Turner was released after three months on good behavior for sexually assaulting an unconscious Stanford student.

Back in 2015, The JagWire, then a physical paper, wrote an article about “What Colleges Aren’t Telling You,” that addressed the rampant - and largely, ignored - instances of sexual assault on college campuses across the United States.

20 percent of the nation’s “best colleges” have a documented rape problem, which is a result of colleges’ two primary motivations that were addressed in our article: success and money - and how those two motivations play a large role in downplaying instances of sexual assault on campus. Colleges need their athletes, rich kids, and academics to attract more athletic, wealthy, and intelligent students in upcoming years, according to Callie Beusman in her article “So, How Should Colleges Actually Prevent Sexual Assault.”

These motivations encourage the excuse culture that permeates the space around sexual assault. “It was just a mistake,” some may say - but what constitutes a mistake? A mistake is putting your shirt on backwards, which is very different from sexually assaulting an unconscious person.

According to Brock Turner’s father, Dan Turner, facing the consequences of sexually assaulting someone - which includes registering as a sex offender for life - “is a steep price to pay for 20 minutes of action.” This thinking is a result of misogyny, rape culture, and sexism mingling with our societal values and expressions of masculinity. But luckily, we are reaching a social climate that is acknowledging that these toxic statements are inhibiting progression and safety.

The Brock Turner case is a minor set-back in progressive policies that are seeking to prevent the number of instances of sexual assault in colleges; colleges are beginning to realize that introducing measures to keep students safe is a good idea, and not just because it looks good to prospective students, but because they are realizing that they shape the culture that their students will carry into the real world after they graduate.

Colleges across the nation have been responding to displays of misogyny, rape culture, and sexism on their campuses that trivialize rape and normalize victim blaming - going so far as to require that the generators of such outbursts attend sexual assault support training and participate in community service related to sexual assault.

Closer to home, security polls are popping up all across Oregon campuses. From the outside, they seem perfectly inconspicuous - they have blue lights on top of them, and are evenly spaced along paved pathways that encircle college campus buildings. But they signify a progressive step towards creating outlets for safer spaces.

Schools across the nation have expanded these outlets to include 24 hour psychiatric care, mental health offices, shuttles and group-walking services for students at night, self-defense classes, surveillance systems and other recognition technology, as well as email and text message alert systems1.

At Lewis & Clark College in Portland for example, not only are there security polls that, once a button is pushed, are a direct line to campus security or 911, but there are also numbers posted in every bathroom for sexual assault hotlines and on-campus psychiatric services.

One would hope that these systems wouldn’t have to be necessary, however, according to the National Sexual Violence Research Center, nearly 1 in 5 women and 1 in 16 men are sexually assaulted while attending a college or university. These preventative measures that colleges are introducing to their campuses are meant to be a way to decrease sexual assault instances, create a safer space for men and women to explore emerging adulthood, and to illustrate to their student body and the nation alike that instances of sexual assault are taken seriously and not just brushed under the rug.

Safety on college campuses is improving - the systems that navigate sexual assault on campus are becoming more informed and helpful - and that progress should be celebrated. But there is still more that can be done.

Colleges need to listen to their students and encourage reporting to get sexual assault perpetrators off their campus - but they can extend this one step further. Campuses would be a lot more effective at dissuading sexual assault if students had the knowledge and resources to navigate specific situations around sexual assault. As part of changing the culture that students carry into the adult world, colleges should encourage students to take consent education classes and bystander intervention programs. That way, if a student is confronted with an uncomfortable situation, or see that someone around them is in a situation they are uncomfortable with, the student has the resources to seek help, be safe, and make their campus safer for others.

1 “Best Campus Security.” BestColleges.com,

Accessed 5 October 2016.