Boston University’s Sexual Assault Response and Prevention Center hosted a screening Thursday of “The Hunting Ground,” a documentary about the prevalence of sexual assault on college campuses, followed by a panel of experts.
About 100 students attended the screening and panel held in the College of Communication building. The screening was the last activity in SARP’s Sexual Assault Awareness Week.
The documentary followed the accounts of several sexual assault survivors and some of the issues they faced in reporting what happened to them. The film detailed responses to the assaults from college administrators and examined actions taken against perpetrators. Apprehensiveness to prosecute athletes or members of fraternities was a focus of the documentary.
Although less than 4 percent of male college students are athletes, they commit 19 percent of total campus sexual assaults, a statistic from the film stated.
“There’s a multibillion dollar industry wrapped around these young men, and if you don’t think there’s a culture of entitlement, just look at the fanfare around college football,” said a sports coordinator from a large southern university with a strong sports presence.
Following the screening, SARP director Maureen Mahoney, Deputy Title IX Coordinator for the College of Arts and Sciences Kerry Buglio and Boston University Police Department Detective Sgt. Peter Torchio held a panel, answering questions about how BU deals with rape prevention and how it handles allegations of sexual misconduct.
“We try to get the education out there from the get-go,” Torchio said on the panel.
BUPD offers rape aggression defense classes, and students receive information about sexual assault and prevention during orientation week, Torchio said.
Torchio said BUPD encourages students to report any incidents and say if they need help.
“If you bring it to our attention, as a police department, we run with it 100 percent,” he said during the panel. “We’re there for that victim, any way we can, to pull them away from that trauma.”
BU is one of 106 universities across the country currently being investigated by the U.S. Department of Education for Title IX violations, including the alleged mishandling of sexual misconduct reporting. Despite that, Mahoney said she is optimistic about the investigation.
“I don’t necessarily know if the Title XI investigation is a bad thing,” she said on the panel. “It’s forcing universities to look at their own policies and procedures and change things.”
Several students in attendance said they found the documentary to be eye-opening and said more steps can be taken to address sexual assault on college campuses.
Autumn McArthur, a sophomore in the College of Arts and Sciences, said she was pleased with the role that BU’s Center for Gender, Sexuality and Activism played in organizing the screening and panel.
“The CGSA worked with SARP really extensively to produce this event over the course of the year to make this an awesome week, and it really shows,” she said.
Janelle Paneer, a graduate student in the Sargent College of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences, said she is shocked by the number of cases at places such as Harvard University and how relaxed the school seems in handling sexual assault.
“You expect rape cases to not be followed by big southern universities with sports cultures, but even Harvard? When you have a school that’s so highly respected, you’d think they’d have equal initiative in all departments,” she said.
Brandon Harrison, a graduate student in the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, said it is crucial for males to be involved in the conversation about sexual assault.
“Especially on the male side, it’s easy to be ignorant,” he said. “It’s especially important to become more informed as a male ally.”
