Sexual assault is a huge issue on college campuses across the country — one that many schools have been trying to rectify. In the past few years, it has come to the forefront of the national conversation, especially after better guidelines protecting victims of rape were finally issued under Title IX during the Obama administration.
Title IX is the law that dictates how colleges should deal with sexual assault on campus. The Obama administration tried to create stricter guidelines in order to properly punish rapists, and maybe even help prevent rape. Unfortunately, those guidelines have been changed by President Donald Trump’s Secretary of Education, Betsy DeVos. In short, her new guidelines for Title IX create more protection for the accused rapist.
When DeVos traveled to Harvard University on Thursday to talk about her new Title IX guidelines, along with other educational policies she plans on implementing, she was met with resistance from angry college students. Protesters held up signs during her speech that said “protect survivor rights” and “our Harvard can do better.” These students know how terrible and widespread the problem of sexual assault on campus is, and how DeVos’ new guidelines will do little to improve that.
As a female student living on a college campus, the fear of rape and sexual assault has to constantly be in the back of my mind. It is a sad reality every female has to live with. We must always use the buddy system, we can never separate from our group and we must constantly be aware of our surroundings. These thoughts are running through my head at every party, every restaurant — basically everywhere I go on campus.
These worries and precautions are not unjustified. A study by Rainn found that a little over one in every five undergraduate women have been a victim of sexual assault. Additionally, only 20 percent of female victims actually report what happened to law enforcement. Clearly, being a victim of sexual assault carries with it a feeling of shame and a tendency towards silence.
With these statistics in mind, let’s think about how creating an even safer atmosphere for the accused rapist will help campus rape … it won’t. Coming forward and reporting a rape is already difficult — I cannot imagine how much scarier it will be when the accused rapist has even more protection than the victim.
Some women who report their rapists feel as though they are the ones who committed a crime, especially when they’re asked questions like, “Were you drinking?” and “What were you wearing?” and even worse, “Well, were you asking for it?” These kinds of comments will only intensify with even more protection being offered to the accused — and I can very confidently predict the percentage of rapes reported will fall even lower. No one wants to go through a traumatic experience like being raped, and then get interrogated as if they are a felon.
This is even further exemplified in the Brock Turner case, where the assailant was let out of prison in less time than the already ridiculously short sentence he was supposed to serve. Rape is not being properly punished without DeVos’ relaxed guidelines — just imagine how much more damage these new rules will inflict.
I am scared and saddened knowing that a rapist may be offered more protection than a victim. I am worried about future women who will have an even harder time than women do now in demanding justice for the horrible crimes committed against them.
Most importantly though, I am terrified of the message this sends to current and potential rapists. The idea that they will be protected when they commit this crime and the idea that this is not a crime worth proper punishment just help to further the culture of victim blaming and the stigma that goes along with it.
These kinds of guidelines create campuses where being a victim of rape is something to be ashamed of and something to keep hidden. Coming forward could be a traumatic experience that offers no help whatsoever to the victim, only making their life more difficult. These are not the ways to minimize rape and create a safe environment at colleges and universities.
The good news is that many colleges are putting out statements explaining how they will continue to deal with sexual assault in ways they see fit while properly punishing those who commit these crimes. While this is helpful, DeVos’ rhetoric of protecting rapists is still loud and clear. We cannot let her create a safer world for rapists and let women suffer the consequences.
And what message do you think the Dear Colleague letter sent to young men of colour? A disproportionate number of cases referred to college administrations this far have been black and and brown men. As always, white women’s fear of them is having catastrophic, real-world consequences.