Today’s Staff Editorial
At the end of the spring semester, university officials agreed to explore plans for a sexual assault education pilot program targeting about 30 percent of the incoming freshman class. The move came from debate over a University Senate bill seeking to mandate sexual assault education for all incoming freshmen at orientations.
The Senate’s Sexual Harassment Task Force is still weighing that proposal, which won’t go to a vote until the fall. The pilot program would be an intermediary measure to help implement the proposed mandate later, should it pass.
Student Affairs Vice President Linda Clement agreed to support the pilot program and promised to start assembling a group of proponents and officials from the provost’s office to work on logistics after graduation. The pilot program was designed by former Diamondback editor in chief Lauren Redding and Sexual Assault Response and Prevention Program officials. They have consistently advocated for more widespread sexual assault education, an example university officials should consider following. But as of right now, the Senate seems to want more extensive research on the matter before diving in to stop the university’s sexual assault.
SARPP itself saw 76 new cases at this university during the 2011-12 academic year, including more than 40 sexual assault or rape victims. And those are only the reported cases.
According to Brown University Health Education, female college freshmen are at the highest risk for sexual assault between the first day of school and Thanksgiving break, and over the course of their college career, 20 to 25 percent of college women are victims of completed or attempted rape. This is not an issue that’s going to fix itself or just go away.
This university is taking a good first step in planning a pilot program for sexual assault education, but the University Senate should not have linked the proposed mandate to a broader review of the university’s sexual harassment policies, pushing back the vote on the measure. Senate members also claim not to want to decide quickly and make the outcome less effective. However, given extensive research done by the bill’s proponents (including SARPP), it seems the ideas have been laid out for the Senate — all it has to do is vote.
But by postponing this decision, officials no longer have the summer to work out how to implement a program. Sure, they say they will now plan a pilot program. But they could have dedicated these three full months to working toward educating new students about sexual assault. Instead, this is wasted time.
Everyone in the university community deserves an atmosphere of understanding that doesn’t tolerate sexual assault — and mandating this education program for all freshmen would be the first tangible step toward that goal. Officials seem to have a hard time understanding that.
Student Government Association academic affairs chairman for 2012-13, Ryan Heisinger had it right when he said, “What we don’t realize is that these are human beings who are being affected, and they’re people that we know, people that we may live with, and it’s something that we can effect change on.”
According to a Psychology of Women Quarterly study of sexual assault education programs’ effectiveness, attendees of such a program would better understand and adapt to seven specific and prevalent variables, such as incidence of sexual assault and knowledge of and attitudes about rape. Evidence such as this, alongside existing on-campus work, should be all the University Senate needs to implement this program.
Sexual assault is not black and white. There are intricacies and different attitudes that complicate the issue, and unless we all work in a concerted effort to change the widespread ignorance and misunderstanding, sexual assault will continue to occur and attract acceptance among college students.
It should not be commonplace to hear your friends say they were raped. It should not be commonplace to be afraid to report your assault. It should not be commonplace for college students not to understand the word “no” or not wait for consent. College culture needs to change, and university officials need to help change it.
