Sexual assault
Amid high-profile efforts by universities, politicians and activists across the nation to prevent sexual violence on college campuses, this university suffered a painfully visible blow against the cause when sophomore men’s lacrosse attackman Benjamin Chisolm was arrested June 22.
Chisolm, 19, reportedly inappropriately touched a sleeping woman at a concert in Bristow, Virginia, and was charged with aggravated sexual battery.
This university largely has avoided scrutiny surrounding its handling of sexual assault allegations. This spring, when dozens of universities were being investigated for Title IX violations by the Department of Education Office for Civil Rights, this university remained off the list. However, the university could easily become a target of these investigations— especially if university officials do not handle Chisolm’s case correctly.
Throughout the years, activists and groups at this university have protested and sought to raise awareness of sexual assault.
Chisolm’s arrest has ignited a fire under university administrators. According to Title IX Coordinator Catherine Carroll, the university had already planned to release an online course on sexual assault this fall that promotes awareness, teaches prevention techniques and provides an outlet for victims to seek support.
By giving students necessary information about sexual assault, the online course seems to be a positive step toward combating sexual assault on college campuses. However, a few clicks through an Internet seminar hardly seem like a foolproof way to end sexual assault as a whole.
Most college students have received some type of sexual education in which they learned how to put on a condom on a piece of produce or learned how unprotected sex can lead to sexually transmitted diseases.
These images — maybe with the help of pop-culture icon Coach Carr — cemented this information in many adolescent minds. And despite the embarrassment students might have felt during their high school sex ed classes, the information stuck.
The university’s new sexual assault course needs to be similar to other sex ed courses, in the sense that it provides clear and concrete information that can eventually lead to a decrease in sexual assault incidents on the campus and beyond.
This university already has one program, AlcoholEdu, that has sought to reduce events related to alcohol consumption. However, despite the program’s best intentions, it does not seem to make the impact for which it aims.
According to a study from 2013 — after the installation of AlcoholEdu — by Maryland Collaborative to Reduce College Drinking and Related Problems, 19 percent of underage college students suffer from alcohol abuse or dependence.
With statistics like that linked to an online educational program that seeks to educate students about the dangers of alcohol, it is worrisome that a similar mechanism is being launched to combat another college safety issue.
As the fight against sexual assault continues, this editorial board sincerely hopes the new sexual assault education course coming this fall gives students specific knowledge — knowledge that can lead to the elimination of sexual assault on the campus, not just fluff information that feeds into higher statistics.
