Campus Sexual Assault

Originally posted on Facebook on April 12, 2016

The election is 30 weeks from today.  In preparation, I am posting on an issue a week to raise awareness and education.  For more on my reasoning for having a weekly focus, see this post.    I wanted this week’s topic to be Cancer Research.  However, unfortunately none of the candidates have a stance on this topic.  So, this week I focus on Campus Sexual Assault.

Being married to the ultimate Ole means that the story about Madeline Wilson taking on St. Olaf college based on the belief that her sexual assault case has been mishandled has been popping into my newsfeed lately.  In researching this topic that I am rather unfamiliar with, I have wondered why this isn’t just a criminal justice issue.  Why are school’s held responsible for this?

What I have found is that any school receiving federal funding is obligated under Title IX  to investigate and respond to allegations of sexual assault regardless of whether a police report has been made because sexual assault can deny someone equal access to education that they are entitled to under Title IX.  Apparently, less than 10% of cases reported to police result in criminal charges against the perpetrator.  Given this, survivor-activists argue that colleges are often a victim’s best route for justice because the accommodations and interventions a college is legally required to provide can make the difference between a student staying enrolled or dropping out including issuing a no contact directive, providing extensions and counseling, and ensuring you can continue your education without further discrimination or assault.  Activists oppose bills that send all cases to the police and call campus sexual assault a civil rights issue that campuses have a legal responsibility to handle.

1 in 5 women have been victims of sexual assault on campus.  The Obama administration has brought unprecedented attention to this issue with its “It’s On Us” campaign.  Here is where the candidates stand on continuing the work to reduce campus sexual assault:

Clinton:  Wants to provide counseling and health care support to all survivors.  Wants to ensure that complaints filed are taken seriously and increase prevention efforts.  Experience: As first lady, she supported the creation of the Department of Justice’s Office on Violence Against Women.  As senator, she co-sponsored the 2005 reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act and introduced the CARE Act twice (to ensure rape and incest victims have access to emergency contraception in emergency rooms).  She also introduced legislation to make emergency contraception available to servicewomen in response to the spike in reports of sexual assault cases in the military.  As secretary of state, she spearheaded a U.N. Resolution that established guidelines for an international response to sexual assault in war torn areas.

Cruz:  I haven’t been able to find much from the campaign trail.  Feel free to supplement.  Experience:  Spearheaded efforts to prevent date rape as a student at Princeton.  As Solicitor General of Texas, argued numerous sexual assault cases (on the prosecution side).  As a senator, he cosponsored a bill with Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) designed to make it easier to prosecute cases of sexual assault in the military.

Sanders: Believes that “only yes means yes” should be taught to high school and college students.  Believes it has to get outside of the school and have a police investigation.  Experience:  As a senator, he cosponsored the Campus Accountability and Safety Act put together by Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) and Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-MO) which would create tougher penalties for colleges that mishandled sexual assault cases.  The bill is pending.

Trump: Trump’s views on sexual assault have been widespread.  It can be inferred that Trump seems to believe that sexual assault is inevitable when men and women are together in the military.  He advocated for the death penalty in a 1989 Central Park Jogger rape case agains 5 men who eventually had their convictions overturned when a serial rapist confessed to the crime and then advocated for a lenient sentence for Mike Tyson when he was convicted of raping an 18 year old girl in 1992.  He was opposed to the “legitimate rape” comment made by Rep. Todd Akin (R-MO) in 2012.  He has called Bill Cosby “guilty as hell” and has called Mexican immigrants rapists.  Support for the above summary can be found here.  He as been accused of rape by his ex-wife, Ivana, but those accusations have been recanted.  Experience:  None that I could find.  Feel free to supplement.

If called to comment, please avoid name-calling of the candidates or their supporters and stick to facts.