I returned to college as a 33 year old "non-traditional" student. I worked for the college newspaper when we decided to tackle the issue of campus crime.
The issue began as the under reporting of campus crime in order to protect the image of the school in the community as well as to prospective students and their families. Our mission took a turn when one of our editors was date raped at a party by a member of the school wrestling team and another member of our staff was groped in school van by a member of the football team. Both of these young women were counseled by campus security to NOT contact local law enforcement. Their cases were heard before a school board of trustees--male, mostly alumni from the local business community.
The young men in question were let off with nothing more than slaps on the wrists--"probation" for a semester and a two match suspension. If found guilty in local courts, these young men would have been punished as felons. The women were told to think of how these charges would "ruin the lives" of these young men. Not once were they asked about their own situations, how their own lives were affected. The young men's lives and the school's reputation in the community were far more important to the college than these young women's experiences.
Blaming the victim was the battle cry of the school: "she shouldn't have been at the party," "she shouldn't have been drinking," "she shouldn't have been sitting by him." When do men take responsibility for their behavior? My parents always taught me that just because something was sitting out, unattended, it didn't mean I could take it. Why doesn't that apply to someone's body? Just because a woman is drunk (and therefore, more uninhibited), or dressed "provocatively." or "flirtatious," a man is NOT entitled to touch her or stick his penis into her.
Yes, there are women who will cry rape because of ulterior motives. I cringe every time I hear of such cases. I have no doubt about the statistics of non reporting--why report when you won't be believed. I have no doubts, because, in my first try at going to college, it happened to me.
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