By this time now, I am sure everyone who possesses any form of social media has heard about the Stanford rape incident, which has illuminated yet another injustice in a system that is intended to provide justice. Unfortunately, the Stanford trial is not the first instance where a male college athlete was given a light sentence when proven of committing rape. Actually, in many cases, college athletes are often given no punishment at all when accused of sexual assault because many colleges are more concerned with protecting their institutions, which is a business in their eyes, than protecting their students. When reading the several articles about the Stanford rape verdict, it is almost always mentioned that Brock Turner was an amazing swimmer and how his 20 minutes of action has stripped him of carrying out the dream of being a college swimmer.
College institutions are notorious for protecting the rapists and blaming the victim because during a time of trauma and an influx of emotions, it is unlikely that the victim will report their rape to the police. Many colleges essentially shush victims when they bring up the sexual assault to deans, and attempt to convince the victim, in many cases, to believe that he or she brought the sexual assault upon themselves. Colleges are notorious for under-reporting the amount of rapes on campus because they do not want to be labeled the "rape campus", and want to create this illusion that although one in five females in college will be sexually assaulted during their college career, that their school does not support that statistic. College institutions want to create as many obstacles as possible for the victim from reporting to the police. However, even when victims build up the courage and report to the police, the police often protect the rapist as well, because our justice system has either A) become too stuck on the idea that it is too difficult to prove rape, or B) is not concerned with giving justice to the victim. In many cases, especially in college towns, the police have a strong relationship with the college and will help the college maintain their reputation if that means convincing a victim that their is nothing to be done. It is evident to me that the college institutions are more concerned with creating the facade that their campus is a safe environment than actually creating a safe environment.
The important thing for college students to remember is to not support the wishes of the institution and stand down when a sexual assault occurs on campus. If you are the victim, my biggest suggestion is to immediately go around the institution - it is very unlikely, unfortunately, that the institutions will be supportive during this time of grief and trauma. I would suggest going to the police immediately and not taking no as an answer. If you are friends with the victim, support the victim and help the victim find as many resources as possible to ensure not only that the victim reports, but also that the victim receives the necessary counseling. If you have merely just heard about a story on campus about a student being sexually assaulted, still support the victim. It is extremely unlucky that a student would lie about sexual assault, seeing only 2-5 percent of rape cases are false; making the other 95-98 percent true. Do not support the actions of the institution if those actions include protecting the rapist and punishing the victim.
