As a high school senior on the hunt for a future home, my prospective universities' safety ratings were my last priority. But, while researching schools' social and educational reviews, I decided to give their safety reviews a look as well. Surprisingly, most schools had little to no history of sexual assault.
A 2015 documentary about sexual assault on college campuses, The Hunting Ground features sexual assault victims from colleges all over the nation. They each tell the story of their assault and the frustration that followed. Yes, they are all visibly distraught by their assault, but the documentary emphasizes more closely on the treatment they received from their universities after reporting the incident.
Most universities gloat about their safe environment; however, the reality is disturbing. when the assault victims went to their school's administration, their rape accusations were ignored. This is the norm for most colleges, where schools blow off rape charges in order to keep their sexual assault statistics at a minimum.
One case mentioned in the documentary is FSU freshman Erica Kinsman's assault in 2014. After being drugged and assaulted one night, Kinsman later identified the attacker as Jameis Winston, star FSU quarterback. Kinsman decided to follow through with charges against Winston, but was doubted and shamed by the public for accusing the star player of sexual assault. After confessing her rape to the police, they said “This is a huge football town. You really should think long and hard if you want to press charges.” The case is still ongoing to this day.
These women's stories featured in The Hunting Ground are just a few of thousands of cases that go ignored by school officials every year. You can visit Thehuntinggroundfilm.com to learn more about the reality of campus assault.
