All around the United States, students are suffering from the horrible and, frankly, indescribable aftermath of sexual assault. We need to stop punishing the people who have fallen victim to this outbreak, which takes away self-worth, pride, control, safety and the victim's voice. When students have been assaulted and find it in themselves to report the case, they often find little to no support from their college administration. Questions like "what were you wearing," "did you have any drugs or alcohol," or "were you leading him/her on" are asked instead of making the victim's well-being and safety the primary concern. Students who fall prey to rape should feel safe to go to their college administration and report it without feeling judged, scared, or belittled.
Chelsie Hayes, a student at Kenyon College, fell victim to sexual assault on Saturday, Nov. 8, 2015. Her brother, Michael Hayes, found himself feeling betrayed by the college, which he also attended, because it failed to protect his sister. After months of administrative processing, the case was dropped due to "insufficient evidence to conclude that it was more likely than not that the college's policy on sexual assault had been broken at all." The school had Chelsie Hayes' injuries on record, her blood-stained sheets from when she was assaulted in her own bed, and an account of her alcohol and prescription medication content in her body.
Brigham Young University is another college where students are speaking out on the lack of support they received. CNN disclosed three stories of different students with the intention of demonstrating how they were shown no backing or support. They disclosed the story of a freshman who, after taking hallucinogenic drugs, was led into a room by three other students. When trying to escape, the freshman was held down as the others locked the door and proceeded to rape the young college attendee for forty-five minutes. The freshman was afraid to report the incident to the school, and rightfully so. Once reported, the college ended up expelling the rape victim for drug use instead of doing anything about the attackers.
Emily Lorenzen, a student at University of California at Berkeley, is yet another student who was given no sympathy, resources, assistance, or support through her incident report process of being a rape victim.
According to the Association of American Universities, 1 in 4 college seniors have experienced unwanted sexual contact. These statistics don't reflect the entirety of the situation, considering the number of cases which go unreported. Students are afraid to be blamed for a horrible circumstance that they fell victim to. According to the Department of Justice, 80% of campus sexual assaults go unreported.
Students who undergo these horrible incidents tend to blame themselves. Victims feel worthless, dirty, unloved, shameful, angry, and alone. They need to be shown love, sympathy, and support. They need to be given access to resources to ensure their physical, emotional, and mental well-being. They need to feel that they have a voice worth hearing.
Sexual assault is a tragedy that is not limited to big, public universities. It happens everywhere. Colleges need to stop victim shaming. Students should feel safe and secure at the college they attend, and to feel that their stories can be heard without judgment. Let's create a culture of listening, a culture of sympathy and a culture of support.
