I recently watched a documentary on Netflix called 'The Hunting Ground' which covers the bases of rape on college campuses and what those campuses do to cover up these crimes. You would think that because students' mental and physical safety is being intruded that they would be open about the situation and handle it in an appropriate matter. But a lot of similar problems, as described in the documentary, involves students being told that the crime was provoked by their behavior or actions. Common statements made includes things along the lines of, "What could you have done differently to prevent that from happening?" or, "You were drinking, you victimized yourself" and even, "Were you wearing something provoking?" Clothing, alcohol and actions does not justify rape. Nothing justifies rape.

One in five women are victims of rape or attempted rape during their college experience. So why would colleges not take these women seriously? Why are rape cases not being properly handled and recorded? Why is it more important to preserve the University's reputation rather than help a woman who has been destroyed?

The answer to that would be money. You may have heard the Bible verse and saying that "Money is the root of all evil," and this is exactly what we see come to light with Universities around the country. Universities not only make money from donations, but also from tickets, media rights and branding. Some Universities make over one hundred million dollars a year according to statistics in 2008. This money is brought in through their players, especially their star players. Schools aren't going to punish these athletes because that will affect their money.

This is exactly what happened with Jameis Winston. He was a star football player for LSU, who is also the youngest athlete to have won the Heisman trophy. He was accused of raping FSU student Erica Kinsman. The surrounding community of Tallahassee, including some of the FSU staff and even alumni, ignored this accusation. One of the investigators in this case even made a comment saying something along the lines of "This is a huge football town, are you sure you want to create something like this?" because Winston was a star, who now plays NFL.

This issue is something that needs to be brought to light because there is no excuse for rape. Not the money or fame that a student may have going for them. This doesn't justify the damage that the woman experiences.

With April being sexual assault awareness month, I would like to bring awareness to a deep issue that many don't notice or pay attention to. This is a perfect example of the corruption that goes on within Universities and their athletic programs, and the first step to fixing that is through exposure.

So here is a moment of silence for rape victims across the world, but also those who are unable to receive justice for their perpetrator because Universities see money as being a "more important" priority.