I am saying this because when I was in high school, the local school (UT-Knoxville) got caught advising students to report sexual assaults to THEM and not the police. Telling them they HAD to notify campus security, and campus security would decide if the cases should be passed onto police. This turned out to mean: if a case involved one of the football team members, it didn’t merit police attention, as the Vols were a big source of money for the town. If they involved some other kid whose daddy wasn’t too important, well, maybe they got to the police.

After the scandal broke, the sheriff was very vocal in the press, saying felonies must ALWAYS be reported to a real law enforcement agency, and absolutely NO ONE can legally tell you to report it elsewhere first.

I think we just really need to spread the word about this, because clearly not all young people realize: you have a CIVIL RIGHT to go to the police with any crime report.

Not that the police have a perfect record on taking assaults seriously, but I’d definitely take my chances with them over taking chances on the school, which really just can’t be an impartial third party, with both the accused and accuser being part of it.

The best schools set up an equitable hearing process and/or a track for victims to report and pursue criminal charges. At the same time, they adopt zero tolerance for traces of rape culture and provide direct victim support from folks at the institution whose job it is. These folks are usually bound by confidentiality laws that release them from the threat of losing their jobs if they push back against the institution in the mentoring/counseling process. So, victim advocates, therapists who work with perpetrators, etc.

This also makes room for administrators to work on culture change and other strategies for prevention.

You’re right, of course, that student voices are the strongest in this equation. I wish more schools were farther along but the more voices we raise to change both rape culture and the institutions that reproduce it, the more progress we can make…………..

This doesn’t surprise me at all – I hope no one takes offence at my input, but I was a victim of bullying and physical assault at my university, and was told that the only way the bully would be punished would be if I accepted punishment too. As in, I’d obviously done something to provoke her, although there was no evidence of that. The same university told a friend of mine that it was not in fact that she was being bullied, but that SHE was victimizing the bully.

I know it’s not the same as rape in the slightest. In my relatively minor case, the lack of closure (and the idea that she was STILL THERE) freaked me out, and I have insomnia and nightmares because of that, two years later. This is a terrifyingly pervasive issue and schools MUST do something about it. The thing is, who wants to say you’re a victim, and gather other victims together, in front of a university who doesn’t believe you, or if they do, doesn’t care, and in front of the person who hurt you so badly and on purpose? I wouldn’t. Universities for many people represent the first step towards really growing up, leaving home and learning to be a competent, well-rounded adult while still in a safe, youthful environment. And yet there really is no one who will protect you when they should.