Ending the Stigma Survivors Face on College Campuses: Series Introduction

By Christine Murray, See the Triumph Co-Founder

It’s September, which means it’s back-to-school time. Across the country, college students are getting settled into their new classes and gearing up for the academic year ahead. It’s an exciting time for many students, as they embrace new opportunities for learning, friendships, and personal growth.

At the same time, students, faculty, and staff on many college campuses right now are facing a challenging time. These days, it’s difficult to escape news stories about sexual assault on college campuses, and especially the problematic ways that many colleges have handled sexual assaults in recent years. Consider the following:

• Bloomberg News recently reported that about one-fifth of colleges and universities in the United States do not provide employees with any training to address sexual assault, and training for students is also lacking on many campuses.
  
• Nationally, over 80% of all sexual assaults among college students are never reported.
  
• Earlier this year, the U.S. Department of Education published a list of 55 colleges and universities that were currently being investigated for allegedly mishandling cases of sexual harassment and assault.
  
• James Madison University in Virginia recently came under fire for punishing students with “expulsion after graduation” for sexually assaulting and harassing a female student.
  
• The risk of sexual assault seems highest early in the school year, which underscores the importance of colleges and universities taking action early on each year to prevent sexual assault and educate the campus community about resources available to help if an assault does occur.
  
  

In addition to sexual assault, dating violence and other forms of intimate partner violence remain a major problem on college campuses. According to Loveisrespect.org, over 40% of female college students experience some form of dating abuse. Any published rates are likely to be underestimates of the scope of the problem, as there are many reasons why college students would be reluctant to report experiences with abusive relationships.

Intimate partner violence and sexual assault are difficult issues for college personnel and students to address. Challenges can arise due to students’ close living quarters. For example, a survivor of an abusive relationship who participated in our research said of her partner, “We were in college, so, while we didn't live together, we sort of did by the nature of the dorms.” Living arrangements on college campuses can complicate safety planning for victims who may live near their abusers. There are many other factors that can complicate the support available to survivors, including the possibility of living far away from supportive friends and family members, unclear policies on their campus about reporting, and peer norms that may directly or indirectly promote violence and abuse.

This month at See the Triumph, we’re focusing on how to end the stigma that survivors of intimate partner violence and sexual assault face on college campuses. We believe that colleges and universities can work proactively to promote safe campus environments and prevent abuse, support survivors, and hold offenders accountable. Throughout the month, we look forward to hearing your ideas and experiences with strategies you’ve seen colleges use to achieve these goals.