Sexual assault is an undeniable problem on college campuses across America. Denial about sexual assault on campuses is a main reason that it continues to be a reoccurring issues. According to Sarah Dunne, legal director for the American Civil Liberties Union of Washington, “Universities tend to have fragmented reporting channels rather than a centralized system where a student knows to come to.” One in five women is sexually assaulted while attending college. The Clery Act is a federal law requiring schools to report sexual assault statistics; however, there is major discrepancy between officially reported cases and the number of incidents reported by counseling centers.
An explanation for the discrepancy may be that certain female students may not feel comfortable reporting an incident of sexual abuse. Victim’s cases who do not wish to proceed with charges or a judicial hearing are not required to be reported to the Clery Act. Female students must feel at ease utilizing counseling services on campus before any guidance or recovery can occur. Title IX is an example of school’s taking precautionary measures to prevent sexual assaults from occurring in the future. Title IX departments at universities are responsible for investigating all harassment charges/incidents involving students and staff.
Marilyn Derby, director of Residence Life at Willamette University in Oregon, said she feels obligated to let students know that telling her about an assault could launch a formal investigation. Despite Title IX’s efforts to investigate all cases, most universities do not proceed with judicial or investigatory processes if the student victim is not willing. Derby also said, "We do consider sexual assault to be an extreme form of sexual harassment and would follow the mandated procedures for reporting the incident, if a student came forward. We’ll do what we are required to do according to the law but that doesn’t mean we always have clarity in our own feelings.” This is a dangerous attitude to have towards such a serious crime. Many attackers may be committing multiple crimes that go uninvestigated by a university or police officials. Too much confidentiality also skews statistics and prevents sexual assaults patterns from being tracked. In 2008, the University of Washington, which enrolls about 40,000 students on its main campus, received two reports of on-campus sexual assaults and one off-campus, vice president for student life Eric Godfrey said.
Reporting of rape statistics does not coincide with the need to present the campus as a safe, attractive place for students. That puts universities in a bind; they want to downplay statistics to continue to attract students, but they can’t address the scope of the problem without knowing how large it truly is.
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