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Exploring an Argument
Hailey Rial; Emagin Tanaschuk; Beckett Brennan; Lizzy Seeberg. What do these four
names have in common? Apart from being girl names, they are four sexual abuse victims on
college campuses. Different universities, different ages, different majors, different lives but a
shared experience: being sexual assaulted. According to statistics published on different websites
and articles, 1 in 5 women are victims of completed or attempted sexual assault while in college
and a 95% of these assaults are unreported. So, knowing these two shocking facts, there is a
question that comes to my mind: is it time for universities to take a step forward and to start
facing one of the biggest concerns and problems for American students such as is sexual abuses
on college campuses? Or in other words, should colleges start taking action by making new
legislations to stop any kind of sexual violence and to protect and help the victims?
Sexual assault is generally defined as attempted or actual unwanted sexual activity
(Sandler, 1993). Still today there is controversy about consented and unconsented offenses or
whether alcohol and drugs have an impact on it, but universities are now starting to consider
whether they are doing enough or not to protect their students by focusing more on establishing
methods to combat any kind of sexual abuse and by making or at least proposing new
legislations.What is true, though, is the fact that there is a noticeable difference between the
methods applied in different states. In other words, while some states are proposing or are
committed to apply legislations that mainly focus on helping the victim, there are some states
that lean towards taking more strict measures to avoid the sexual abuses and giving punishment
to the assaultants. An example of these measures is found in the article published by the
American Association of State Colleges and Universities (AASCU), in which the author

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basically proposes nine different legislations to confront sexual assault on college campuses. For
instance, in the article it is proposed confidential advisors for the victims, in order to help them
after the assault as well as giving them information about legal issues. On the other hand, it is
suggested a Mandatory Reporting which requires college professors and other employees to
report sexual assault allegations immediately to municipal law enforcement officials. While the
Confidential Advisors proposal has been accepted among all the states mentioned in the article,
the Mandatory Reporting policy has been modified in some states like North Carolina, which
requires campus law enforcement to report allegations of sexual assault to local law
enforcement if student contacts on own initiative. So, basically, this article is a great example of
how sexual abuse on campuses can be face not only from a helping the victim perspective but
also from a preventing the assaults one.
Another good illustration of how sexual harassment is being confronted is through
national movements like the PACT 5 a humanitarian collaboration started by students and
faculty in 5 universities: Rowan University (NJ), California State University at Northridge,
Western State Colorado University, Northern Illinois University, and Framingham State
University (MA). However, what grabbed my attention about this collaboration is the fact that
they work in a documentary format. In other words, the students create documentaries about
issues related to sexual abuses on campuses which have a biggest impact on people.
Last but not least, one other way to and help creating more conscience about the topic is
by giving real testimony of real cases. For instance, Yeardleys story, a girl who was murdered
by her boyfriend but whose story has helped to create the One Love Foundation, which works to
end up with relationship violence through letting people know about real cases.

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Summarizing, these are three different perspectives and methods to stop sexual violence on
American universities. Sexual assault is a very wide topic and it includes so many subtopics and
opened-questions like What about victims who were drunk? or What happens if the victim
knew her assailant?. However, society is starting to realize that this is one of the biggest
problems on college campuses and it is time to begin looking for possible solutions, which can
go from state policies to sharing real experiences, which opens a new question: should the
measures adopted by colleges prioritize helping the victims or punishing the assailant? Is it more
important to try to prevent the attacks rather than providing services to the victims?

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Annotated Bibliography
Lebioda, Kati. "State Policy Proposals to Combat Campus Sexual Assault." AASCU, Dec.
2015. Web. 20 Sept. 2016.
<https://www.aascu.org/policy/publications/policy-matters/campussexualassault.pdf>
The American Association of State Colleges and Universities (AASCU) basically states
in this article some state policy proposals to combat campus sexual assault. Some of these
proposals have already been applied to some states. By clarifying, at first, different concepts that
may cause confusion, such as the difference between sexual violence and sexual assault, it
promptly moves to the introduction of each of the proposals, which include all of the following
ones: Affirmative consent; Transcript Notations; Mandatory Reporting; Medical Services for
Victims; Memorandums of Understanding (MOUs); Confidential Advisors Campus; Climate
Surveys; Good Samaritan Provisions; Mandatory Minimum Punishment. These nine
legislations have the same goal: to help sexual assault victims as well as to avoid future assaults.

Love, Sharon. "Yeardley's Story." One Love Foundation. N.p., n.d. Web. 20 Sept. 2016.
<http://www.joinonelove.org/yeardleys_story>
This article is part of a website dedicated to help end violence in relationships. Sharon Love is
the author of this specific article entitled Yeardleys Story, which basically addresses a real
case of relationship violence on a college campus. The author is the mom of the victim named
Yeardley Love, a senior lacrosse player at the University of Virginia who was murdered by her
boyfriend a few days before her graduation. So, by writing this article, S. Love not only

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published her daughters case but also helped creating the One Love Foundation, which basically
fights against relationship violence.

"PACT5: Preventing Sexual Assault on College Campuses." Preventing Sexual Assault on

College Campuses. Wyncote Foundation, n.d. Web. 21 Sept. 2016. <http://pact5.org/>
In this case, this is a website which basically gives information about a national movement
PACT5 that works to confront sexual violence on campuses. This organization involves the
collaboration between 5 different colleges but it is opened to any other universities or
individuals. What really grabbed my attention, though, is the fact that it basically uses
documentaries made by students to explain any topic related to sexual abuses. This is a good way
to help making conscience about it.

"Sex Assault Policy." Office of the Dean of Students. University of Arkansas at Little Rock,
n.d. Web. 21 Sept. 2016.< http://ualr.edu/deanofstudents/sexual-assault-policy/>
This article begins in a very concise way by directly stating that any kind of sexual harassment is
condemned in the University of Arkansas at Little Rock. It is a specific example of how a
university faces the problem of sexual assaulting. Apart from stating the sanctions that the
assailant would face, it also explains the rights of the sexual assault victim, which includes a
counseling service and support services outside the university community. Counseling and
Career Planning Services maintains a list of local therapists, including clinical psychologists,
social workers, and psychiatrists in private practice.

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