Decision-making Policies
"I went to the police station and said, 'I want to report a rape'. They said, 'Whose?'; I said,'Mine...'. The cops looked at me and said, 'Aw, who'd want to rape You?" - A survivor (Brownmiller, 1975, 408).
For campuses across the country, the responsibility lies not only with helping students recover from the sexual assault, but prevention. In 1992, Congress passed the Ramstead Act requiring colleges and universities to develop campus sexual assault policies. Specifically the law states that certain areas must be addressed: 1) educational programs to promote awareness; 2)procedures students should follow if assaulted;, and 3) institutional sanctions for all sex offenses (including forcible and nonforcible acts).
In order to help solve the problem of rape on college campuses and universities, many have sought to establish policies to guide administrators and campus officials. The first major effort came from Antioch College. Other campuses have set up offices specifically designed to address the needs of students on campus with respect to health and safety.
Another significant effort included the work of Koestner & Sokolow (1996). Their book, Sexual Assault on Campus:What Every University Needs to Know About Protecting Victims, Providong for Just Adjudication, and Complying with Federal Laws. This guidebook is responsible for its policies and procedures being adopted by over 62 campuses. The book examines how to reach effective risk management on campuses by looking at a specific model on campus sexual assault policy, a model on sexual assault adjudication procedures, as well as strategic techniques for setting up reponse networks and campus education/awareness programs. It also includes a design-form for plicy reporting requirements of the 1990 Students Right to Know & Campus Security Act.
Other institutional guidelines set up by the Campus Security Act include publication and availability of crime statistics on campus. This inlcudes the 1992's Campus Sexual Assault Victim's Bill of rights, which mandates college security policies address sex-offense prevention and include provisions with specific regard to sexual assault on campus. Some other campuses have designed their own version of a Victim's Bill of Rights to establish the requirements for policies, and procedures designed to insure that the needs of the victims are met.
Policy decisions have not only been made from the campus environment -- much of initiation of policies have started at the local, state, and the federal levels.
Recently, the Campus Crime and Security Awareness Act, enacted during the 101st Congress has come under tremendous atack. This act requires institutions of higher education participating in Title IV student aid programs to provide yearly statistics regarding campus crime. The U.S. Department of Education is charged with enforcing the provisions of this statute. They also must make timely reports to the campus community. This Act was amended in 1992 to make institutions develop and distribute campus policy guidelines regarding campus sexual assault programs to all students, faculty, administrators, etc. For more information on this legislation, see the evaluation section.
There have been several recent initiatives to help change state and federal legislation in order to fight against sexual violence. The 1994 Violence Against Women Act now allows victims of sexual assault and domestic violence to sue those responsible. The accepted view is that by sexually violating a women - you are not only violating her body, but her constitutional civil rights. Much of this has been due to the participation and efforts of victim organizations. These policy initiatives do not take away unfortunately, the real fact that many victims of campus sexual assault do not report the crime. The decision to press charges is a different one with acquaintance/date rape. It is almost always his word against hers. What is really unfortunate, is that acquaintance/date rapists rarely rape only once. If a woman does decide to press charges, there is a better chance she will stop the rapist from hurting others. However, there is a real fear of retaliation, on the part of the victim, although repeat rapes are uncommon (cite). Another problem that has been an undertow for date rape victims is the concept of "false reporting". Not that a rape did not occur, but that many women do not really understand what the scope of the term "rape" defines. Some researchers believe by giving more depth to the term "rape" (for example with offshoot terminology like "date, aquaintance rape") it creates confusion in its perception for the victim, it underscores personal accountability.(Gutmann, 1990).
Some federal initiatives also include putting a ban on the importation of rohypnol, otherwise known as the "date rape drug".
Finally, individual college/university initiatives have been taking effect, trying not only to have an impact on the female student population, but on the male students as well. All students should be educated regarding their rights on campus, and in the criminal justice system. Preventative efforts should be directed towards helping men respect their partner's wishes regarding sex, and dealing with their own feelings when a nonconsent response occurs. An example below is a poster from a college that is being posted in all the dormitories with regard to rape awareness and prevention:
