Implementation of Policies
From College/University Campuses...
Implementation of policies regarding sexual assault prevention/awareness on campuses and universities have been growing since the late eighties. Below are a few examples:
"No contract, no sex"-a slogan found at the University of Michigan's Ann Arbor campus. Intimate Contact On-campus Protocol {ICOP}, asks that any intimate contact attempted must be done with proper consenting signatures. Without the proper paperwork, any intimate contact will be considered date rape and lead to expulsion and criminal charges.
Campus Action is a multicultural organization working with several New York campuses to "fight the social evils that plague our society". They rely on inter-campus networking and an inter-campus sexual harassment task force.
Other campuses have devised strategies to respond to victims of campus violence by re-writing new policies of protocol.
The Gestic Theatre Company is an inter-active intervention theatre group that tours college/university campuses in the Mid-west to make students aware of specific social issues, focusing primarily on issues of sexuality and communication between the sexes. This group produces vignettes for colleges to illustrate the importance of understanding the difference between sex and rape. There are several of these theatre groups around the country. They also count on audience participation from the students, faculty, and administrators.
With regard specifically to fraternities and athletes, Warshaw (1988) has discussed mandating rape awareness programs for Greek systems and for athletic departments on campuses (See Athletes for Sexual Responsibility, for an example of such a program). These types of programs/organizations on campus encourage more administrative control over these groups, and use peer educated workshops to discuss issues relating to gender/sex roles and alcohol/drug use.
However, there are still many problems at the campus-level. Though disciplinary hearings involving criminal allegations are required to be open, many campuses have been accused of having secret on-campus adjudication processes of sexual assault cases. This level of secrecy creates "a risk management nightmare" (Wagner,1997,2). By holding secret judicial proceedings without proper constitutional safeguards, failing to report a serious crime to the police, failing to inform the college population of possible danger, then are endangering the welfare of their students, particularly the victim of the assault. Though Congress, as th reader will see, has initiated new legislation, it is quite probable, these proceedings still go on.
(For more information see, Eileen Wagner's article).
Other recent investigations of colleges and universities have concluded that Campuses have not been upfront with their "official reports"( Security on Campus, Winter/Spring, 1997).
From State and Federal Legislation and Communities....
States have tried, since the 1970's rape reform movement to establish laws to help encourage victims' reporting their crime, and helping to prosecute, convict, and incarcerate offenders. However even with rape shield laws, and other types of protective procedures, rape is still one of the most under-reported crimes.
Many victims of campus crime and parents have been pushing for a passage of a new law which would require "confidential" disciplinary records opened. In July, 1997, The House of Representatives heard testimony regarding, The Accuracy in Campus Reporting Act of 1997 (HR 715). This bill is designed to bolster the 1990 Campus Security Act. Proponents of this bill claim schoool administrators are more interested in the school's reputation than their student's. Th campus administrators claim they do not want to violate federal privacy laws under the Familiy Educational Rights and Privacy Act or FERPA. This debate is still on-going, and results of this act will not been seen until early 1998.
In New York, Governor George Pataki introduced the Sexual Assault Reform Act of 1997 which is the first comprehensive reform act in years targeting all sexual predators. It call for the creation of new rape and sodomy offense divisions to punish those offenders of date rape and acquaintance rape. It also suggests new guideleines for punishing those who commit rape by fraud.
As well, Gov. Pataki has supported a bill to ban the importation of the drug, rohypnol; he also declared that "lie detector tests" would NOT be allowed to be used on rape victims, claiming it would only serve as a "second victimization" (Feminist News). On the subject of rohypnol, its producers/distributors, Hoffman-la Rouche, have added an ingredient in the drug mix so that it its mixed with a liquid, it will create a color and odor. This is to help deter its use as a rape-drug.
The Conneticut Sexual Assault Crisis services is a state-wide association of individual sexual assault crisis programs that has been initiated by the state government to help consolidate information and networking for victim assistance services and on state policy legislation.
It is important to note that in recent years, since more attention has been focused on this topic, several websites have been generated to help and assist victims. Other agencies, like the National Clearinghouse on Marital and Date Rape, is a network designed to provide resources, support services, and information to bring about social, legal, and political change in our country with regard to sexual assault and domestic violence.
The National Coalition Against Sexual Assault is committed to fight towards a "rape-free" culture (Sanday, 1996). This organization provides status updates of federal bills and recent court cases about sexual violence, including topics such as date rape, mandatory HIV testing of offenders, and child abuse.
Other "community-based" lobby groups addressing sexual violence on campuses include: the Communities Against Violence Network and the male-based group, the Men's Rape Prevention Projectwhich provides assistance to victims as well and facilitating peer-educating workshops and awareness programs.
