Ever since the US Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights released the names of the now close to 100 institutions under investigation for Title IX sexual assault violations, rape on campus has been the kind of news story that is long on horrific detail and short on clarity. The overwhelming sense is that there is a lot to be done—but no one knows quite what to do curb the high numbers of women who are sexually assaulted in this country. As Jennifer Hirsh, a Columbia University public health professor pointed out in a recent Timemagazine article, “while debate rages over how to respond to sexual assault claims, there’s been an almost deafening silence around the critical issue of effective prevention. How do we stop campus rapes from happening in the first place?” Hirsh’s frustrating conclusion? Nobody knows.
This isn’t to say federal administrations haven’t at least attempted to solve the problem. Between 1999 and 2013, the federal government’s Campus Grant Program has given more than $139 million to 388 projects to reduce sexual violence. The majority of those funds have gone to hiring victim advocates and counselors who can handle all the accusations. The rest appears to be supporting two main preventative measures: affirmative consent (now law in California and proposed law in New York) and bystander education. But according to a 2014 CDC report prepared for the White House Task Force to Protect Students from Sexual Assault, there is not much evidence yet to prove bystander intervention or affirmative consent effectively prevent rape among college-age students. And obviously, post-rape counselors and administrators are not a preventative tactic.
by Tamara Straus
