Campus Confidential

From Good Will Hunting to Felicity via Animal House, the American college campus? has formed the backdrop to many a cheesy classic – their parties, their red cups, beige ?pants? and that Greek lettering, bring back images of our wasted youths in front of the telly-box.? But of late the college campus has been getting a bit of bad press, and perhaps with good reason. According to a recent report carried out by The White House, 1 in 5 women is sexually assaulted during her time on college campus. Of these victims, only 12% end up reporting it, which is well below the national average. This makes the college campus one of the highest-risk places for young women. The news comes as Obama announces a new task force to prevent students from the continuing the situation he termed ?completely unacceptable.? According to victims and students, colleges have failed to properly deal with the situation across the board, with the perpetrator often facing ?time off? or having to write an essay about it. The report continues by stating that 63% of rapists admit to having assaulted at least 6 other women. The abuse happens mainly at parties, and according to the report is most often carried out by a person known to the victim, who is generally ‘drunk, under the influence of drugs, passed out, or otherwise incapacitated.?

The Obama Admin thankfully did not take the line of warning women against certain types of behavior or encourage them to be more vigilant. It has instead moved towards changing the way sexual behavior and rape is dealt with within campus culture, taking male student’s sexual behavior to task, thereby by turning the table in a direction we for one are glad to see. Hats off.

Roisin Agnew @Roxeenna