<p>I just looked up crime stats at 4 colleges; Amherst, Pomona, Swarthmore, Willaims. For years 2009, 2010, 2011, the reported numbers of filed forcible sexual assault are </p>
<p>Amherst 7, 14, 15
Pomona 0, 2, 2
Swarthmore 4, 2, 2
Williams 2, 5, 7</p>
<p>It is troubling to see much higher numbers at Amherst.</p>
<p>It’s great you’re interested in understanding sexual assault statistics on campuses but I would suggest you keep researching. Statistically and anecdotally, ALL of those numbers are very low–even for the small size of those schools. After receiving a Dear Colleague letter alerting them of their noncompliance of Title IX and FERPA, many schools tried desperately to reduce their numbers of reported rapes. Key word is ‘reported,’ because they did not magically reduce rapes that way. Instead, schools developed different ways to reduce the reported numbers. This has been shown (if it is not obvious) to be actually be counterproductive to eliminating rape on campuses. Low numbers may make a school look good to the average person, but they do not reflect the statistical or anecdotal reality of campuses and they do not help survivors.</p>
<p>Long story short: low numbers are not ‘good,’ they are just useless data.</p>
<p>Was this a mine field I stepped in obliviously?</p>
<p>
Oh heck, I can think of a lot of motivations–denial, jealousy, revenge, narcissitic personality disorder. How about the girl who, after a drunken hookup that she doesn’t remember, is teased by her dormmates about the boy who snuck out of her room half dressed in the morning and fears the tale will spread and sully her reputation? Or the girl who thought an encounter was the rekindling of a relationship and is now ignored by a guy who barely recalls that it happened? Or the emotionally unstable girl who has read the hundreds of “You go girl!” posts generated by the Amherst article and thinks a claim of rape will bring her the attention and concern she craves? None of these scenarios are likely, but they’re possible. That’s why this whole subject is so complex. </p>
<p>But think how many of these assaults could be avoided if women didn’t drink themselves into stupors at parties. If women don’t look after their own safety, all the school policies in the world won’t be enough to protect them. If I leave my car unlocked and it’s stolen, yes, I’m going to demand the thief be prosecuted, that he not be given a slap on the wrist, and that police patrol my neighborhood more often. But it doesn’t change the fact that I shouldn’t have left my car unlocked, and that my own negligence contributed to my loss. We need to hammer home to our daughters over and over again that they are the first line in their own defense.</p>
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<p>You are stating this as if it is fact. Can you elaborate how a report of non-consensual sex would be classified or are you implying that colleges simply didn’t count at all? And why would you consider the data “useless?”</p>
<p>Places like Amherst and the Ivies attract more than their fair share of weirdos – by definition, in order to get into one of those schools you have to be about three standard deviations over on the bell curve. Not surprisingly, therefore, these schools should see more personality disorders, if only because it takes some sort of personality disorder (compared to the norm) to be able to do what it takes (intense focus, some super EC skill, etc.) to get in. I can believe this girl when she says she was raped. I can also as easily believe the scenario where the guy and girl just didn’t hit it off and she is desperate to be noticed and not be lonely. If I get into a debate in a class with a girl and totally humiliate her, how easy would it be for her to retaliate by accusing me of “rape” (that’ll show him who has the power here, yeah!!). Seriously, there has to be evidence and reports done by the book to ensure the rights of all parties are protected. If his roomates were right outside the door and she heard them talking, could she herself not let out one scream? No one heard anything. Experiencing some post-traumatic rape syndrome months after the event and then attempting to seek justice is just plain stupid. Anyone with an ounce of intelligence would have known that there simply is no case and nothing an administration can do without evidence. Just sitting in the counselor’s office and pointing your finger out the window at the next random guy that walks by is about all the “evidence” she had. Essentially, without evidence, that is the totality of her “case.” I think the Administration did about as well as it could here with a very disturbed young lady. I can very much sympathize with her trauma and the event; I cannot sympathize with her absurdly negligent way of handling her plea and her fundamental obliviousness to the fundamental requirements of the justice she seeks: evidence.</p>
<p>Is this really the common perception of high achievers? That high achievement goes hand in hand with personality disorder? It is certainly a POV that permeates this board.</p>
<p>I am not sure about “high achievers”, who may or may not be high IQ, but there have been numerous studies worldwide that have found a correlation between high IQ and personality disorders.</p>
<p>posts 13 - 17</p>
<p>I would like to think that poetgrl is correct and we are reaching a tipping point. However, I agree with mini that society creates a situation where rape is acceptable. (If I understand mini’s posts) It seems to me sometimes women living in male dominated world can’t see the forest for the trees. And that this may be especially true if we are women who are fortunate enough not to have been seriously disadvantaged by living in a patriarchy. This is a board where I have read mothers of daughters defend DKE’s behavior at Yale.</p>
<p>[DKE</a> chants on Old Campus spark controversy | Yale Daily News](<a href=“http://www.yaledailynews.com/news/2010/oct/14/yale-frat-antics-spark-controversy/]DKE”>http://www.yaledailynews.com/news/2010/oct/14/yale-frat-antics-spark-controversy/)</p>
<p>I have to read more closely but has anyone responded to mini’s numerous posts about a campus atmosphere that treats violence towards women as a joke. Not on a bathroom wall but on official websites?</p>
<p>One of the schools attended by my sons required all freshmen to complete a sexual harassment program on line before they were allowed to register for classes.</p>
<p>One of the situations was as follows:</p>
<p>A female student invites a male to a party at her sorority house. The sorority provides alcohol at the party, and both students drink too much. The girl invites the boy up to her room in the sorority. In her room, she provides more alcohol to both of them from the refrigerator in her room. They are both very intoxicated. They begin making out and end up having sex and sleep together. The next morning they go out to breakfast with others and nothing seems to be wrong.</p>
<p>Later that day the girl regrets having had sex with the boy, gets upset and reports a sexual assault.</p>
<p>The correct answer to this scenario, according to the program guide, is that the boy IS guilty of sexual assault, and would be expelled from the school and criminally prosecuted.</p>
<p>This whole scenario has always bothered me. Both students made a lot of bad choices here, the first one, of course, being drinking to the point that neither was in a condition to make good choices. But I have a problem in assigning all of the blame and all of the consequences to just one of the parties.</p>
<p>I’ve always told my boys that they need to be exceptionally careful and sensitive before entering into any sexual relationship, for a lot of good reasons, the above being only one good reason. I’ve told them that sex at any time when either party is intoxicated/impaired is a no-no.</p>
<p>And yet still I worry.</p>
<p>As far as I know, my girls have been in established relationships before they had sex.
When you know someone well before intimacy, less likely for poor communication.</p>
<p>I imagine parents raise their boys to behave the same way. I also hope that those boys always use a condom.</p>
<p>I’ve read so many variations of the above post. (#50) I’m the mother of sons already graduated from college. I never worried about this scenario. It never crossed my mind that my sons would find themselves in this scenario. This will inevitably come across as judgmental and holier than thou and I apologize for that. Perhaps also incredibly naive. However, surely I’m not the only mother of sons who never worried her son would find himself falsely accused of rape after a drunken encounter?</p>
<p>EK: I taught my sons that birth control and safe sex was their responsibility. And that condoms were mandatory.</p>
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<p>That’s why I am so odd:) Just kidding.</p>
<p>Here’s more data.</p>
<p>Harvard 6, 3, 8 (or 12, 17, 12 according to the confidential report)
Princeton 11, 13, 16
Stanford 7, 16, 8
Yale 13, 19, 35</p>
<p>Harvard’s reporting format was a bit different. The numbers are for rape only excluding forcible fondling. For the other institutions, the numbers are for forcible sexual assault.</p>
<p>I am not easily swayed by the piece. I look at it as fiction. There are no details for the rape just a couple of sentences claiming she was raped. Maybe I would have understood her inaction during the whole process and after the incident if we were in the 60s or 70s or heck even the 80s. As one suggested, I find it odd that she couldnt even scream. How difficult is it to kick him? Or poke him in the eye? I am uncomfortable that nowadays one can just easily publish a piece, post a blog, twit something, or post a status in a site and many immediately regard it as truth. </p>
<p>So, for now, since I dont have facts and details from both sides, I cannot rally to her side.</p>
<p>That being said, I am deeply saddened that there are men who continue to degrade women and that this behavior doesnt just magically rear its ugly head when males become part of a university. Take a look at this article regarding the Fantasy Slut League @ Piedmont High.</p>
<p>[Letter</a> warns parents about “fantasy slut league” among Piedmont High School students | abc7news.com](<a href=“http://abclocal.go.com/kgo/story?section=news/local/east_bay&id=8855158]Letter”>http://abclocal.go.com/kgo/story?section=news/local/east_bay&id=8855158)</p>
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<p>People who get admitted to schools like Amherst may be atypical in some respects.</p>
<p>But I don’t know of any evidence that they are atypical in respects that make it more likely that they will commit crimes or falsely accuse others of committing crimes.</p>
<p>Being good at academics and ECs does not make you a menace to society.</p>
<p>alh:</p>
<p>It is not something that crossed my mind often until I read it here on CC. I have also taught my sons to use condoms, including teaching them where condoms are typically purchased. As far as I know my son has only had sex in the context of an ongoing relationship. However, I went to college and I know that drunken sexual encounters do happen.</p>
<p>I am curious as to why there are some parents who think a policy that would expel a man after a drunken sexual encounter, but not a woman is a good policy.</p>
<p>^^^I am curious, as well. I am curious why any WOMAN, parent or student, would think this is a good or reasonable policy.</p>
<p>I think one of the dangers of these kinds of policies is that they distract people from thinking about cases where women are COERCED into having sex. I could also see how such policies could provoke knee-jerk reactions against the whole of a school’s sexual misconduct policy, even if the policy is, in the main, eminently reasonable. </p>
<p>I do not think the “drunken hook-up” described in post #50 makes either party involved look good. But I surely do not see any way in which the male in the scenario bears more responsibility than the woman.</p>
<p>If women, and especially mothers of sons, insisted on a society where rape was not even within the realm of possibility - what would happen? We have that power. We don’t use it. There have been many threads discussing warning girls about the risky fraternity houses and parties. On one of those I wrote that if my son (a frat member) was in such a fraternity I would be making a whole lot of noise. About the only response was: what can you do once they are out of the house? I think we can do a lot. We just don’t do it.</p>
<h1>58</h1>
<p>I guess we could be doing better alcohol abuse education. Oh wait - mini already has suggested that.</p>
<p>edit: After consideration, if one of my sons had sex with a woman who was incapable of giving consent because of alcohol/drug abuse - I believe I would hold him responsible if she believed she had been raped. I generally hold my own children to a higher standard of conduct that those of others. </p>
<p>It is easy to write this since my own sons have never been falsely accused of anything to my knowledge. I recognize I am very fortunate.</p>
<p>Not saying it is a good policy but I see where it helps. It spells out what makes rape in a murky situation. I guess it effectively forbids kids having sex when drunk. Anyway, does anyone know how it compares; the number of rape victims that remain silent vs women accusing wrongly?</p>
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<p>I would think that in the absence of a court conviction for sexual assault or rape, that indeed colleges are not in the practice of expelling a student based solely on a report from another student. I would imagine it would take a great deal of evidence supporting the claim and a fairly strong argument why it is not being handled by the criminal justice system before a college would go to that extreme. As a parent of college age kids I would expect no less from an institution and those are two questions I would want answered - what is the evidence supporting the claim and why is this so severe that there exists danger of being expelled which will cause harm over the long term with an ability to finish the education but not severe enough to be court tested. I’m not sure I think the college should be in the business of adjudicating criminal activity greater than misdemeanors like MIPs or pot possession in states where pot is decriminalized, but I’m also not horribly concerned that colleges are extreme in how they would handle cases of he said/she said in the absence of a parallel criminal trial.</p>