<p>Im dismayed this thread didn’t die. At least most of the posters have gotten by the sly Yale-bashing undercurrent from mini and dodgersmom. But given that the thread continues Ill offer some thoughts for the non-activist parents.</p>
<p>This thread is full of misinformation. A few are simply playing tag team here (not the first time either). They drop little bombs like suggesting certain named schools are covering up rape or that certain colleges fail to grasp that definition of rape. They dont realize the harm theyre doing by spreading misinformation. </p>
<p>It’s unfortunate this thread wasn’t titled, “Should a College’s approach to sexual assault, and in particular their policies, enter into your College application process, and if so, how and why?” Sexual assault at college is at epidemic levels. IMHO its perhaps the single biggest social issue at college, far outweighing even the cost of college. If a school still maintains an against your will standard in their policy rather than a consent standard, theyre in the dark ages. And if a college hasn’t changed their assault policies in the last 12 months to encourage reporting and to provide safety for the victims then theyre probably still encouraging a rape culture. They’re also likely not complying with Title IX and probably not encouraging victims to seek help. </p>
<p>But dont listen to anyone intimating that Yale or Amherst, or any other school that is actively addressing the issue, is more dangerous to women than any other school. Theyre far safer. A west coast LAC with a particularly strong activist community last semester received nearly 60 sexual assaults complaints over a 3 month period, up from an average of 2 per quarter in prior years. Thats a 3,100% increase in assaults. Does that mean this LAC suddenly, overnight, became a very dangerous place for women? No. They likely became a little bit safer because the activists are raising awareness.</p>
<p>Yale has also faced an increase in reported assaults, although I doubt it matches the west coast LAC. But Yale has been far more active in publishing meaningful reports that detail the assaults at their school. Last week they also published guidance on how to interpret the reports, including guidance on what constitutes non-consensual sex. If mini really believes that all non-consensual sex is rape, perhaps she can tell us why in her opinion Yale’s guidance is all wrong. Im guessing that mini also hasn’t considered that the 50 U.S. states have nearly 50 different definitions of rape. Its not nearly as simple as mini would suggest.</p>
<p>But what else can be done? The issue disproportionately affects freshman females during the first two weeks of school, so despite all of the inane rhetoric about victim-blaming, please, please, please inform your daughters about the steps they can take to avoid situations where rapists will attack (alcohol-infused parties where your daughter doesn’t have a friend watching out for her). My daughter fortunately avoided a close brush with assault because we had those conversations. And I also had many, many, many (far too many to count) discussions with my son about consent, respect for women, and respect for choice.</p>
<p>dodgersmom, you dont seem to appreciate or understand the issue but your defiance certainly comes through. Telling people that Yale and Amherst are covering up matters is not really seeking advice; its deceptively giving it. It’s spin, and it’s not remotely accurate. It’s similar to the deceptive advice you gave your friend (assuming your story has any credibility, which I question). Its simply poor advice. And if you focus on intoxication (as you did in your last post) without addressing consent, you’re simply missing the point.</p>
At Yale, some of the campus is self-contained, and some has city streets running through it, do I don’t know how that plays out.</p>