<p>This article talks a lot about the current situation and lawsuits at Columbia, but sexual assault related issues seem to be a worsening problem on college campuses across the country:</p>
<p>"The issue of campus sexual violence has come to national light after a wave of students from UNC, Occidental, UConn, UC Berkeley, and Dartmouth decided to file Title IX allegations, prompting a White House task force on the issue as well as vocal support from national political figures like California Congresswoman Jackie Speier and New York Senator Kirsten Gillibrand."</p>
<p>The most recent issues revolving around sexual assault and University mistreatment in this area (in my limited knowledge) have occurred at a number of top colleges and universities, including Brown, Columbia, and the colleges listed above. How does this information affect your college application process? Does it make people rethink their choices, or are these very extreme instances that need not be applied to a school's culture as a whole? It sounds like the institutional procedures revolving around sexual assault on college campuses needs to be rethought at a lot of schools. I'm curious to hear what you all think.</p>
<p>Most people I know didn’t really pay too much attention to it when they were applying, but after they were actually accepted, they often rethought their choices based on sexual assault (I.e, rape) culture at a school. I know one girl who got into Dartmouth and Uchicago, and despite liking Dartmouth much more on a geographical and academic level, she chose U chicago after hearing about dartmouth’s sexual assault controversies. </p>
<p>@Guest15, my sister graduated from high school last year (class of 2017) and I remember her telling me that one of her friends went up to visit Dartmouth on one of their admitted students’ weekends and apparently there was a lot of protesting by current students regarding sexual assault while she was visiting. I think you’re definitely right about rethinking after getting accepted as that’s the time when people tend to think more about “fit” and happiness over prestige, rank, and that sort of thing.</p>
<p>Yeah. I didn’t think that it was really an epidemic of huge proportions there, but it’s definitely a big enough of a reason to reconsider the college. As sociologists have long known, high incidence of sexual assault says something much bigger about the culture of a place. </p>
<p>What’s especially troubling is that the universities where there are no complaints filed are often those with the most abysmal record of handling sexual assault cases, or even bringing awareness to the issue. I’ve taken a class with one of the head counselors in my state. What he had to say about my university (one which was not listed by the DOJ) was extremely troubling. </p>
<p>IMHO it’s all about alcohol. Ironically the increase in the drinking age to 21 has led to an epidemic of binge drinking. Drunkenness lowers inhibitions and enables the predatory. A bunch of 20-year-olds drinking together without public scrutiny or peer pressure to behave like a human being is not a pretty sight. Human nature has not changed and people are no worse or better than they used to be. Even with all the emphasis on women’s rights and empowerment, the fact that sexual assault is still a problem on campuses can be laid at the door of alcohol policy.</p>
<p>I also agree with Whenhen about the paradox of reporting. The colleges that report incidences and admit the problem may, ironically, be safer than those which do not.</p>