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The Official Student Paper of Riverside Poly High School

The List

May 29, 2014

ACCOUNTABILITY: A newly-released list reveals 55 colleges under investigation for mishandling sexual harassment.

by Chance Ornelas-Skarin, Staff Writer

College: the supposedly ideal destination where we become the great people we are meant to be. It can be the beginning of success or the start of a lifetime of partying. However, one of the biggest issues on college campuses has little to do with such merriment. The harsh truth is that college campuses are somewhat dangerous for the students who go there—especially the females. Recently, the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights released a list presenting 55 higher education institutions that are currently under investigation for not meeting Title IX standards regarding equal treatment based on sex; these institutions failed to adequately respond to students’ complaints of sexual assault. The list is intended to make these investigations “more transparent,” according to Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights Catherine E. Lhamon. While the list does not release updates concerning the on-going investigations, it does shed light on the issue of sexual harassment.

The list shows the wide array of colleges with reported rape incidents. According to the list, investigations are under way at colleges from the not-so-well-known Vincennes College to the prolific Ivy League colleges like Harvard or Princeton. The problem is that many people don’t know how serious the issue of sexual harassment on college campuses has become over the years.

One in Four, an organization dedicated to raising awareness about sexual assault, surprisingly states that one in four women will experience some form of sexual assault, while the National Institute of Justice reports the national average as being one in five. Which statistic is right does not matter. According to the National Institute of Justice, only five percent of rapes are actually reported. If we consider those 55 colleges as the five percent of reported sexual harassment cases, then the theoretical amount of colleges with potential rapes becomes about 1000 out of the 4599 colleges that exist, according to the National Center for Education Statistics.

This number should not be so large. When there’s a 20 to 25 percent chance that you will get sexually assaulted it becomes reasonable to fear it actually happening.

This is wrong.

Some sort of stricter enforcement must occur on college campuses so that students are not sexually assaulted. Schools must be held accountable for what happens on their watch. This list is a good start.

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