Dive Brief:
- More than 100 students at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County this week marched to the university's administrative offices chanting "no means no" and met with President Freeman Hrabowski to discuss their claims that the institution ignored or mishandled charges of sexual assault, according to The Baltimore Sun.
- The impromptu march stemmed from a lawsuit filed by two former students on Sept. 10 saying they were raped on campus in separate incidents. The women alleged police and prosecutors used scare tactics and humiliation to "cover up justifiable compliants of sexual assault."
- The students grilled Hrabowskifor over an hour about how he plans to improve the way UMBC addresses sexual assault on campus, an issue they said is pervasive. Their requests include rape kit training for campuses nurses and more resources for the Title IX office. Hrabowski apologized to the students and said UMBC needs to do more.
Dive Insight:
Women are two times more likely to be sexually assaulted than robbed while in college, according to the Rape, Abuse, and Incest National Network, and one-quarter of undergraduate women experience sexual violence.
While a report late last year suggested sexual harassment and assault are widespread in higher education, the Department of Education has been criticized for its plans to implement new policies on how colleges are expected to handle sexual misconduct on campus.
The proposed policies, a version of which were published by The New York Times in August, would narrow the definition of sexual harassment and raise the legal standard for determining whether a college has adequately addressed a sexual misconduct complaint. The rules would also favor the use of mediation in sexual misconduct cases, which the Obama administration had discouraged.
A federal appeals court recently ruled in favor of a college student who sought the right to question his accuser despite concerns about its potential negative impact on victims. Restorative justice also has been recommended as alternative to legal action and mediation in sexual misconduct cases, though critics of the approach say it may discourage victims from seeking legal remedies.
New research suggests colleges can reduce the likelihood of sexual assault on campus by changing how students think about and interact with each other, The New Yorker reported. Most student do not intend to commit sexual assault, the researchers argue, and therefore could be taught to change their behavior in response to situational feedback. Although students are ultimately responsible for their actions, such preventative measures make the campus community and institution accountable as well.