On Campus Sexual Violence

My guess is simply seeing the words “Sexual Assualt” in this title have stirred many of you to anger or concern. I am aware that anything which is said on a topic such as this will be a lightning rod for controversy. Nonetheless I feel that I cannot let it go unaddressed and so in the following paragraphs I will discuss the issue and hopefully add something new to the conversation we as a society are having.

So what is there to be said? Sexual Assault on Campus (which is the setting I’ll be focusing on here) is a lot like racism; all of the easy policy solutions have been taken. Much of the discussion involves commentators like myself calling for “robust policies” and “new approaches” as if the problem is some document or doctrine.

Likewise there is too much of a willingness to separate universities from society as a whole. Such ideas run headlong into the administrative complexity of modern society. If a student from one university sexually assaults a student from another institution we would most certainly categorize the offense as being “on campus” or related to that issue. Yet which institution should investigate or conduct disciplinary proceedings?

One of the sad failings of our modern society is how we seem to outsource important matters to private institutions. I think that it should not be a football league that is primarily responsible for punishing domestic abusers any more than I believe universities are best equipped to investigate rape. Society must take more responsibility for consoling victims, investigating incidents, and punishing wrongdoers. It is our society rather than any university or college that is in need of…um…a robust policy.