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Sexual Assault on Campus
Campus Sexual Assault – On the Cutting Edge
By Connie J. Kirkland, Aug. 2004
Though sexual assault and related acts of violence have, historically, been common occurrences on college campuses across the nation, university and community recognition of this phenomenon has only come to the forefront within the past 15 years. Beginning with the high profile case of rape, burglary and strangulation of a freshman coed in her dormitory on Lehigh University in suburban Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, campus security became newsworthy. After the murder trial of Jeanne Clery’s assailant and the civil suit against the university in which Lehigh was found responsible for negligence, failure to protect, and failure to warn, the Clery family founded Security on Campus, Inc. in 1989, a non-profit organization dedicated to improving safety and security on America’s college campuses.
It was only then that the nation realized that just a small percentage of colleges reported crime statistics to the FBI. Few, if any, victim services existed on any campus to respond to the high number of campus sexual assaults. Acquaintance rape is one of the most frequent crimes committed on college campuses today. Concern about safety of college students was on the rise and Security on Campus, Inc. has lobbied vigorously to obtain federal and state laws to reinforce these concerns. Campus violence is certainly counterproductive to the healthy development of individuals who are attending college to gain an education and then pursue a career.
The federal Student Right-to-Know and Campus Security Act was passed by Congress in 1990 in large measure due to the efforts of the Clerys. The Campus Security Act, as it came to be known, requires that all campuses report Part I crimes to the FBI, but perhaps more importantly, these same statistics must be provided to college students, campus employees, and prospective students and their parents. In addition, the act requires that each college and university have policies and procedures for intervention and discipline for these major crimes as well as educational programming to help reduce the risks of college students becoming victims. The focus originally was on sexual assault and continues to be so today. In making a college choice, today’s parents and prospective students are taking a look at the college’s security as well as its sports teams and academic standing. The crime rates and programs in place for prevention and intervention are key in many decisions.
After the passage of the Campus Security Act, other important legislation followed quickly, to include the Campus Sexual Assault Victims’ Bill of Rights in 1992 which became part of the US Department of Education’s Higher Education Reauthorization Act in the same year. In 1994 the Violence Against Women Act was passed and included funding to increase sexual assault programming and victim services on college campuses. Amendments to these and other pieces of legislation have continued through the last ten years to strengthen the original campus security laws.
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