Campus sexual violence: Moving the dialogue

forward

Advocacy in Action March 10,2017

Sarah McMahon, Ph.D.

Associate Director, Center on Violence Against Women & Children

Rutgers University School of Social Work

RUSSW-VAWC

Welcome!

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Presentation objectives

After the presentation, participants will be able to:

• Describe recent trends and data related to campus sexual

violence

• Recognize the historical lack of accountability for campus

sexual violence

• Identify current mandates and guidance provided for colleges

and universities to address sexual violence

• Understand strengths and gaps in current work on campus

sexual violence

• Identify promising practices and resources for addressing

campus sexual violence

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Campus sexual assault in the news

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Why now? • Student Activism

• Title IX Guidance

• Legislators and legislation

• White House Task Force to Protect Students from Sexual

Assault

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Scope

“Twenty-five percent”

• First cited by Ms. Magazine Project on Campus Sexual

Assault, led by Dr. Mary Koss, 1984

,

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Prevalence

23.1 %

5.4 %

21.0 %

3.0 %

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From the perspective of survivors

“You never think it's gonna be you until

it's you. Even if you think you have the

best head on your shoulders, you never

know… You could stay in, you could go

out, it doesn't matter.”

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Impact

Physical

• Injuries from assault

• Chronic pain

• Difficulty sleeping

• STIs

• Pregnancy

• Change in eating habits

Mental Health

• PTSD

• Depression

• Anxiety

• Fear

• Guilt/shame

• Panic attacks

• Suicidal ideation/suicide

• Substance abuse

• Eating disorders

Academic Performance

• Absences

• Difficulty completing assignments

• Inability to focus

• Poor overall performance

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From the perspective of survivors

“My independence, natural joy, gentleness,

and steady lifestyle I had been enjoying

became distorted beyond recognition. I

became closed off, angry, self deprecating,

tired, irritable, empty. The isolation at times

was unbearable.”

-The Survivor in the Brock Turner Case

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Who commits campus sexual violence?

• Incidents of sexual assault most often perpetrated by

someone the victim knows (BJS, 2016)

Casual acquaintance

59%

Strangers 9%

Ex/current friends,

roommates or partners

32%

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Reporting of campus sexual assaults

• Reporting rates to campus or law enforcement are low

Only 12.5%

of sexual

assaults are

reported to

any official

(BJS,

2016).

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Options for campus sexual assault survivors

Criminal justice system

and/or

On-campus adjudication

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How are on-campus systems working?

White House Task Force to Protect

Students From Sexual Assault, 2014

“And in all too many instances, survivors of

sexual violence…often do not have a safe,

confidential place to turn after an assault,

they haven’t been told how the system works,

and they often believe it is working against

them.”

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McCaskill Report

• 40% of schools have not conducted a

single investigation in the past 5 yrs

• Many schools over reporting

investigation numbers to Dept. of Ed.

• 20% of institutions give the athletic

dept. oversight of sexual violence

cases involving student athletes

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How campuses handle sexual assault

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How campuses handle sexual assault

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How campuses handle sexual assault

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How campuses handle sexual assault

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Mandates

• Crime statistics

• Campus Sexual Assault Victim Bill of Rights

Clery

• 2013 Amendments

• Populations VAWA

• VAWA Amendments to Clery

• Primary prevention

Campus SaVE Act

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Best practices: Policy

Definitions

• Title IX Coordinator’s role

• Clear definitions

• Prevention

• Safety

• Privacy

Options

• Reporting

• Victim services

• Victims’ rights to protection

Procedure

• Response

• Investigation

• Complaint and Responding Party rights

• Potential sanctions

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Best practices: Programs

Reporting

Prevention Education

Advocacy & Services

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Best practices: Prevention

Multiple levels Multiple methods

Sufficient dosage

Theory Driven Developmentally

appropriate Culturally relevant

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How to create change? Campus climate

surveys Campus climate surveys = best

practice

“The first step” in working towards

solutions

See full picture of current resources

and services

Understand campus-unique

problems

Allows for creation of a tailored action

plan

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Rutgers project approach

Collaborative, community-driven, comprehensive

Action Resource

Audit Survey

Focus Groups

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iSPEAK campaign

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Rutgers campus climate findings

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Campaign

Strategic

Areas

Policy & Training

Individual Efforts

Outreach & Programming

The

Revolution

Starts Here.

End Sexual

Violence

Now.

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Policy & Training

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Outreach & Promotion

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Don McPherson

Laci Green

Programs

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Programs

The Hunting Ground

1 Billion Rising

The

Clothesline

Project

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How are things working?

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From the perspective of survivors

“I know that our response is really good, it's like one of

the best, so even though it [sexual assault] does go on,

we do have the resources to help… like our offices.

VPVA, I know is, extremely effective and it's been

talked about on a national level, they're pretty good.”

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From the perspective of survivors

“The office of Violence Prevention and Victim Assistance

is amazing, they do a lot of things for the victim as well

as outreach and are really there, open door as needed,

and that office has no house numbers or whatever, so

people don't know where you're going, if, let's say a

friend would see a friend walk in, it's confidential, it's an

awesome office.”

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From the perspective of survivors

“The response from the university was positive in a

sense that they… take the precautions that are

necessary… and I guess through the conduct

process ensuring that all stories, all facts are heard

and both sides of the story are heard and that

whatever evidence is necessary to be presented in

the case is presented. So I think in that respect…

how the university responds initially is pretty positive.”

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From the perspective of survivors

“I wish that the process, any process that a survivor

has to go through for anything, whether it be

submitting a homework late or missing class or

anything, I just feel like there's too many hoops. It

needs to be more simple because survivors are

simply like, survivors are trying to do anything they

can for themselves and they already have so much

on their minds. we don't need hoops to jump

through.”

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Challenges

• Momentum

• High expectations from students

• Event attendance

• Engaging Men

• Evaluating what we’ve accomplished

• Changing attitudes, behaviors, and norms is slow

– And needs to start earlier!

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Next steps

• Continue to provide opportunities for voices to be heard

• Engage entire community in prevention efforts

• Sustain the university’s commitment to addressing sexual

violence on campus

• Partner with local agencies and other schools

• Work with elementary and high school students

• Advocate for legislation

• Evaluation

• Research

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Thank

you!

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Acknowledgments

• Allison Brachmann, Graduate Assistant, VAWC

• Kerry Camerer, Graduate Assistant, VAWC

• Julia O’Connor, Julia Cusano, & members of the research

team

• Jackie Moran & Juhi Bhatt, Title IX, Rutgers-NB

• The Rutgers-NB Campus Climate Advisory Board

• Dr. Karen Herman

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Contact information

Sarah McMahon Associate Professor

Associate Director

Center on Violence Against Women & Children

School of Social Work, Rutgers University

smcmahon@ssw.rutgers.edu

vawc.rutgers.edu