Colleges Still Failing Rape Victims

by Alex DiBranco · 2010-02-25 16:31:00 UTC
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If you follow feminist blogs, you've probably already seen the horrific opinion column in the Daily Princetonian in which the writer combines victim-blaming ("she knew what would happen if she starting drinking") with accusations that women make a habit of crying rape without cause. I don't want to spend too much time talking about the woefully misconceived article by a first-year, which her older editors should never have let go to print, but it so happens that this event coincided with the release of a new piece by the Center for Public Integrity on campus sexual assault.

Back in December, I wrote a post, "Concerned About Bad Press, Colleges Provide Cover for Rapists," about the results of a nine-month investigation by CPI into the "culture of secrecy" surrounding campus sexual assault. The latest piece looks at the University of Wisconsin's abysmal failure to look properly into a students' allegation of being raped by her male crew teammates, and "lax enforcement" of Title IX protections of the right to fair treatment in sexual assault cases by the Office of Civil Rights.

Jezebel has a post, "How Colleges Fail Assault Victims -- And How Students Can Help," discussing this case and other massive failures to take sexual assault accusations seriously on college campuses. And one of the commenters on the post offers advice on how to have the fun of consensual sex when a woman is too drunk to consent at night: "If she really wants to have sex, you can have sex in the morning when you have both sobered up. It's better that way anyway." What better way to start the morning -- and aren't guys supposed to be into morning sex?

Alex DiBranco is a Change.org Editor who has worked for the Nation, Political Research Associates, and the Center for American Progress. She is now based in New York City.
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