Why Sexual Assault is the Best-Kept Worst Secret on College Campuses

            “You want quiet? Go to the library.” Every college student vainly hoping to study or – God forbid – sleep, in an otherwise noisy campus has heard this before. Indeed, there are few places in this country that buzz with the activity and life of a college campus. Students clutch coffee cups on Monday mornings and chat animatedly about their weekend misadventures. Young associate professors wishing to make their mark (and their tenure) lecture like Southern Baptist preachers in crowded lecture halls. Hipsters in advocacy groups line the sidewalk and spread their message using their boom boxes and voice boxes. The cheers of thousands of fans with their shirts (or chests) painted in school colors erupt from the football stadium on fall Saturday mornings. As the day rolls into night, the cheers only grow louder. Frat boys raise their cups and shout their pledge toast, freshman girls rush onstage to sing off-key karaoke, and you and your closest friends sit at your usual bar table and sing your favorite song as loudly as possible when it comes on the radio.  

            But amid the clamor and excitement, one voice is nearly silent. In a 2005 “Sexual Assault on Campus” study conducted by the National Institute of Justice, it was found that in any given 9-month academic year, 3% of all college women become victims of rape. While this may seem like a modest percentage at first, consider that in a campus of 10,000 female students, 350 of these women have experienced rape in the past 9 months. When this number is extended to include the now typical 5 year college career, the number of college women victimized by sexual assault skyrockets to 20%. Overall, 1 in 5 female students will experience rape during their college career. Tragically, these voices are seldom heard. Rape is widely considered to be the most underreported violent crime, and according to RAINN (Rape Abuse and Incest National Network) 60% of rapes and sexual assaults are never reported to the police. As overlooked and underreported as sexual assault is in general, the sexual assault of college women goes almost completely unknown. Only 5% of attempted and completed college rapes are reported to college authorities and/or law enforcement. 

            “Sexual Assault is a one of the most underreported crimes in the US,” stated Erin Walder, a Senior Sociology major and S.O.S. (Sexual Offense Support) member at the University of Delaware. “There are things like re-victimization – in which the victims of sexual assault must go through the same incident a multitude of times – and discrimination from the police, which both discourage girls from coming forward. Sexual assault is one of the only crimes where the victims are usually blamed for something that happened to them.”

            The voices of the women that have endured rape can get overwhelmed by the cacophony of college life, especially when so many women are shamed into silence. However, the University of Delaware has initiated a series of educational programs on sexual assault to try and stop to the violence – and start the conversation. The University of Delaware has named April 2008 Sexual Assault Awareness Month, to coincide with the national initiative driven by the U.S. Department of Justice. From Monday, April 7 to Tuesday, April 29, UD will hold events on campus to educate the study body about sexual assault and the condition of college women in America, and honor survivors of sexual assault and abuse. On Wednesday, April 9, ContactLifeline's Sexual Assault Network of Delaware and the University of Delaware hosted “A Walk in Her Shoes,” a display which included the actual shoes of sexual assault victims. The poignant display of survivors’ shoes, many tied to a card with their survivor’s story, was meant to represent each survivor of sexual assault or abuse in Delaware. Although the display was silent, the emotional implications were deafening.

            Cindy Wiegand, a senior women’s studies major at the University of Delaware and a member of S.A.G.E. (Students Acting for Gender Equality), helped host the event. “This display is meant to raise awareness for sexual assault. The stories and the shoes represent the reported sexual assaults in Delaware. It’s important to allow people to tell their stories – and to know that they’re not alone.”

            Polli Funk, the Public Policy Director of the ContactLifeline Sexual Assault Network of Delaware, organized the “Walk in Her Shoes” exhibit, a display that was started in 2006 at Legislative Hall in Dover that included 800 shoes to represent the 1 in every 8 women in Delaware who at that time had been sexually assaulted during their lifetime. “This is a way to show survivors that society will no longer tolerate it being a silent epidemic. We are here to let them know that they no longer need to feel ashamed. We understand some of the things they’re going through based on our own personal experiences, and want them to know that they’re not alone.”

            Unfortunately, sexual assault victims are far from alone in numbers, even if they feel alone. According to RAINN, college-aged women are 4 times more likely than the general population to endure rape, sexual assault, or attempted sexual assault. Young girls in general are extremely vulnerable to sexual assault – 80% of sexual assault victims are under the age of 30, 44% are under 18, 29% are between the ages of 12 and 17, and a staggering 15% are younger than 12. As to be expected, young women in Delaware are also more likely to be victims of assault. In 2005 the State of Delaware conducted a “Behavioral Risk Factor Survey” of adult women, and found that although only 0.6% of Delaware women reported having non-consensual sex in the past year, 3.4% of young Delaware women between the ages of 18 and 24 reported being sexually assaulted in the same time period.  So why are so many young women in general, and college women specifically, being sexually assaulted?

            “I think that when you’re looking at a college population, there are some factors that contribute to a higher sexual assault rate,” Erin stated. “You have a concentrated area of people in the same age, and I think there are a lot of excuses made. ‘She was really drunk….I was really drunk…..I didn’t know what I was doing.’”

            “College students have a very high rate of sexual violence, even when no one wants to talk about it,” Polli said. “A large percentage of victims are between 18 and 24 in age. When college students are in their first year they go through self-identity, and want to fit in – this sometimes makes them more vulnerable.”

            College women are certainly more vulnerable to violent sexual crimes, but that doesn’t mean that they are helpless. The events in Sexual Assault Awareness Month focus on rape prevention, and the measures that young women can take to better protect themselves against sexual assault. If a woman suffers rape, incest, or abuse, she can call 1-800-262-9800 for ContactLifeline’s 24-hour crisis helpline and rape counseling program, or call 1-656-HOPE for the national rape crisis hotline.

            As a part of national Sexual Assault Awareness Month, the University of Delaware and other universities throughout the country hosted lectures, plays, marches, and other events to increase student awareness of collegiate sexual assault, and prevent more violent crimes from occurring. But the real question is – will these programs strengthen the voice of the rape victim, or will it still be hushed in a community of competing noise?

            Erin Walder, who volunteers with ContactLifeline and helped set up the “Walk in Her Shoes” display, believes we have a way to go before the public discourse is open to sexual assault. “Sexual assault is an unspoken issue in America. We deal with issues like taxes and gun control, but sexual assault is never brought to the forefront – even when it affects so many men and women in America and in the world. [Sexual assault] is still seen as taboo, because it has to do with sexuality, something of a sexual nature. We live in a rape culture where rape myths are perpetuated, like ‘Oh, she was just drunk,’ or ‘Well, she was wearing a short skirt.’ Those rape myths are embedded in our socialization as we grow up from childhood into adulthood. I think that’s one of the main reasons it’s not being spoken about today, and why people shy away from it.”

            Even if sexual assault is largely ignored in the public debate, one senator in Delaware has given a voice to those who cannot speak for themselves. Senator Joe Biden wrote the landmark Violence Against Women Act of 1994, which began a nationwide campaign to alleviate the incidence rate of rape and domestic violence against women and children, and hold perpetrators truly accountable. VAWA encouraged states to create community response networks for victims of sexual assault, and created the national hotline that over 1.5 million abuse victims have called for help. According to Senator Biden, since VAWA was first passed in 1994, incidents of rape are down by 60% nationwide, and today more than half of all sexual assault victims are reporting the crime to law officials. Although there are many accomplishments that the Senior Senator could cite as important, Joe Biden takes most pride in his campaign for women’s safety."I consider the Violence Against Women Act the single most significant legislation that I’ve crafted during my 35-year tenure in the Senate. Indeed, the enactment of the Violence Against Women Act in 1994 was the beginning of a historic commitment to women and children victimized by domestic violence and sexual assault.”

            However, Joe acknowledges that the battle against sexual assault is far from over, and that “we can change people's lives, but the change is always one person at a time.” No one could agree more than Polli Funk, who believes that events like the “Walk in Her Shoes” display help encourage other victims of sexual assault to stand up for themselves – with or without shoes – by learning of the stories and triumphs of past survivors. “In past years there have been female students that have stopped by the event, and been so touched by it, that they have left the shoes that they were wearing – either for themselves or on behalf of a friend they knew – and also wrote a story. [The display] does affect college students, and gives them a platform to speak out.”