In “Crime and Punishment: The saga of Richie Parker” published in Sports Illustrated, Gary Smith helps to explain just how many people are affected by a single sexual assault case. He does this in a very unique style by giving 12 sections explaining the incident from different points of view and the effects of a single crime. One person affected was Jill Agostino, the sports copy editor for Newsday. Her unnamed colleague had given her a copy of an article he was writing on Richie Parker and called asking if she liked it. Little did he know, stories like his were keeping her up at night, reminding her of the time she was raped nine years earlier. Agostino was enraged because people were sticking up for Parker, saying things like, “boys will
In contrast, Eramo immediately took action in Jackie’s case and arranged meetings with the victim and the Charlottesville Police Department to make the rapist accountable for their actions. In result, Jackie did not want to cooperate with law enforcement in describing the rape or give any names of the men involved – which concluded to no official police report.
In society and college campuses, sexual assault occurs quite frequently. According to an estimation one third of women experience a forced sexual experience at least once in their life and most of the time it occurs in colleges. Men have also been reported to be victim of sexual assaults mostly by other men. Most of the time the sexual assault is planned and perpetrated by a third person, who is known to the victim of incident. Drug and alcohol use play role in this issue and contribute to the problem as most of the time the victim and perpetrators are under the effect of alcohol or any other drug during the incident. It looks scary how vulnerable the survivor can be at the time of assault. However, as long as the matter of violence is associated, the students at college campuses are safer than their non-college mates. Some training and education has been administrated to the students for awareness about the violence and sexual assaults. Even, with increased training and education, most of the college campuses have much longer way to go for decreasing the intensity and number of assaults and the incidents have immense negative impact on the society and people around us.
Within a month of his arrival to Radford University, however, he would be found dead in his home with a blood alcohol level of .48, six times the legal limit for driving in the state of Virginia. His fateful death would be discovered to be a result of hazing, specifically “excessive alcohol intake,” in order to gain access into the Tau Kappa Epsilon fraternity (Moxley). Unfortunately, circumstances such as these happen across college campuses in the United States yearly, but this was not always the case. Hazing is “any activity expected of someone joining a group that humiliates, degrades, abuses, or endangers regardless of the person’s willingness to participate” (Holmes). This form of harassment takes place in a variety of social groups and communities, but has a prevalence within greek culture on college campuses. When fraternities first gained traction in the 18th century, they primarily sought to promote a level of scholarly and ethical conduct. Recently, however, fraternities have carried a mixed image, stemming from the outlandish reports of “hazing, alcohol abuse, and anti-intellectualism.” In an attempt to decriminalize the current state of fraternities, universities have contrasted this with their high graduation rate, widespread community service, and the member’s willingness to
Many of the victims interviewed in the documentary reported that many of them had thoughts of self-harm, or had actually tried to commit suicide. This should never be an answer for a student when they were the victim of a sexual assault, especially when they should be supported by their own university that they call home. This documentary looked into all different aspects to see if it was just one college, or one department area that seemed to always be the
Which campus will be next? It is not a question of it, but when and where? College is the first time students get to spend time without parental guidance. In fact, college is a place where many students learn about themselves, but are they safe? Campuses are filled with all kinds of students, including different ages. Unfortunately, not every student will have a positive mindset or respect of others. Nowadays, the most assaults happen on a college campus and this is a serious issue that can be prevented. Research claims that, “Eighteen percent experienced an attempted and/or completed sexual assault since entering college.” (NSVRC) On an average, that is one in five students worldwide, but we can make those numbers decrease greatly with a
The United States is facing a growing problem that shows no signs of slowing: sexual assaults on college campuses. Possible reasons for this epidemic are explained by Janet Napolitano, the current president of the University of California. She describes that “young adults live independently and in close proximity to one another for the first time” while attending college (Napolitano 387). The college setting provides students with opportunities to take advantage of one another. As a result, sexual assaults have become an issue across universities in the United States. Sexual assaults are a problem because they can have lasting effects on victims. It is the job of both the government and colleges to find solutions to the problem, by preventing
Recent headlines have highlighted the fact that rape culture is prevalent in our society, most noticeably on college campuses. To understand why this is a social issue we first have to understand what rape culture entails. Rape culture is a set of assumptions that reinforces male sexual aggression and disregards violence against females (Hildebrand & Najdowski, 2015, p. 1062). Simplified, it is an environment where sexual violence is normalized and most of the time excused.
In Zoë Heller’s Rape on the Campus, She advocates how sexual assault happens often on campuses, and that it needs to be significantly more addressed; as it is scarce for women to bring the college’s attention to the assault. Heller asserts that, “20 percent of women are sexually assaulted during their time at college and as few as 5 percent of these assaults are ever reported to police” (185). Noting that ninety-five percent of sexual assault cases are dealt by the college, colleges can take advantage and handle its reputation by outputting false information to cover any potential negative reputation. While colleges are forced to obey the rules of title IX, I believe this is an inadequate effort to remove bias teachers and workers from colleges.
On February 7, 1978, the 19-year-old student that attended the College of William and Mary reported that she was sexually assaulted at gunpoint. She informed police investigators that on that afternoon she went to her “fiancé’s apartment in Williamsburg, Virginia after her morning class was cancelled. When she attempted to enter the apartment with her arms full of groceries, she was then confronted
In the summer of 2002, Brian Banks, a 16-year-old outstanding high school football linebacker from Long Beach Polytechnic High in Southern California had a promising future ahead of him. He had a verbal agreement to play for USC once he finished high school, but he had a lot of recruitment letters coming to him. Unfortunately, his future was cut short. Wanetta Gibson, a 15-year-old who also attended Long Beach Polytechnic, had accused Brian Banks of rape. That summer morning, Wanette and Brian were making out in the stairwell of the school, that night, Brian was being arrested for rape.
In the article “Death at a Penn State Fraternity” by Caitlin Flanagan, the tragic story of Beta Theta Pi pledge Timothy Piazza’s last moments are recounted in great detail. Throughout the analysis of the situation, Flanagan subjects her audience to a substantial amount of heartbreaking details, as well as her opinion and speculation. Flanagan’s purpose in her writing of this article is to display the message that fraternity hazing is apart of a much greater problem in the fraternal system. She does this in a number of ways, including her interviews with other frat brothers such as Kordel Davis, and her stringent analyzation of Greek Life as a whole.
Many words come up when thinking of ‘College’, some of which are: learning, independence, goals, party, and freedom; although, that’s not always the case. At residential colleges rape culture has grown tremendously throughout time. In the article, “Mishandling Rape”, written by Jed Rubenfeld completely analyzes and supports the problem of rape in colleges throughout the United States. In this article, he establishes the importance of his argument, the audience he is hoping to speak out to, various logistics, and has a strong ethos appeal which supports his argument.
They tend to seek help in their campus administrators and they do not provide resources, support that will help the victims, instead, they ask blaming questions. The administrator is more interested in what the victim was wearing and how drunk they were. Victim blaming is when a victim of a crime is held responsible or blamed for the harm being committed. These victims are quickly blamed for their offender's actions and live in fear of running into their offender again on campus. Approximately about 88% of women do not report; victim blaming has caused a silent effect in which women are embarrassed by reporting. Colleges are protecting their public record and do not wish to affect their brand be publicly admitting the high rates of sexual assaults. The documentary focused on a student attending Harvard Law School and the administrators insisted that the female victim should remain silent and avoid spreading the incident around. They asked questions such as, "Did you give him the wrong message, why did you choose not to fight back". Victim blaming is presented when the administrators are more interested in what the victim did wrong rather than what the offender's actions
When the FDA issued a report about the excessive amounts of salt found in the food at fast food restaurants, health officials took action. The FDA or the Food and Drug Administration, demanded fast food chains take steps to inform the consumer. When the consumer has a better idea of what they are eating they can make healthier choices. "As required by statute, FDA’s final rule for nutrition labeling in chain restaurants and similar retail food establishments will provide consumers with clear and consistent nutrition information in a direct and accessible manner for the foods they eat and buy for their families", (Food , 2015). These changes along with the guidelines for the amount of sodium a company can put in the food, forces the PR to take