Let’s imagine that I walk up to you, pull out a gun and shoot you dead. Or I merely brandish the gun and make threats. What do you suppose the result would be? I would go to jail. I would definitely be expelled. The 2007 murder of 32 students by a student armed with a semi-automatic firearm at Virginia Tech highlighted what appears to be a national pastime – school shootings. College administrators as a result now take this very seriously. After all, they might be shot and it makes the news.
America has another favorite pastime – rape. Rape on university campuses are a particular subset of this activity, one that does not quite receive the attention and alarm campus murder does. Consider that we live in a culture that fetishizes the sexuality of college women. Websites and videos promise men images of uninhibited “dorm-room sluts” and “college girls gone wild.”
There is an audience for this, and part of that audience includes men in college, as well as older men who want the voyeuristic thrill of what they either used to do on campus or what they wish they had done. The message, however, is that women in college are here to PARTY. And when men think of women partying, they tend to think “party” is a synonym for “sex.” If a woman does not want to have sex with a man or group of men, she is not acting according to the rules. She is spoiling the party. Basically, campus is already a hostile environment. This does not make the news.
This month there have been two reported “sexual assaults” on campus, in the residence halls, committed by an acquaintance of each woman. Which brings us to another problem with some men. They believe that friendship with a woman should at some point involve sexual favors. They confuse the intimacy of friendship with the intimacy of sex. The result is not intimate.
Look, you’re all adults now and simple ethical behaviors should be clear to you. When someone says “no” they are refusing you. Perhaps this disappoints you. Tough. When my boss refuses to give me a raise, is it permissible for me to shoot or otherwise violate him or her?
No. As for the rights of friendship, does the closeness of our bond permit me then to commit other outrages on you, say, burn your house down, kill your dog? And as for provocative clothing, yes, women may be wearing sexy clothes to attract men, but that doesn’t mean they’ve posted a sign saying that their bodies are free to all comers. Just as you do when you look for a date or a hook-up, they have the right to pick and choose who they will or will not pair with. Clothes are inanimate objects. Are you saying that you are controlled by clothes?
Protocols and protections are in place at UNI to prevent or, if it comes to it, investigate and possibly discipline sexual malefactors, or as they are commonly known, rapists. Per UNI’s “Discrimination, Harassment and Sexual Misconduct Policy,” “sexual harassment creates a hostile environment and may be disciplined when sufficiently severe.” This behavior may be disciplined? It must be sufficiently severe? The equivocation in this document is troubling. It is partly due to ambiguity that can arise from any kind of incident and the university must word their document to cover these contingencies, as well as cover its ass.
As for the term “sexual misconduct?” That is what is known amongst editors as a “weasel word” – a generalization that tries to stand in for a concrete fact or facts. This violation must be written into the policy document as what it is – RAPE.
Policy documents concerning violence don’t refer to violence as “physical misconduct” or weapons as “potentially harmful objects.” Why this lack of specificity? “Sexual misconduct” sounds like a breach of etiquette, as though you didn’t say “thank you” afterward.
And again, in the same document referring to disciplinary action, “sexual misconduct” may result in warnings, probation or suspension. Rape is a crime of violence upon another person, just as shooting someone is. If I merely wound you on my campus shooting rampage, do I merely receive suspension, since you are still alive? Some people seem to believe that rape does not deserve the severity of punishment given for murder because the victim remains alive (excepting cases of rape and murder). Just as if you killed everyone in the Maucker Union with an AK-47, if you rape a person the result should be the same – expulsion.
There will be time for investigation, and if you are exonerated, you may return, even sue for damages. But until that time, your ass should be gone.
Given the equivocation in the guidelines for rape, molestation and other forms of sexual violence, I’m afraid you may have to take action into your own hands. First of all, nothing says NO like a sharp blow to the testicles.
Secondly, if you witness sexual assault, the right thing to do may just be to put yourself at risk to stop it. Unless I can’t swim, I don’t run to find an authority if I see someone drowning. I act. Finally, I am aware of the traumatic effect rape can have on victims and that this trauma induces fear and a reluctance to confront and press charges. By all means, seek counselors, but afterward prosecute the SOB.
Campus rape is almost as much a college tradition as homecoming celebrations. It has to stop somewhere. And if the institutions that have a responsibility for your protection, and they dance around the issue, it’s up to us to force it into the light.
