Rape on a College Campus : A Study of the Claremont Colleges

Abstract

The author worked with Project Sister, a rape crisis center serving Southern California’s Claremont Colleges. Because of confidentiality issues, she does not use the experience of her clients directly, but instead uses structured field interviews with campus employees and students for her research. The intent of this paper is to analyze how a college campus addresses the problem of rape. College campuses, as a microcosm of society, accept violence against women through actions and policies developed in the context of a society that accepts and perpetuates rape. But since a college is a business that must look after its own interests, no college can afford the publicity and expense of a high profile rape case or law suit. Its first priority must be the students. Though individually administrators seem to support the fight against rape, their collective actions do not. The majority of judicial board cases are handled badly. Rape is a serious problem on college campuses, yet many insist on denying this until incident after incident is brought to their attention. Waiting until a rape has occurred is the wrong way to address the problem. "Although educational programs will not guarantee that acquaintance rape and sexual assault will stop, they may help in reducing the number of sexual assaults on campus" Continual education to inform students about the reality of rape and dispel the myths surrounding it is the primary way to foster an environment that denounces rape and accepts its survivors. The interviews and field notes are included as appendices.