Kevyn Teape

Professor Pearson

AAS 321

November 17th 2016

Community Reporting Project Rough Draft

I believe that sexual assault is more of an issue than the media is portraying, especially for women of color. I set out to thoroughly investigate whether female minority victims of sexual assault on college campuses, on average, receive the same justice and treatment after the instance. I have researched both how colleges in Central and Southern Jersey have followed the provisions of Title IX with respect to sexual assault and if there is a gap in effectiveness for different racial groups. In this case, effectiveness is gauged by justice, the incrimination of an assailant, and the percentage of victims that do use available services.

I will try to point towards a need for progress on behalf of all women by proving that women of color do not report instances as often, do not get the same justice, or take advantage of the same resources as much as non-colored women.

 

Summary of Rape Culture on College Campuses

Rape culture has been a serious topic of discussion in recent years because it has been an issue of concern especially on college campuses. According to the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network(RAINN), college campuses are hotspots for sexual assault. Men are five times more likely than the general population of men to be sexually assaulted. Women are also at greater risk. Women in college, age 18-24, are three times more likely than women outside of the college demographic to be sexually assaulted.

When an issue has become so widespread, it is imperative that people begin to address how to fix the issue. In order to properly tackle an issue, it is crucial that one first understands what the issue or issues are. The issue that I have chosen to investigate has two components; one that is systematic and one that is social. I attempted to address any systematic failures like the potential inefficiency of Title IX and the criminal justice system. The next step I took towards finding out more about the different, if any, behavioral customs of women from different racial backgrounds race that caused women to not come forward and say that they had been raped, take legal action, and seek out help to get over the traumatic experience.

Summary of the KEY Results(What do I conclude)

By addressing sexual assault as a systemic issue and as a social issue, greater examination has been achieved thus creating more accurate assessments. With the set of specific data I was able to more accurately define the issues for my results and offer possible solutions.

Through my research, I have found that women of color are at least as likely as non-colored women to be a victim of sexual violence. However, they are less likely to report offenses, get treatment, and____________. Title IX is sufficient but the criminal justice system is incapable of incriminating assailants and if terribly inefficient.

Background

I have studied, interviewed, and pulled evidence from the following campuses: Rutgers New Brunswick, The College of New Jersey, Rider University, and Rowan University. The schools that I have selected are generally well-known and belong to diverse sets of higher learning institutions. I chose these schools with different sizes and academic records in order to isolate issues that seem to be prevalent in one subset of higher institutions and outline shared issues between the schools of similar size, academic excellence, or if the issues are universal.

Rutgers is a large, prestigious, university. The College of New Jersey is a small, prestigious, liberal arts college. Rowan University is twice as big as The College of New Jersey but still pales in comparison to the size of Rutgers. Rowan’s curriculum is comparable to the average college curriculum across the United States in terms of rigor. Rider University is a private college and the smallest in terms of population of all the colleges I will be extracting data from. It’s curriculum is similar to Rowan’s.

I interviewed the Case Manager from the department of Student Affairs, the Director for the Anti-Violence Initiative(AVI) department, and the Title IX Co-Ordinator from TCNJ. I have interviewed a Director from Center on Violence Against Women and Children and a current female student from Rutgers New Brunswick campus. I have statistics from The Department of Public Safety at both the universities of  Rider and Rowan. I gathered some information from the Rape Aggression Defense System(RAD) organization at Rowan University. Lastly, I gathered statistical information from both the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network and the National Sexual Violence Resource Center.

Project Results(What happened play by play)

The first component to understanding the issue or problem is to break it up into distinguishable parts. In this case, the first part I wanted to tackle was the institution.  For many public universities, Title IX has an undeniable impact on their policies. Title IX is a law that holds colleges that receive federal aid accountable for gender based violence and harassment.

I interviewed Jordan Drapefort, Title IX Co-ordinator at TCNJ, for her expert opinion. [INSERT NOTES FROM INTERVIEW}.

I interviewed the Case Manager for the department of Student Affairs, Casey March, to better understand how cases of sexual assault and other gender related violence protected under Title IX are handled. [INSERT NOTES FROM INTERVIEW}.

The next component to address was the criminal system. The provisions of Title IX seemed to be followed and executed well enough to be deemed at least satisfactory by all the schools that I have studied. I received information from both departments of public safety at Rowan and Rider University. [INSERT STATISTICAL ANALYSIS FROM DEPARTMENTS]

The information I received from both Rider and Rowan did not shock me. Both reports were fairly congruent to the national statistics on Sexual Assault.[INSERT STATISTICAL ANALYSIS FROM DATABASES].

The institutional problem with sexual assault on campuses is that the system does not incriminate those who are guilty of the crime; a large majority of assailants go uncharged.

The last component to investigate is how women who are affected move forward after the incident. I interviewed Michelle Lambing, the Assistant Director for Anti-Violence Initiative(AVI) at TCNJ, to find out more about the objective of the program and the about students that she helps. [INSERT NOTES FROM INTERVIEW}.

Judy Postmus, the Director from Center on Violence Against Women and Children, plays a similar role as Michelle Lambing at Rutgers University. [INSERT NOTES FROM INTERVIEW}.

 

Output-immediate effect after

Outcome-medium effect after

Impact-long term effect after

Conclusion