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Campus sexual violence: Moving the dialogue
forward
Advocacy in Action March 10,2017
Sarah McMahon, Ph.D.
Associate Director, Center on Violence Against Women & Children
Rutgers University School of Social Work
RUSSW-VAWC
Welcome!
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Presentation objectives
After the presentation, participants will be able to:
• Describe recent trends and data related to campus sexual
violence
• Recognize the historical lack of accountability for campus
sexual violence
• Identify current mandates and guidance provided for colleges
and universities to address sexual violence
• Understand strengths and gaps in current work on campus
sexual violence
• Identify promising practices and resources for addressing
campus sexual violence
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Campus sexual assault in the news
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Why now? • Student Activism
• Title IX Guidance
• Legislators and legislation
• White House Task Force to Protect Students from Sexual
Assault
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Scope
“Twenty-five percent”
• First cited by Ms. Magazine Project on Campus Sexual
Assault, led by Dr. Mary Koss, 1984
,
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Prevalence
23.1 %
5.4 %
21.0 %
3.0 %
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From the perspective of survivors
“You never think it's gonna be you until
it's you. Even if you think you have the
best head on your shoulders, you never
know… You could stay in, you could go
out, it doesn't matter.”
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Impact
Physical
• Injuries from assault
• Chronic pain
• Difficulty sleeping
• STIs
• Pregnancy
• Change in eating habits
Mental Health
• PTSD
• Depression
• Anxiety
• Fear
• Guilt/shame
• Panic attacks
• Suicidal ideation/suicide
• Substance abuse
• Eating disorders
Academic Performance
• Absences
• Difficulty completing assignments
• Inability to focus
• Poor overall performance
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From the perspective of survivors
“My independence, natural joy, gentleness,
and steady lifestyle I had been enjoying
became distorted beyond recognition. I
became closed off, angry, self deprecating,
tired, irritable, empty. The isolation at times
was unbearable.”
-The Survivor in the Brock Turner Case
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Who commits campus sexual violence?
• Incidents of sexual assault most often perpetrated by
someone the victim knows (BJS, 2016)
Casual acquaintance
59%
Strangers 9%
Ex/current friends,
roommates or partners
32%
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Reporting of campus sexual assaults
• Reporting rates to campus or law enforcement are low
Only 12.5%
of sexual
assaults are
reported to
any official
(BJS,
2016).
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Options for campus sexual assault survivors
Criminal justice system
and/or
On-campus adjudication
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How are on-campus systems working?
White House Task Force to Protect
Students From Sexual Assault, 2014
“And in all too many instances, survivors of
sexual violence…often do not have a safe,
confidential place to turn after an assault,
they haven’t been told how the system works,
and they often believe it is working against
them.”
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McCaskill Report
• 40% of schools have not conducted a
single investigation in the past 5 yrs
• Many schools over reporting
investigation numbers to Dept. of Ed.
• 20% of institutions give the athletic
dept. oversight of sexual violence
cases involving student athletes
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How campuses handle sexual assault
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How campuses handle sexual assault
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How campuses handle sexual assault
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How campuses handle sexual assault
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Mandates
• Crime statistics
• Campus Sexual Assault Victim Bill of Rights
Clery
• 2013 Amendments
• Populations VAWA
• VAWA Amendments to Clery
• Primary prevention
Campus SaVE Act
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Best practices: Policy
Definitions
• Title IX Coordinator’s role
• Clear definitions
• Prevention
• Safety
• Privacy
Options
• Reporting
• Victim services
• Victims’ rights to protection
Procedure
• Response
• Investigation
• Complaint and Responding Party rights
• Potential sanctions
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Best practices: Programs
Reporting
Prevention Education
Advocacy & Services
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Best practices: Prevention
Multiple levels Multiple methods
Sufficient dosage
Theory Driven Developmentally
appropriate Culturally relevant
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How to create change? Campus climate
surveys Campus climate surveys = best
practice
“The first step” in working towards
solutions
See full picture of current resources
and services
Understand campus-unique
problems
Allows for creation of a tailored action
plan
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Rutgers project approach
Collaborative, community-driven, comprehensive
Action Resource
Audit Survey
Focus Groups
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iSPEAK campaign
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Rutgers campus climate findings
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Campaign
Strategic
Areas
Policy & Training
Individual Efforts
Outreach & Programming
The
Revolution
Starts Here.
End Sexual
Violence
Now.
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Policy & Training
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Outreach & Promotion
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Don McPherson
Laci Green
Programs
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Programs
The Hunting Ground
1 Billion Rising
The
Clothesline
Project
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How are things working?
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From the perspective of survivors
“I know that our response is really good, it's like one of
the best, so even though it [sexual assault] does go on,
we do have the resources to help… like our offices.
VPVA, I know is, extremely effective and it's been
talked about on a national level, they're pretty good.”
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From the perspective of survivors
“The office of Violence Prevention and Victim Assistance
is amazing, they do a lot of things for the victim as well
as outreach and are really there, open door as needed,
and that office has no house numbers or whatever, so
people don't know where you're going, if, let's say a
friend would see a friend walk in, it's confidential, it's an
awesome office.”
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From the perspective of survivors
“The response from the university was positive in a
sense that they… take the precautions that are
necessary… and I guess through the conduct
process ensuring that all stories, all facts are heard
and both sides of the story are heard and that
whatever evidence is necessary to be presented in
the case is presented. So I think in that respect…
how the university responds initially is pretty positive.”
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From the perspective of survivors
“I wish that the process, any process that a survivor
has to go through for anything, whether it be
submitting a homework late or missing class or
anything, I just feel like there's too many hoops. It
needs to be more simple because survivors are
simply like, survivors are trying to do anything they
can for themselves and they already have so much
on their minds. we don't need hoops to jump
through.”
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Challenges
• Momentum
• High expectations from students
• Event attendance
• Engaging Men
• Evaluating what we’ve accomplished
• Changing attitudes, behaviors, and norms is slow
– And needs to start earlier!
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Next steps
• Continue to provide opportunities for voices to be heard
• Engage entire community in prevention efforts
• Sustain the university’s commitment to addressing sexual
violence on campus
• Partner with local agencies and other schools
• Work with elementary and high school students
• Advocate for legislation
• Evaluation
• Research
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Thank
you!
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Acknowledgments
• Allison Brachmann, Graduate Assistant, VAWC
• Kerry Camerer, Graduate Assistant, VAWC
• Julia O’Connor, Julia Cusano, & members of the research
team
• Jackie Moran & Juhi Bhatt, Title IX, Rutgers-NB
• The Rutgers-NB Campus Climate Advisory Board
• Dr. Karen Herman
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Contact information
Sarah McMahon Associate Professor
Associate Director
Center on Violence Against Women & Children
School of Social Work, Rutgers University
vawc.rutgers.edu