A new report by the Center for Public Integrity called "Sexual Assault on Campus" has some pretty shocking statistics that every parent should read. While the official estimate is that one in five woman are the victims of rape or attempted rape before graduation, this new report shows that the numbers are much higher and that the majority of such crimes is simply covered up.
The reporters for the center talked with former students who were raped on college campuses and looked at how their cases were handled by secret campus judicial boards. They also talked with students at random who said they did not even bother to report sexual assaults because they felt they would simply be further victimized by the colleges.
Among the things the reporters found were that while dozens of rapes are reported to on-campus rape counseling centers every semester, none of these crimes makes it onto the college's official crime report listings, required by the federal government. Why is that? Because colleges have a conflict of interest. For public relations reasons, colleges want to keep the official crime numbers low to give parents the false idea that the campuses are safe. The need to constantly attract new customers conflicts with their duties to keep students informed about how common rapes are on campus.
The reporters found that colleges' secret judicial board hearings are notoriously reluctant to sentence their student rapists to any serious penalties. Why? Because the rapists are money-paying customers that they don't want to lose. Colleges know that if they get too tough on student misbehavior it will hurt them when it comes to enrollments.
So how lenient are these sentences for convicted rapists? Most states send rapists to prison for at least ten years, but college boards sentence them to writing essays, two-week expulsions, apologizing to the victims and attending education programs. Many victims are forced to sign secrecy agreements not to talk about the case and are not even informed about the sentences that their rapists received. The cloak of secrecy that colleges claim for themselves covers this all up.
It's fascinating reading about what really goes on behind the ivy-covered walls of America's campuses, which are among the most dangerous places in America in terms of crimes committed per acre. Rapists who get away with these slaps on the wrist simply encourage even more rapes and sexual abuses.
No parents in their right minds would send their children to these dangerous campuses, but they continue to do so because colleges mislead them into believing college campuses are safe. As someone who worked at a party school campus for 12 years I can tell you that they are NOT safe. Forget the numbers of the college's web site. Read this report before you make a decision you might regret.
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