Preventing Sexual Violence At Institutions Of Higher Education

Amid the ongoing national conversation regarding campus sexual assault, this book thoughtfully explores existing programmatic interventions while wrestling with fundamental questions regarding the cultural shifts in our nation’s higher education institutions. Stressing the critical importance of student inclusion in policy decisions and procedures, scholars and experts provide complex and nuanced analyses of institutional practices, while exploring themes of race, sexuality, and sexual freedom. This volume addresses many of the unanswered questions in the present dialogue on campus sexual violence, including: What’s working and not working? How can outcomes be assessed or measured? What resources are needed to ensure success? This volume provides a truly fresh contribution for higher education and student affairs practitioners seeking to alter, design, or implement effective sexual assault prevention resources at their universities and colleges.

Although awareness of campus sexual assault is at a historic high, institutional responses to incidents of sexual violence remain widely varied. In this volume, a diverse mix of expert contributors provide a critical, nuanced, and timely examination of some of the factors that inhibit effective prevention and response in higher education. Chapter authors take on one of the most troubling aspects of higher education today, bridging theory and practice to offer programmatic interventions and solutions to help institutions address their own competing interests and institutional culture to improve their practices and policies with regard to sexual violence. The Crisis of Campus Sexual Violence provides higher education scholars, administrators, and practitioners with a necessary and more holistic understanding of the challenges that colleges and universities face in implementing adequate and effective sexual assault prevention and response practices.

This book is the first practical guidance on how to address sexual violence, using a comprehensive institution-wide approach. The authors provide how-to level information on policy writing, responding to disclosures, developing comprehensive prevention and response education programmes, conducting trauma-informed investigations and sanctioning.

Over the last few decades, research, activity, and funding has been devoted to improving the recruitment, retention, and advancement of women in the fields of science, engineering, and medicine. In recent years the diversity of those participating in these fields, particularly the participation of women, has improved and there are significantly more women entering careers and studying science, engineering, and medicine than ever before. However, as women increasingly enter these fields they face biases and barriers and it is not surprising that sexual harassment is one of these barriers. Over thirty years the incidence of sexual harassment in different industries has held steady, yet now more women are in the workforce and in academia, and in the fields of science, engineering, and medicine (as students and faculty) and so more women are experiencing sexual harassment as they work and learn. Over the last several years, revelations of the sexual harassment experienced by women in the workplace and in academic settings have raised urgent questions about the specific impact of this discriminatory behavior on women and the extent to which it is limiting their careers. Sexual Harassment of Women explores the influence of sexual harassment in academia on the career advancement of women in the scientific, technical, and medical workforce. This report reviews the research on the extent to which women in the fields of science, engineering, and medicine are victimized by sexual harassment and examines the existing information on the extent to which sexual harassment in academia negatively impacts the recruitment, retention, and advancement of women pursuing scientific, engineering, technical, and medical careers. It also identifies and analyzes the policies, strategies and practices that have been the most successful in preventing and addressing sexual harassment in these settings.

Sexual assault continues to be a problem on college campuses despite greater attention to reducing rates of assault and an increased presence in the public discourse. Programming has been historically directed towards women by providing them with information about how to keep themselves safe rather than confronting a climate conducive to sexual violence. This important volume illuminates the urgency of combating sexual violence on college campuses. The authors depict in detail empirically supported approaches to combating climates conducive to sexual violence and ways to empower all members of the campus community to actively prevent sexual violence.

With national conversation turned toward sexual assault on college campuses, knowing how to identify, prevent, and address these incidents in a safe, and productive way is essential for administrators and faculty. Uprooting Sexual Violence in Higher Education provides colleges and universities with a foundational understanding of twelve risk factors related to sexual assault, stalking, and intimate partner violence. By presenting a blend of theory, research, and the personal reflections of professionals ‘on the front lines,’ this book provides insights into the motivations, attitudes, and behaviors behind sexual assault on campus, as well as strategies for mitigating these risk factors in an effort to tailor prevention efforts. Whether you are seeking a way to navigate the recent regulations on sexual violence from the federal government or merely wish to safeguard the welfare of students on your campus, this book will provide the neccesary, and invaluable foundation you need to empower, respect, and support all students.

At least one in four women attending college or university will be sexually assaulted by the time they graduate. Beyond this staggering statistic, recent media coverage of “rape chants” at Saint Mary’s University, misogynistic Facebook posts from Dalhousie University’s dental school, and high-profile incidents of sexual violence at other Canadian universities point to a widespread culture of rape on university campuses and reveal universities’ failure to address sexual violence. As university administrations are called to task for their cover-ups and misguided responses, a national conversation has opened about the need to address this pressing social problem. This book takes up the topic of sexual violence on campus and explores its causes and consequences as well as strategies for its elimination. Drawing together original case studies, empirical research, and theoretical writing from scholars and community and campus activists, this interdisciplinary collection charts the costs of campus sexual violence on students and university communities, the efficacy of existing university sexual assault policies and institutional responses, and historical and contemporary forms of activism associated with campus sexual violence.