The Hunting Ground

This week we watched the documentary "The Hunting Ground". Bringing light to the rape culture across college campuses. The creators of the documentary were both survivors of sexual assault and experienced the same kind of ignorance from their universities. They created this documentary to display the evidence and statistics that prove how prevalent rape culture is across college campuses. Or 50 over colleges we’re sued due to incorrect filing of Title IX reports.

More and more protests have been conducted on college campuses. In May of 2015, a senior from Columbia had her senior thesis go viral because of her message to Columbia University. Emma Sulkowicz told Columbia, “I will be carrying this dorm room mattress with me everywhere I go for as long as I attend the same school as my rapist.” Emma is just one of the many students who have turned their stories into protest as the only way to get their voice heard. Colleges are turning their heads away from sexual harassment because they guilt women into keeping their harassment as “their problem”.

Syracuse University held their own protest for the mishandling of a Title IX case. Earlier this semester, a group of students came together on the quad and sat in silence with their mattresses. This was to protest against the Chancellor who failed to “respond promptly or equitably” when filing the Title IX case. Even as a University who was the first to promote the “It’s on Us” Campaign, the effort to help sexual survivors is either lacked or ignored.

Syracuse still holds a better reputation than most of the universities reported in The Hunting Ground. Most universities use the excuse of not reporting sexual harassment as a way to protect themselves and their reputation. This usually is the motive for the university to victim blame so it doesn’t become their problem, making them seem like a safer school than they actually are.

Universities with D1 sports and athletes that generate an income for the school will choose the athletes side of the case. To schools with athletes that help create a profit are seen as more of an asset than the survivor's safety and well being. The Hunting Ground put together the evidence from a sexual assault case that went to court by the student. They have a personal interview with the survivor where she gives an explanation the night the athlete harassed her and he still walked away not guilty. With the university’s support, the court weighed towards the fan favorite athlete.

These cases where there is no punishment towards the assaulter whether it’s due to reputation or profit generated by a student, do not help the progression of making college a safer environment for women. Universities fail to see without proper support for survivors and established incentives to not victim blame, there will never be change because people refuse to acknowledge rape culture on campuses.