Sexual assault in American colleges and universities is one of the crimes that are underreported but seemingly rampant. According to the Department of justice, sexual assault is any penetration, either vaginal or anal with a body part or object, or oral penetration of a sexual organ to another person, that is nonconsensual. Most of the reported cases of sexual assault in universities or college campuses are amidst student population. Involvement of a celebrity student is just a piece of the larger chat on sexual assault that is prevalent in universities and colleges. The contribution of the school administrations and local authorities in taking charge of these cases and preventing a similar occurrence has been questioned over the years. There is need to call to action in searching for a solution to this epidemic that has left victims devastated, traumatized and some even dead.
The Hunting Grounds is a film produced as an expose of sexual assault crimes on U.S. college campuses and universities. It also covers the institutional cover-ups and the devastating mistreatment of victims and their parents. It shows testimonies of sexual assault victims and survivors across the Unites States and how they take action and speak out against institutional denial of these offences. It follows the stories of a couple of undergraduate survivors and their sexual assault cases, testimonies from institution administrators, other students and families of the victims. It describes how the institutions dismiss these cases by ignorance, blaming them on survivors and harassment of the victims. It follows closely the stories of Annie Clark and Andrea Pino who are vehemently spreading awareness on these crimes in campuses across the country. Through the Title IX, these two girls are taking legal matters into their own hands to help sexually harassed students to fight for justice. They have put up an intercampus network that teaches on sexual assault, seek justice for victims and also help silent victims to speak up and share their stories. The documentary also raises a national dialogue and brings to light the darkness of sexual assault.
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The security of a student in school is under the institution. It is their responsibility to report any criminal cases involving their students whether in campus or not. It is an unfortunate situation that institutions are in the forefront in the suppression of sexual assault crimes. The most disapproving aspect in this documentary is how the school goes too lengths to obstruct investigations and failure to support victims of these crimes in search of justice. They make controversial decisions in matters involving sexual assault cases. Institution administrators put blame on the victims and discourage them from speaking up on this vice. Even the cases reported to the police take a long time before they take any action. The institutions are focused in protecting the brand name rather than the students. They avoid going to the authorities because the police create a public record of the incident which tarnishes the school image. They protect the fraternities because they view them as future sources of funding.
The schools obstruct the prosecution of popular figures in the schools. The film shows a testimony of a girl who was raped by an athlete. Both the school and the police take no action in a period close to one year. The victim speaks out and is abused and even receive death threats. Even after taking all that time, they claim there was no convincing evidence of sexual assault. According to the film, only 26% of the rape reports are arrested. Even those that are reported successively, only a few of the perpetrators face actual punishment for their crime. The film displays a disturbing set of statistics of rape cases reported verses those that are expelled from school. A number of schools also allow accused athletes to continue participating in sporting activities and expelling them after the sporting events are finished.
All along the film, the two girls, Annie and Andrea are involved in a campaign to speak up and call for justice of rape victims. They provide a voice to the victims and provide care and support to survivors. They provide education on how to handle and report sexual assault. They use Title IX, a civil right law that prohibits sexual discrimination in any educational institution, to power their collective action against sexual assault.
I highly recommend the film to all students and those expected to join colleges and universities. We must show love, care and support the survivors of sexual assault. I also recommend the prosecution of the perpetrators and those that support them explicitly or implicitly such as institutions. It is important to set up policies and regulations that directly touch on this issue. With the distressing statistics of more than 100,000college student projected to face sexual assault, setting up an external department that handles sexual assault issues would help bring these perpetrators to justice and prevent more of this epidemic.
In conclusion, it is incredible how these students openly speak of their tragedies in the hope of helping out survivors and other students. This film exposes a series of tragic events that damage their images, beliefs, and emotions and are life changing to the victims. It is in their testimonies they hope this is faced, and efforts made to help victims and hold accountable the perpetrators of sexual assault. It is the responsibility of every stakeholder, the schools, students, parents and the government to come together and seek a lasting solution to this problem.
