Sexual assault victims: don't rely on your college website for help
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Version 0 of 1. We all know the various ways that universities are failing students who are raped on their campuses: the administrative harassment, the Title IX violations, the insulting wrist-slaps for rapists. But schools are not just mishandling rape on campus, they’re mucking it up on their websites as well. A new study shows that college websites are failing to provide even the most basic information that could help students who have been sexually assaulted. And with young people increasingly seeking out help online, this is more than just a small misstep by schools. Researchers at Bridgewater State University in Massachusetts studied a sample of 150 colleges that receive federal aid. While most of their websites mentioned sexual assault, fewer than one-third carried information that a rape victim could actually use - like how to report the crime or giving out a hotline number. Only 15% of the websites studied had any information about how students could file an anonymous report, a much-needed tool in a culture where victim-blaming is common and rape is under-reported. Lead researcher, psychology professor Elizabeth Englander, also found that websites didn’t stress the need for medical care after being assaulted - a crucial step not just for treatment for injuries, but to address the possibility of STIs and unplanned pregnancy as well. “As a parent I cannot emphasize enough how much I would want my son or daughter to understand the immediate and critical need for medical care, if ever she were to be a victim of sexual assault,” she wrote. Only 30% of colleges mentioned the need for medical care at all, and of those that did, less than 19% strongly suggested it as opposed to simply listing it as a possible option. We know that young people need technological options when it comes to seeking help, that’s why organizations like the Crisis Text Line - a national 24/7 crisis hotline that solely gives help over text - have been so successful. The hurdles to care that many young people face - going to a doctor when you’re on your parents’ insurance, not being old enough to drive to a crisis center, feeling shy about verbalizing what happened - disappear when they’re given options they’re comfortable with. Options that are increasingly mobile and Internet related. Anti-violence organizations have already caught on. YTH - an organization I wrote about last year, for example - launched a program called Unete Latina that connected Latina women in California to domestic violence services through their mobile phones. “There’s a comfort in receiving services through your phone because of confidentiality, and it’s a low-cost way to get information,” then-Executive Director Jamia Wilson told me. So why haven’t colleges gone the way of providing more tech-savvy help? Part of the White House Initiative to end sexual violence on campus included an “apps against abuse” challenge. One of the winners, Circle of 6, allows users to pick 6 friends to have in their “circle” - the app then allows them to text those friends with pre-made messages if they need help. Since the app won the challenge in 2011, just a handful of colleges have made it a part of their campus anti-sexual assault program. Helping young people who have been sexually assaulted goes beyond a freshman orientation on consent and making sure schools aren’t sweeping rapes under the rug. Administrators who are invested in ending rape on campus should be taking advantage of every technological advantage they have - from apps and text hotlines to social media campaigns and mobile reporting capability. But maybe to start: just get your websites right. |