Princetonian exceptionalism and attitudes toward sexual assault

I’d like to think that most people at the University know and care about the recent trial in Tennessee, in which two former Vanderbilt University students were convicted of the gang rape of a fellow student. (Two additional former students are awaiting trial for the same incident.) After all, despite being states away, we too have recognized that sexual assault is a problem on campus, as evidenced by the reforms adopted by the administration this past fall that sought to improve the school’sability to respond adequately to such crimes in accordance with Title IX obligations. However, I fear that Princeton students, like those at other universities around the United States, tend to ignore and dismiss these problems that don’t directly involve them. Unfortunately that blissful ignorance, highlighted by the attitudes of Vanderbilt students toward this horrific rape case, seems to exist here, there and all around, perpetuating the existing rape culture and preventing fundamental change.

The Vanderbilt case involved four football players who took turns assaulting an unconscious classmate, whom they then dragged into a dorm room while other students watched but failed to intercede or report a problem. The assailants even documented their attack by taking video and pictures. Many bystanders were aware of the assault as it occurred, and more knew of the attack in its aftermath, but all of them failed to do anything about it. Rather, the defense of one assailant was that he was too drunk to remember and that the partying atmosphere on campus contributed to his actions.

The Vanderbilt Hustler, Vanderbilt’sstudent newspaper, found that two weeks ago, right before the trial commenced, “many students were not even aware of it.” More telling, however, as The New York Times noted, was that most Vanderbilt students appeared to take one of two polar opposite attitudes towards the situation: either that Vanderbilt “is not the sort of place where such things happen” or “they happen everywhere — and either way, no one should point a finger at Vanderbilt.” Apparently, students “find it hard to square what happened with their views of this elite university as an oasis from a harder world.”

Both of these attitudes are extremely problematic. First, to suggest that these issues don’t exist at an elite institution such as Vanderbilt (or just about any other university in the United States) is more than just an ignorant perspective; it is dangerous because it can encourage active denunciation of rape victims’ claims and facilitate bystander inaction. Regardless of which statistic you believe is an accurate representation of the prevalence of sexual assault and rape on campuses, it is clearly widespread, and universities must be proactive in confronting the issue.

The second viewpoint is just as troubling. Even though it at least recognizes the existence of sexual assault as prevalent and problematic, it uses its pervasiveness as an excuse to avoid addressing the issue, rather than as a call for massive change around the country. An understanding that no university is immune to these problems is important; just because sexual assault hasn’t been covered in the local or national news does not mean it is not an issue. And with cases of sexual assault, these low public numbers are usually more troubling, since they reflect a culture of underreporting. However, this understanding is not enough unless it translates into a call for change everywhere. And unfortunately, as the Vanderbilt case shows, it typically doesn’t.

I don’t think Vanderbilt is unique in this way. When allegations of sexual misconduct at Tiger Inn came to light this past fall, many students on campus treated the issue superficially, dismissing what happened as a non-issue. And when people did take a strong stance in response by graffitiing the TI premises, their actions were almost always criticized. Although admittedly this was because that person resorted to vandalism rather than trying to promote structural change within the system, it seemed that few people were willing to even discuss the problems of rape culture that this response was highlighting. The entire controversy was short-lived, downplayed and not particularly widespread. People try to protect their university’s reputation, rather than accept the fact that their school, like all others, is imperfect and would benefit from certain changes. Perhaps this is because the students’ own reputations are tied up in the school’s image; to much of society the school is a representative of each student, and vice versa. And while such a generalization is wrong to begin with, it is even more problematic when it is used to excuse or belittle serious problems that exist on campus.

If University students don’t think that sexual assault is happening here, then they are sorely mistaken and turning a blind eye. While it might be easier to pretend that these crimes don’t happen here, or that when they do, they are isolated cases, this is simply not true. Those who use the prevalence of these felonies as an excuse for inaction are also taking away the wrong message. These attitudes are not conducive to inspiring massive cultural changes, both at the University and nationally, which is what is really necessary to curb the occurrences of sexual assault and to push society tobetter respond to cases.

Vanderbilt is not an exception when it comes to sexual assault. The University is not an exception when it comes to sexual assault. Neither of these realities means it’s an acceptable excuse to sit back and let sexual assaulthappen.