Campus Sexual Predators: Issues and Response

There is a must-watch film of a powerful, yet disturbing expose of the crisis of sexual assaults taking place on U.S. college campuses.

Every student attending college, and their parents must be aware of the magnitude of sexual assaults and make sure their voices are heard. The college experience must not turn into heartbreak, tragedy, or nightmare for anyone.

Compounding the personal devastation to the victims, The Hunting Ground ignites outrage by contemptuous reactions of college administrators and their legal representatives.

The insensitivity, victim blaming, evasiveness, inaction, harassment, institutional cover-ups, glorification of athletics, and deification of fundraising manifests shameful superficiality.

American campuses must be havens of security, moral courage, and ethical behavior; not cauldrons of abuse igniting retaliation against victims, contempt for moral decency, or violation of the law.

Ethics by Word and Deed

Victims of sexual assault must always be treated with compassion, empathy, and sensitivity; never with scorn, suspicion, and betrayal.

It is disgraceful for colleges to dehumanize victims to falsify crime statistics, disingenuously manipulate fundraising or federal funding programs, deceptively recruit students, or protect their brand name under false pretenses.

America, we have a problem with sexual assaults on college campuses and the crisis must be addressed with honesty, courage, and collaboration.

Ethics must be the foundation of the college mission by word and deed, and this virtue must be infused throughout the entire educational community.

Ending Rape on Campus

Annie E. Clark, a co-founder of Ending Rape on Campus (EROC) is a courageous woman highlighted in the film.

She was brutally sexually assaulted before classes even started in her freshman year, but she transformed her tragedy into triumph. As an advocate against sexual assaults, Annie was a lead complainant in Title IX and Cleary Act complaints against the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC) where she graduated Phi Beta Kappa.

Annie also helped to write the Bi-Partisan Campus Safety and Accountability Act through her collaboration with Senator Kristen Gillibrand.

Along with Annie, Andrea Pino, who also attended UNC, is a co-founder of EROC, and is prominently featured with her in the film.

As sexual assault victims, both worked together on the Title IX complaint, detailing that rampant sexual assaults at colleges result in an unequal environment for learning.

The EROC website provides the following information on Title IX:

“Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 is a federal civil rights law that prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex in any education program or activity that receives federal funding. Sex discrimination includes sexual harassment, sexual battery, sexual assault, and rape that are ‘so severe, pervasive, and objectively offensive that it effectively bars the victim’s access to an educational opportunity or benefit.’ Even a single instance of rape or sexual assault by another student, faculty, or staff member could meet this standard.”

Staggering Sexual Assault Statistics

In my article titled “College Rapes, Sexual Assaults: America’s Nightmare” published in the Epoch Times, Nov. 21, 2014 edition, details were shared from a Jan. 2014 White House report.

“Rape and Sexual Assault: A Renewed Call to Action” details the enormity of the crisis:

• 1 in 5 women have been sexually assaulted while in college

• Dynamics of college life with the “get high” culture fueling the problem with many victims being drunk, under the influence of drugs, passed out, or otherwise incapacitated when violated

• Perpetrators preying on incapacitated women and sometimes providing them with alcohol and drugs

• The “party mentality” problem with 58 percent of incapacitated rapes and 28 percent of forced rapes taking place at parties

• Campus perpetrators equating to repeat serial offenders—an average of six rapes each

• Lack of reporting sexual assaults by student victims to law enforcement—an appalling average of only 12 percent report the crimes

• Low arrest rate—approximately 12 percent of 238,000 annual rape and sexual assault victims result in arrests

Compounding the White House report, the culture of enabling reported in The Hunting Ground includes the following:

• Harvard University: 135 reported sexual assaults (2009-2013), 10 suspensions.

• University of California Berkeley: 78 reported sexual assaults (2008-2013), 3 expulsions.

• Dartmouth College: 155 reported sexual assaults (2002-2013), 3 expulsions.

• Stanford University: 259 reported sexual assaults (1996-2013), 1 expulsion.

• University of North Carolina: 136 reported sexual assaults (2001-2013), 0 expulsions.

• University of Virginia: 205 reported sexual assaults (1998-2013), 0 expulsions for sexual assault, 183 expulsions for cheating and other honor board violations.

The enabling of predators, due to the lack of ethical leadership, is also reported by the film exposing outlandish sanctions for individuals found responsible for sexual assault:

• Columbia University: suspended for one semester.

• Indiana University: suspended over summer vacation.

• Yale University: suspended for one day.

• University of Colorado, Boulder: a $75.00 fine

• The University of Toledo: a $25.00 fine.

• Brandeis University: a warning.

• University of Colorado: assigned a paper to reflect on your experience.

• Occidental College: required to construct a poster board listing ten ways to approach a girl you like.

• Occidental College Los Angeles: assigned 50 hours of community service at a rape crisis center.

Final Reflections

America must enhance personal safety training as well as ethical leadership initiatives for students and the entire college community, and hold those responsible for sexual assaults accountable.

Law enforcement must also take the moral high ground and refuse to be pawns of college administrators with investigations, arrests, and prosecutions.

Only when American colleges integrate security with leadership guided by character, and developing an ethical guardian mindset for all, will we be on the right path for reawakening the nation.

More:
America’s Leadership Crisis: Reigniting Our Character

America’s 21st Century Student: Character, Courage, Community

Sayreville High School Scandal: America’s Wake-Up Call

America’s Graduates: Transform the Nation with Character

Photos
1. U.S. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand and officials join student survivors in announcing support for a bipartisan effort in Congress to confront the scourge of sexual violence on college campuses. The announcement took place in New York on Aug. 13, 2014. (Samira Bouaou/Epoch Times)

2. Annie E. Clark, co-founder of End Rape on Campus, at the Women In The World Summit held in New York City on April 24, 2015. (Andrew Toth/Getty Images)

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Linkedin: Vincent J. Bove Consulting, Speaker Services, Publishing

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As authored for Vincent’s weekly column titled “Reawakening the Nation” for the Epoch Times, 35 countries, 21 languages and growing.

Police-Community Collaboration: America’s Public Safety Lifeline

Police-community collaboration is critical to renewing the values of America and the lifeline of public safety throughout the nation.

Over the past two years, I have addressed the criticality of positive police-community relations in my columns for the Epoch Times, and respectfully encourage a review of these articles.

Although these articles honestly address police-community controversies, they always provide solutions and accentuate the positive by encouraging a unity of effort since protecting our communities is a shared responsibility.

America must rise to the occasion with an unwavering commitment to facilitate police-community collaboration, the lifeline of public safety.

Our communities deserve positive police-community relations to protect our way of life, values, and democracy. Failure is not an option, as without this cohesiveness; the results are disorder, chaos, and anarchy.

Police-Community Relations Demand Reform

Police departments must be continually collaborative and this is a time for transformational reform, ignited by a proper understanding of the principles of community policing.

Community policing must not be a superficial catch-phrase but expressed through a police departments personality and concrete initiatives in the community.

The responsibility is not incumbent on police departments alone but on all members of the community who have responsibilities of building bridges with law enforcement.

America’s Youth: The Heart of Community Policing

It has taken generations to get to where we are and America needs the youth as catalysts to renew the nation.

America’s youth will be the heart of transforming police-community relations as they are the irrefutable future of our nation.

Our youth must be the heart of community policing initiatives and we must be earn their trust and inspire their dedication to society.

A positive law enforcement presence as protective guardians is critical in our schools and communities. This presence must be manifested with initiatives including youth police academies, school resource officers, youth award assemblies, public safety expositions, police athletic leagues, police-youth mentoring, character education programs, and community action teams.

These actions teams, inspired by character education programs in partnership with the police, demands sensitivity to the most vulnerable in society including the homeless, sick, unemployed, elderly, and the poor.

Police must have a heightened sensitivity that their mission to protect and serve demands earning the respect of youth. This mission demands an unwavering determination to inspiring youth through positive encounters.

There must be an enhanced dedication to youth in communities that have been wounded by police controversies as well as in neighborhoods adversely impacted by poverty, unemployment, gangs, broken families, dilapidated schools, and substance abuse.

There is hope for healing in our communities and police are in privileged positions as ethical protectors to enhance community relations that will be intensified by a focused concern for the young. Police have their role with assisting communities to renewal; by inspiring youth as models of character, ethics, and leadership.

Young people are impressed by authenticity, empathy, and kindness as these are qualities that will inspire them to be citizens of character.

Law Enforcement Dangers Deserve Community Support

Aside from community policing initiatives, the dangers of violence in our communities and against law enforcement officials deserve community support.

According to the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund (NLEOMF), there are over 900,000 law enforcement officers dedicated to serving communities throughout the United States.

This dedication has a painful price with over 60,000 assaults against law enforcement each year and nearly 16,000 injuries.

In 2016, eight police officers have already been killed by firearms-related incidents, a staggering 700 percent increase from this time last year.

America must appreciate these sacrifices, and all dedicated to protecting our communities and democracy. Our dedicated police officers are a national treasure and we must be eternally grateful for their courage, sacrifices, and service.

21st Century Policing Principles

In my article titled “Principles of American Policing” for the May 1, 2015 edition of the Epoch Times, I developed Nine Principles of American Policing to enhance dialogue, communication, and trust between police and communities.

These principles, inspired by the timeless teachings of Sir Robert Peel, father of modern policing, include the following:

• Being pro-police and pro-community are inseparable, indefatigable, and pre-eminent. Police must at all times remain fully committed to protecting and serving the public through character, ethics, and leadership that is total and wholehearted. Police must be guided by a moral compass that honors the community, Constitution, and Bill of Rights.

• Respect must be the heart of the police and it must be unwavering for the profession, colleagues, and community. Respect can only be earned through integrity, accountability, and transparency. These qualities build trust, legitimacy, and collaboration.

• Police require a discerning recruitment process, education credentials, and ongoing training/certifications, including constitutional policing, diversity, civil rights, race-relations, violence prevention, community policing, crisis management, ethics, leadership, gangs, private security, and use of force.

Complementing these principles is the “Final Report of the President’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing,” also released in May, 2015.

The pillars of this report include building trust and legitimacy, community policing and crime reduction, training and education, and officer wellness and safety.

The report recommends that “law enforcement culture should embrace a guardian mindset to build trust… and establish a culture of transparency and accountability.”

Final Reflections

Community policing must be infused into law enforcement agencies throughout the nation as it builds positive police-community partnerships.

When community policing is properly understood and cultivated, we are on the path to reawakening the nation by safeguarding our communities, promoting the dignity of all, and inspiring our youth, the future of America.

More
The 21st Century Cop: Vigilance, Community, Protecting America

Police in Schools: Safeguarding America, Building Character

Policing Dangers Demand Community Collaboration

Policing Demands Ethical Sentinels

Police-Community Crisis: Rise to the Occasion

Transforming American Policing: A Defining Moment

Police-People Unity: All Lives Matter

Policing in America: Protect, Respect, Community

Respect: The Heart of the Police Officer

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Linkedin: Vincent J. Bove Consulting, Speaker Services, Publishing

Join Vincent’s Linkedin Group: The Sentinel: Reawakening the Nation

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As authored for Vincent’s weekly column titled “Reawakening the Nation” for the Epoch Times, 35 countries, 21 languages and growing.

Photos

1. NYPD officers assisting visitors in Times Square, Oct. 15, 2015. (Vincent J. Bove)
2. NYPD Mounted Unit in the Plaza Hotel, Fifth Avenue and 59th Street, prior to Pope Francis motorcade, Sept. 24, 2015. (Vincent J. Bove)
3. Ferguson Police officer Greg Casem and Sergeant Dominica Fuller console a mourning child during a candlelight vigil held in honor of Jamyla Bolden in Ferguson, Mo., on Aug. 20, 2015. (Michael B. Thomas/Getty Images)

Lincoln’s Leadership Principles for Presidential Candidates

As America commemorates the birth date of Abraham Lincoln on Feb. 12, his dignity, character, and moral courage deserve imitation from our presidential candidates.

Although born in 1809, and becoming president in 1861, the leadership qualities of the 16th president of the United States timelessly exemplify character, ethics, and leadership; so critical for the next commander-in-chief.

Presidential Candidates: Contemporary Concerns

These are challenging times for America due to concerns here at home and on distant shores.

As addressed by both democratic and republican candidates, concerns include health care, veteran’s services, foreign relations, immigration, terrorism, police-community relations, violence, environmental degradation, human rights, border security, economic health, trade, infrastructure, education, and the criminal justice system.

America’s President: The Ethical Protector

In light of these concerns, Abraham Lincoln is a model of an ethical protector, which must be the heart of America’s next president.

As detailed in my article titled “America’s Next President Demands an Ethical Protector,” published in the Nov. 12, 2015 Epoch Times, I argued that “the presidential qualities of character, ethics, and leadership must not only serve America, but allow our country to be a model of decency for peoples of all nations.”

The article stressed that our president must live by ethical principles highlighted as the following:

• Ethics is acutely aware of the efficacy of truth, honor, and valor and the destructiveness of deception, selfishness, and arrogance.
• Ethics always opposes the immorality of injustice and disrespect toward anyone.

In a follow up work titled “America’s Next President Must Have Character, Ethics, Leadership” in the Dec. 17, 2015 Epoch Times, “ethical leadership” was emphasized with Lincoln as a model of “great reserve, quiet, and study.”

Lincoln was a president of character who treasured solitude, and a man with a deep spirituality, so different from many superficial politicians who attempt to be everyone’s best friend, and lack authenticity, trustworthiness, and integrity.

Lincoln: Authority, Empathy, Perseverance, Moral Courage

Lincoln spoke with authority such as when he warned the South in his Inaugural Address, “In your hands, my dissatisfied fellow countrymen, and not in mine, is the momentous issue of civil war. The government will not assail you… You have no oath registered in heaven to destroy the government, while I have the most solemn one to preserve, protect, and defend it.”

Lincoln’s perseverance is well documented despite many failures.

He failed in business in 1831, was defeated for state legislator in 1832, and failed at a business in 1833. In 1835, his fiancée died and he had a nervous breakdown the following year. In both 1843 and 1848 he ran for congress and lost twice. He was defeated running for the Senate in 1855, and lost running for vice president the following year. In 1859, Lincoln ran for the Senate again and lost.

In 1860, Lincoln was elected the 16th president of the United States, exemplifying his admirable perseverance.

Lincoln’s empathy was memorialized in his Second Inaugural Address, now inscribed on one wall of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D. C.: “With malice toward none; with charity for all; with firmness in the right, as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in; to bind up the nation’s wounds…”

Another expression of Lincoln’s empathy is in a Nov. 21, 1864 letter expressing condolences to Mrs. Lydia Bixby, a widow who lost sons during the Civil War.

“I feel how weak and fruitless must be any word of mine which should attempt to beguile you from the grief of a loss so overwhelming. But I cannot refrain from tendering you the consolation that may be found in the thanks of the Republic they died to save.

“I pray that our Heavenly Father may assuage the anguish of your bereavement, and leave you only the cherished memory of the loved and lost, and the solemn pride that must be yours to have laid so costly a sacrifice upon the altar of freedom.”

Lincoln also had the moral courage to stand against the monstrous injustice against human rights of slavery as immortalized in his Jan. 1, 1863 Emancipation Proclamation.

“And by virtue of the power, and for the purpose aforesaid, I do order and declare that all persons held as slaves within said designated States, and parts of States, are, and henceforward shall be free; and that the Executive government of the United States, including the military and naval authorities thereof, will recognize and maintain the freedom of said persons.”

Final Reflections

Candidates seeking the presidency must look to Lincoln as a model of leadership in the midst of the world’s conflict, turmoil, and challenges.

The American presidency is not one for ego, power, or self-aggrandizement, but for humility, ethics, and sacrifice.

Lincoln’s legacy demands that all presidential candidates take notice and without reserve, allow his character, ethics, and leadership to inspire their aspirations.

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Linkedin: Vincent J. Bove Consulting, Speaker Services, Publishing

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As authored for Vincent’s weekly column titled “Reawakening the Nation” for the Epoch Times, 35 countries, 21 languages and growing.


Photos

1. Lincoln in 1863, 54 years old. (Alexander Gardner, Public Domain)

2. The sun sets behind the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C., on Sept. 30, 2013. (Mladen Antonov/AFP/Getty Images)

3. Lincoln's statue in the Lincoln Memorial, Washington, D.C.(Courtesy Library of Congress)

America’s Mission: Eradicating Discrimination, Prejudice, Racism

The immortal words authored by Thomas Jefferson in the Declaration of Independence honor America and all who cherish freedom, liberty, and human dignity.

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”

These words must eternally inspire our dedication to social justice, which can only be obtained when the dignity of every human person is respected.

Respect for human rights is the basis of moral legitimacy and the criteria of government’s rightful authority.

This respect is also a reflection of character, not only of individuals, but of a nation. Respect always stands diametrically opposed to discrimination, prejudice, and racism. These vices are dehumanizing as they dishonor the moral heartbeat of humanity demanding respect for our neighbor.

Every person being deserves dignity and respect, as we are all members of the same human family.

This respect must extend to all, including those who are different by sex, race, color, social conditions, language, ethnicity, age, country of origin, or religion.

Racism in America: A Reality Check

In my article titled “Racism in America: Time for Unity,” published in the June 26, 2015 edition of the Epoch Times, I emphasized the heroism of the Tuskegee Airmen, World War II combat aviators representing America’s courage, service, and patriotism.

I argued that “during a time when these men could not eat, be educated, ride the bus, or use the same restrooms as white men, they valiantly served America.”

Yet, despite their courage and the patriotism of countless other black Americans, racism continues in America as witnessed on June 17, 2015. On that fateful day, a white supremacist shot nine people dead at the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, because they were black.

Black History Month: Celebrating Diversity

Each February, America commemorates Black History Month, a time to honor achievements by black Americans throughout our history.
Since 1950, mayors throughout American cities have issued proclamations honoring this celebration.

The civil rights movement of the 1960’s dramatically influenced diversity in America, with a clarion call for respect, dignity, and human rights.

Black history, and the differences of all people must be celebrated, as is it reflects the diversity which makes America unique.

FBI: Addressing Hard Truths, Enhancing Diversity

In another article titled “Law Enforcement and Race: FBI Directors Hard Truths,” published in the Feb. 20, 2015 edition of the Epoch Times, I memorialized the “hard truths” FBI Director James B. Comey urged America to address.

“We can choose to have an open and honest discussion about what our relationship is today-what it should be, and what it needs to be-if we take time to better understand each other,” Comey said addressing police and community relations.”

Complementing Director Comey’s words, the FBI is committed to enhancing diversity as exemplified in their annual celebration of Black History Month each February, which I have attended many times at their Newark Field Office.

An event held on Friday, Feb. 12, 2010, Abraham Lincoln’s birthday, comes to mind with a keynote delivered by Dr. Eddie S. Glaude, Jr., chair of the Center for African American Studies at Princeton University.

Dr. Glaude’s candid remarks on sobering issues confronting black Americans included the following:

• There are too many communities of concentrated poverty with sobering statistics of unemployment in America.
• Dilapidated schools in poor communities across the nation are failing our children.
• Prison has become an industrialized complex that trades in bodies for profit.
• 35% of black children are growing up in poverty.
• There is tragic abject misery in many communities in the most powerful nation that the world has ever seen.
• America is at a crossroads and we must respond with courage.
• The nation must be honest about its past to inform the future. This includes an honest understanding of the epidemic of lynching as documented by the website “Without Sanctuary.”
• Those who risked their lives to give us and preserve our liberties must be remembered.
• America has a budget deficit but it must not have a visionary deficit…the principles of our democracy must give us hope and be upheld…we must avoid conspicuous consumption and treat financial resources more respectfully…we must rise to the challenge and be renewed as a people.
• America must not have its precious ideals undermined by the lack of virtue in society…we must learn the lessons of the past and restore virtue back into society.

Final Reflections

America is at a crossroads, especially with police-community relations and the need for resolution, reform, and renewal.

Inspired by the words of Jefferson that “all men are created equal,” as well as the prophetic words of Lincoln proclaiming “a new nation, conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all are created equal,” it is time for reawakening the nation with respect, dignity, and diversity.

More:
Diversity: America’s Heartbeat

Honoring American Immigrants: Family, Neighbors, Heroes

Police–Community Division: America Unite

Ferguson’s Mission: Cultivate Community Policing

Police-People Unity: All Lives Matter

Building Police-Community Trust: Wake Up, America

Note Well:

Linkedin: Vincent J. Bove Consulting, Speaker Services, Publishing

Join Vincent’s Linkedin Group: The Sentinel: Reawakening the Nation

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As authored for Vincent’s weekly column titled “Reawakening the Nation” for the Epoch Times, 35 countries, 21 languages and growing.

Photos

1. Martin Luther King leading march from Selma to Montgomery to protest lack of voting rights for African Americans. Beside King is John Lewis, Reverend Jesse Douglas, James Forman and Ralph Abernathy. March 1965. (Photo Source www.history.com)

2. Pilots of the 332nd Fighter Group, "Tuskegee Airmen," the elite, all-African American 332nd Fighter Group at Ramitelli, Italy., from left to right, Lt. Dempsey W. Morgran, Lt. Carroll S. Woods, Lt. Robert H. Nelron, Jr., Capt. Andrew D. Turner, and Lt. Clarence P. Lester, circa August, 1944. (U.S. Air Force photo)

3. 300 Tuskegee Airmen during a photo opportunity Thursday, March 29, 2007, in Statuary Hall at the U.S. Capitol. (White House photo by Joyce Boghosian)