1. College incompetence handling sexual assaults
The first four items on Jaschik’s list all concern sexual assaults, but he kicked off his talk discussing how colleges and universities handle, or mishandle, the reporting of the crimes.
“If a student calls an RA or a dean and says ‘someone shot me,’ would a college say ‘do we want to handle this internally or go to the police?’ he said.
Yet, that happens frequently when it comes to sexual assaults. That sort of incompetence is nothing new, Jaschik said, but it’s reaching a new level of national conversation thanks to the Obama administration’s recent focus on the issue.
2. Links between college sexual assaults and other issues
“Most sexual assaults don’t happen in isolation,” Jaschik said.
There are usually other issues at play too, such as party and fraternity cultures on campus.
3. Sexual assaults and student athletes
The most infamous intersection of sexual assaults and other issues comes in the form of how universities handle rape accusations against student athletes. After recent high-profile scandals at Vanderbilt University and Florida State University involving potentially improper handling of such investigations, expect to see more about this issue over the next few months.
4. Anonymous vigilantism in response to sexual assaults
Students and other victims are anonymously taking to blogs and social media to out alleged assault suspects when they feel institutions haven’t done enough to hold them responsible.
This raises a whole slew of ethical questions, but points to a larger issue of a high level of doubt in a college’s ability to respond appropriately to the crime.
5. Race relations on campus
“This has been a very bad year for race relations,” Jaschik said.
At San Jose State, white students tormented a black student for months without being punished. In Alabama, a student newspaper revealed that some sororities there had never been integrated.
Meanwhile, many universities seem clueless about the issue, he said, with 90 percent of institutions reporting that race relations were good or excellent on their campuses. “Why is it that there’s such a disconnect?”
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