An estimated one in five women is sexually assaulted in college. In my experience at college and in my circle of peers, this figure rings true. I have heard countless stories from my friends, women I care for deeply, about their sexual assault. I’ve heard about and discussed the rape culture that is pervasive on campus. I’ve talked with my friends experiences that we deemed “questionable.” I’ve heard certain fraternity basements described as “rape-y” and men described as “pressure-y.” I’ve seen women so scared and upset that they punch men from the “nice fraternities” so that they would stop following them home from a party. I’ve seen women drop out of an academic term early for fear of their own safety. And yet, I have not seen any of my friends go through the official college judicial process. Not one.

The reality is that strongly-worded policies do not in themselves create safe communities—but the roll back of these policies, particularly Title IX, would serve only to create fear and deny a student’s right to justice.

Though my school purports to create a community in which “sexual assault, sexual or gender-based harassment, domestic violence, dating violence, and stalking are not tolerated,” rape culture prevails at Dartmouth College and at universities across the country. Of course, there are students who choose to come forward—students who still have faith in the college’s strongly-worded policies. But what those students find is a complex, unsupportive, and unrelenting maze of paperwork and policy. One survivor described the Dartmouth judicial process as a “full-time job” on top of her coursework—an entirely unreasonable commitment for any person to undertake. Even so, this process often takes so long that the perpetrator graduates before its conclusion; the process often takes years.

Read the full article on campus sexual assault by Lily Eisner at YWCA.