Do colleges and universities have at least one full-time person working on campus sex-assault? May rape survivors report attacks confidentially and/or anonymously? Does the school’s policy cover the sex assault of a man? Is emergency contraception available in the school health center? These are the questions that students across the country are answering through the Campus Accountability Project, an open-access database designed for students, applicants and parents, reports Women’s eNews.
The database finds plenty of schools failing to present friendly survivor policies. Of about 250 schools now in the database, 19 don’t cover the cost of counseling after a sexual assault or rape, including such well-known universities as University of California-Berkeley and Cornell University. Only 30 offer victims amnesty from punishment for offenses surrounding the assault, such as violating school policy against underage drinking. The fear of being punished for such offenses is considered a major deterrent to bringing a report. The database is produced by a partnership between Students Active for Ending Rape, or SAFER, based in New York City, and V-Day, whose One Billion Rising campaign invites one billion women and their loved ones — representative of female survivors of sexual violence worldwide — to gather and dance on V-Day’s 15th anniversary, February 14, 2013.