As colleges face more scrutiny over how they handle reports of sexual assaults, students, counselors and experts say part of the problem is a glaring need for more education on the subject, the Wall Street Journal reports. A recent report by a U.S. senate subcommittee said colleges are failing to educate students, faculty, staff and even police about sexual assault. It said one-third of 440 school surveyed failed to provide training on what constitutes sexual assault to those who adjudicate cases.
The U.S. Justice Department says 1 in 5 undergraduate women will have experienced sexual assault by graduation but only 5 percent report rapes to law enforcement. “There’s a cognitive dissonance,” says Rose Carlyle of Bay Area Women Against Rape. While most young people understand the “idea of consent,” she says, “as soon as you talk about nonconsensual sex, they’re trying to find a loophole.”