There's been a lot of coverage of the Stanford rape case, heightened by the emotional letter of the victim (‘You took away my worth’) and the seemingly short sentence of the convicted. Anger as ex-Stanford swimmer freed after three months for sex assault | Reuters: "A former Stanford University swimmer whose six-month jail sentence for sexually assaulting an unconscious woman caused uproar was released from jail on Friday after serving half of his time. Controversy over the short sentence for Brock Turner, a one-time U.S. Olympic hopeful, has stoked the intense debate about sexual assault on U.S. college campuses. "
But clearly, there are failings at multiple levels across the college system. Earlier this year it was reported that "Ken Starr fails miserably when probed about knowledge of Baylor rape scandal: "In a damning interview with a local Texas TV station this week, Starr stammers and contradicts himself when questioned closely about what he knew and when. At one point, he's even pulled out of the interview to huddle with a public relations consultant. "
And this, at a school that seems to have pervasive moral issues in sport and campus life, as covered by Sports Illustrated in June: Epic Fail: "Baylor's big dreams and big talk about doing it right have produced the latest infamous example of the wrongs in college sports"
And then, the actual data seems likely under-reported. "Hundreds of colleges had zero rape reports in 2014. And that could be worrisome. - The Washington Post: "A Washington Post review of federal campus safety data for more than 2,200 colleges that offer bachelor’s or advanced degrees found that more than 1,300 of the schools had no reports of rape on campus in 2014, the most recent year for which data is available."
Perhaps, we can hope that there is some over-hype in the prevalence of these crimes. But, unfortunately, it may just be under-reported.
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