The student-led seminar covers topics relating to consent in sexual encounters. I have sensed movement in the public health community to say that we need to start earlier." Caroline Hurwitz, a student facilitator from Cleveland, Ohio, leads a small group discussion during the session at a "Yes Means Yes" seminar at Colgate University.
“There are patterns of rape going on in high school," said University of Arizona professor Mary Koss, who has been studying violence against women for decades, "and it’s not a magical line that starts in freshman year of college. There's also been a push to start consent education much earlier Clark's group worked on local legislation in Virginia to start teaching consent before teens graduate from high school. In the past year, lawmakers in California and New York State have passed legislation making affirmative consent the standard on campuses and in public schools. "But at the end of the day, how are these laws being enforced? And how many people will fall through the cracks when these laws are enforced to protect the most privileged? I firmly believe now that you can’t legislate your way to justice.” “I definitely think it’s good to have laws in place that show societal values and norms," said Wagatwe Wanjuki, an anti-sexual violence activist who recently started the hashtag #JustSaySorry to confront Tufts University's response to her sexual assault case. The American Civil Liberties Union opposed the bill, citing racial disparities in how mandatory minimums are already imposed and, in interviews, activists expressed mixed feelings. "We can't go back and change the ridiculously light sentence, but we can make sure that the next Brock Turner is sent away for a much longer time," Assemblyman Evan Low told NBC News. Jerry Brown, mandating prison time for convictions where the victim was unconscious, as Turner's was. Inspired by the Turner case, California legislators passed a bill, now before Gov. GABRIELLE LURIE / AFP/Getty ImagesĪnnie Clark, executive director of End Rape on Campus and author of We Believe You, noted, “With the advent of social media, you have survivors and activists that are able to talk to each other."Ĭriminal penalties. “It continues to hold schools and policymakers accountable.” A woman protests the university's handling of the Brock Turner rape case commencement at Stanford University on June 12.
“The awareness raising is an important piece,” said Fatima Goss Graves, senior vice president at the National Women's Law Center. The problem is much bigger than any one case: A poll conducted last year by the Kaiser Foundation and The Washington Post found that 25 percent of young women and 7 percent of young men say they experienced unwanted sexual contact in college.Īctivists working on the ground to change policy say each headline helps build momentum, whether it's in campus systems or criminal ones.
It can seem like every few months, the country rediscovers the problem of sexual assault on college campuses, whether it's through documentaries like The Hunting Ground, since-retracted articles in Rolling Stone, or Turner's case. "If anything, this is a reason for all of us to speak even louder.” Brock Turner leaves the Santa Clara County Main Jail in San Jose, California, on Sept. “I want the judge to know that he ignited a tiny fire," the victim told Buzzfeed when the letter was published.
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