Editorial: Colleges still fall short when handling campus sexual assault cases

A student who commits sexual assault on a college campus is less likely to suffer long-term personal consequences than a student who gets caught drinking and driving.

That doesn’t appear like it will be changing anytime soon.

Despite all the celebration over last month’s reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act, which includes the Campus Sexual Violence Elimination Act (SaVE), little attention had been drawn to the fact that on many campuses across the country, perpetrators of sexual assault will remain lightly punished.

Rather than requiring perpetrators to face state judicial action, the Campus SaVE Act instead only commands universities to codify institutional disciplinary proceedings. Ad hoc judicial processes, which currently preside over many universities’ sexual assault complaints, will no longer be allowed. The accuser and the accused will now be offered standard legal protections in university judicial systems. Victims will be told exactly what their options are, and universities must identify sanctions or protective measures to prevent future crimes.

But still, it remains less severe for a criminal to commit sexual assault than to receive a DUI.

The reason is that the law makes no effort to switch enforcement and judicial systems away from campus authorities. Schools will only need to notify victims that they have the option of alerting police and law enforcement. But because there is still no mandate, many sexual assault cases will remain under the jurisdiction of campus officials.

These officials, employees of the university, do not have primary interest in the victim. Although they have good intentions and will still perform their jobs well, as university employees their job is inevitably tied to the reputation of the university. Decisions in campus judicial systems are often made much more quickly than in the federal judicial system so students can return to their routine.

For this reason, it should be little surprise that when campus judicial systems handle sexual assault cases, those found responsible often “face little or no punishment from school judicial systems,” according to a study on sexual assault on campuses by The Center for Public Integrity. Punishment is limited instead to semester bans from schools at most, with many perpetrators remaining as members of sports teams or fraternities. Additionally, whatever small sanctions exist are often violated.

Further, few students’ criminal records are affected if punishment remains an on-campus affair. Parking and speeding tickets have a potentially longer effect than certain forms of sexual assault.

This is not to say the law is bad. As reported in The Pitt News, universities will become better places, all taking new steps toward reducing sexual violence. Three new categories of sexual assault ­— domestic violence, dating violence and stalking — will now be annually reported to authorities in statistical reports. National origin and gender identity are added to hate crime categories, expanding protection for various groups. New students and employees must be offered prevention and awareness programs.

Also, it would be foolish to promote mandates to report all cases of sexual assault to authorities. Victims have rights, too, and they often may desire to keep things on campus under certain circumstances.

But, in general, the Campus Sexual Violence Elimination Act does not do enough to push cases of sexual assault into the larger legal system. Just because a sexual assault might have occurred in Towers does not mean it should be treated differently than one that happens a few blocks away.