S.E. Cupp Takes On Campus Rape, Slams Colleges More Interested In…
On Wednesday, in an opinion piece in the New York Daily News, S.E. Cupp took on the controversial topic of college rape. “Despite Fox News host Bob Beckel’s incredulity at the idea that rape still happens on college campuses, it certainly does,” Cupp writes. She says that colleges have fallen into a pattern of complacency and have invested heavily in rape victim advocacy programs, but have fallen short on creating effective steps to prevent incidents of college rape.
Writing specifically about her alma mater, Cornell University, Cupp says that the present student body is split on the reasons behind college rape – ranging from the Greek system to ineffective security.
“But another student got to the real problem: The administration was much more interested in victim advocacy — crisis centers and hotlines — than preventative solution,” Cupp writes. “And that was evident. In every coffee house and bar there were posters in the bathroom asking, ‘Have you been the victim of sexual assault or relationship violence?’”
She quotes a student who wrote a blog post last year criticizing the university’s complacency:
“The campus was perfectly happy to provide the Women’s Resource Center with plenty of delegated funds to host speakers . . . and perform the Vagina Monologues. But when it came to implementing cohesive, long-term improvements — even something as simple as providing late-night shuttles to and from campus housing during finals week — we continually met logistical opposition from higher-ups. It was too difficult, we were told. Too ambitious. Too cumbersome.”
Cupp says that, more than being complacent, the University has actively prevented students from being able to provide for their own defense. The university does not allow students to carry pepper spray or a concealed weapon. In combination with poorly functioning “blue light” systems, Cupp writes, young women are essentially left to fend for themselves.
I love Cornell very much, and it pains me to expose this ugly secret. But if you talk to students, it isn’t a secret. And it is certainly not just a Cornell problem. Rape has become a fact of college life across the country. Individual colleges will have to decide what they want to do; they just can’t do nothing.
Read the full op-ed via The New York Daily News
