DA Jeff Rosen to Host Campus Sexual Assault Symposium

Incidents of sexual assault on college campuses are nothing new, but technology and social media have played a key role in elevating the issue to national prominence.

This summer the Stanford rape case blew up on Facebook and Twitter, as the victim’s heartbreaking personal statement was published in full. There was also a backlash to Judge Aaron Persky’s light sentencing of Brock Turner.

With these and other incidents in mind, Santa Clara County District Attorney Jeff Rosen has organized a campus sexual assault symposium to take place Friday at 9am at Santa Clara University.

Rosen said in a press release that the event will help the community “speak against campus sexual assault” and “make campuses even safer and sex assaults even fewer.”

According to RAINN—the nation’s largest anti-sexual violence organization—23.1 percent of undergraduate women experience rape or sexual assault, either through physical force or violence. The organization’s website also notes that “college women are twice as likely to be sexually assaulted than robbed.”

College is a time for self-exploration, for young adults to go out into the world and figure out who they are and what they can do with their lives. Unfortunately, that freedom can also result in terrible decisions that leave life-long scars.

The 2015 documentary The Hunting Ground did a good job of displaying this type of “freedom” and how it negatively affects others. The film details stories of sexual assault survivors from various colleges across the States. Even though these girls went to different schools and lived different lives, they all experienced the trauma of being raped.

The story tells how these young women were assaulted, by whom, and what the schools did to help them. Unfortunately, in the cases presented, the schools did little to nothing to help the girls, and often ended up helping the rapists more than the victims.

The Brock Turner case is one example that hit close to home. The Stanford swimmer was convicted of raping an unconscious woman at a party but was sentenced to just six months in jail. Even after social media erupted and calls were made for the judge’s removal from the bench, Turner served just three months behind bars.

In light of these events and the national outcry over sexual assaults on college campuses, District Attorney Rosen wants to make it easier for victims to get the justice they deserve.

Here is the full agenda for the symposium.

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