Every year colleges and universities across the country who receive financial aid from the government, and that is just about all of them, are required by the Clery Act and title IX of the U.S. Code to report campus crimes to those agencies. So yes it’s the law that requires this, but it also provides a barometer for potential students and their parents to choose a campus that is safe.
Enrollment tuition for colleges and universities obviously provides their income and is the lifeblood of those institutions. Any blight on their reputation as a safe place for students threatens the very existence of that institution.
So when it comes time to do these reports of campus crimes, many officials of these institutions of higher learning get together and plot ways to cheat. Sorry, there is no other way to say it. Many institutions just flat-out underreport these serious sexual assaults on campus for no other reason than to protect their reputation and keep students coming to their school.
College officials admit that they have “struggled to comply with federal laws while balancing the rights of accusers and the accused.”
The main two ways that university officials cheat on these reports is by mischaracterizing the crimes in the first place. For example, instead of characterizing a sexual assault on campus as a felony which is what it is and calling a spade a spade, several characterize the assault as a “violation of the student handbook.” Clever, eh?
The other way that these institutions cheat is by discouraging victims from filing reports of sexual assaults on campus. As an example, if a female student is ready to file a report, administrators may ask “are you really sure that you want to go through with this” or even more discouraging is the verbage “it is a really long and hard process and may cause you more pain and suffering.”
It has been estimated that well over one in four women on a campus will suffer a sexual assault at some point in her four years at the University. That is a staggering figure but when you factor in that the assailants are known to the victims in nearly 90% of the cases, you begin to imagine how peer pressure may enter into the equation.
In face of these statistics we have always recommended that women everywhere, but especially on a college campus, carry a self-defense product with them wherever they go. These assaults mostly occur at social events especially after alcohol consumption. We recommend a pepper spray that’s on a Keychain because it is more likely to be with you wherever you go and easier to find in the depths of a woman’s purse.
A pepper spray is close to 90% effective and can disable an assailant for as long as 45 minutes giving the victim time to get away and seek help.
We have over 180 Pepper Sprays to choose from in all styles and price ranges.