“This issue cannot be seen as a women’s issue,” Felicia McGinty, vice chancellor for student affairs at Rutgers University, said during a recent panel discussion on campus sexual violence.
“This has to be a campus issue, a societal issue that needs to be addressed,” McGinty said.
McGinty made her remarks Friday at an event titled “Legislative Developments on Campus Sexual Violence: The Architecture and Momentum of State Action.”
The talk—hosted by the NASPA — Student Affairs Administrators in Higher Education—comes at a time when institutions of higher education are under increased scrutiny over how they handle cases of sexual assault on campus.
At the heart of the debate is whether and when to involve law enforcement or to let institutions of higher learning handle the cases internally—something critics say they are ill equipped and often cannot be trusted to do. However, mandatory reporting requirements could have a “chilling effect” on student reporting of sexual assault to a campus official, particularly if the students do not want to get the police involved, a NASPA official says.
“In some states, proposed legislation would require colleges and universities to refer all reports of sexual assault the institution receives from victims to local law enforcement, essentially turning all reports of sexual assault to the university into a report to law enforcement,” Andrew Morse, director for policy research and advocacy at NASPA, explained in an open letter to state lawmakers.
