After decades in which American colleges and universities attempted to sweep allegations of sexual assault on campus under the rug, the issue is now receiving serious political attention, thanks to a wave of student-led advocacy. In April, US President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden presented Not Alone, the first report of the White House's task force to address sexual assault on campus. The US Department of Education named 55 colleges under investigation for Title IX violations. A Senate bill is currently in the works, and Senator Claire McCaskill is holding a series of roundtables to address the issue.

Students often took it upon themselves to speak out about their experiences, and have banded together to file Title IX complaints against their schools. Advocacy groups like SAFER, End Rape on Campus and Know Your IX provide information and assistance to victims of sexual assault on campus, pointing out the many gaps in the reporting process.

Sexual assault affects an estimated 20-25% of female college students in the US and an unquantified number of male students. University policies for preventing and reporting sex crimes remain profoundly flawed, even though they have, in some ways and on some campuses, improved. So in May, the Guardian asked students to tell us about the process of reporting a sexual assault on campus, and where it went wrong. We spoke to five students about their experiences.

Agnes reported being sexually assaulted in her dorm room at Knox College in autumn of 2010 by a close friend at the time. (Agnes began using her middle name after recovering from her assault and the process that followed.)



reported being sexually assaulted in her dorm room at Knox College in autumn of 2010 by a close friend at the time. (Agnes began using her middle name after recovering from her assault and the process that followed.) R reported being sexually assaulted at an off-campus party in 2013 while attending the University of Wisconsin at Milwaukee.



reported being sexually assaulted at an off-campus party in 2013 while attending the University of Wisconsin at Milwaukee. Princess , a transgender woman attending Temple University, reported being sexually assaulted by an acquaintance in her dormitory in the fall of 2013. One week later, she reported being stalked and harassed by another male student.



, a transgender woman attending Temple University, reported being sexually assaulted by an acquaintance in her dormitory in the fall of 2013. One week later, she reported being stalked and harassed by another male student. Sarah reported in the winter of 2009 being sexually assaulted at Ramapo College of New Jersey by her then-boyfriend over the course of their relationship.



reported in the winter of 2009 being sexually assaulted at Ramapo College of New Jersey by her then-boyfriend over the course of their relationship. Katie reported being sexually assaulted in her senior year at Iowa State University in the winter of 2010, by a male student who lived on her floor.



Before reporting: 'I was scared to say anything'

Overlook at Ramapo College, where Sarah reported her sexual assault. Photograph: Raquel M/flickr

Katie:

A boy moved across the hall from me and began to repeatedly harass me. He followed me, left notes under my door, told me about his love of guns, and even pulled my hair in front of [a resident assistant], who did nothing. I told the person in charge of the dorm that I was afraid for my safety and they did not take me seriously.

R:

I didn't tell anyone about it until late last fall because I was in denial and I was scared to say anything. I was treated like it was my fault.

Agnes:

At first, I acted like nothing was wrong. As my friends learned about the assault, I insisted that it was consensual. But I began acting erratically. About three weeks later, I realized that I had missed all of my classes and I had a mid-term coming up. I showed up to class and tried to take my exam. Upon realization that I didn't know anything, I had a breakdown. My professor canceled class, and sat with me while I told her everything. She took me to see one of the deans, but I was too afraid to speak up as [the other student] had threatened me into staying quiet. It wasn't until I decided to take a leave from school that my parents insisted that I file a grievance report.

Problems with reporting: 'There was nothing they could do about it'

Agnes:



When I went to a [school liaison] and explained how I was raped, she first asked, 'Are you sure?' It was totally demoralizing. She then tried to convince me to use mediation against my assailant instead of a formal hearing.

R:

The housing staff member that I spoke to told me that I deserved what I got and that I was asking for it ... for going out and drinking. After that I didn't really talk about it at all, because obviously I didn't get anywhere.

The next year, in April 2014, R went to the Women's Resource Center on campus and spoke to a staff member, who asked if she knew who had assaulted her, and whether they were still on campus.

She wrote down everything and told me she would get back to me the next day to set me up somewhere.... But she never got back to me.

Princess:

We were talking about that night, I said, 'I went into the building with my guest.' And [the judicial affairs person] inquired about what had happened with the guest and I said I didn't want to talk about that. She said 'OK, you don't have to.' At the very end, though, she said, Tell me what happened with the guest, we have to know. She did a complete 180 from what she initially told me. They forced it out of [me].

Sarah:

I was in the process of deciding to bring [my case] before the Judicial Board, comprised of students and faculty, when I was called into the office [of a staff member advising the Board) to explain why I hadn't shown her a blog I wrote [about coping with the assault]. She told me that [the other student] had entered the blog posts as evidence against me, and went onto disclose to me what he had said, including that I was pursuing him after we broke up, and that she had spoken with his mother, who had called me a liar. I was not supposed to be privy to any of this information, as both of our testimonies were to remain private until proceedings were initiated. I broke down crying, and declined to press charges.

Katie:

As soon as I called the [Ames, Iowa] police, they told me I would have to contact campus police and that there was nothing they could do about it. I'm sure the [campus police's] intentions were good, but I felt that they talked down to me, like I didn't know what happened to me.

The grievance process: 'There was no real help'

The Scheman Building at Iowa State University, where Katie reported her sexual assault. Photograph: Ryan Moomey/flickr

Agnes:

There were two levels of reports to file: a formal level of complaint, and the other was more of a mediation.

After opting for a formal hearing, Agnes was asked to choose a advocate from the administration. The other student was allowed to choose a dean as an advocate.

My advocate knew nothing. She had no idea what she was doing. I didn't know what supposed to go in my statement, and she didn't know either.

Princess:

The only thing they said was, 'We're not pressing charges'. They never gave me any of the information about disciplinary action. There was no real help.

Katie:

They weren't very confidential about things. I remember someone from my school called a therapist I was seeing about career counseling and told her what happened. I hadn't told her, and I hadn't planned on telling her.

The results: 'They … told me to go away'

Agnes:

My assailant was still there, he was still dangerous, and [the administration] didn't do anything about it. There were no rules about where he could be: he wasn't allowed to live in my building, but he could get into my building whenever he wanted. There weren't really any guidelines to make me feel safe. When I went to appeal my case a year after the original findings, I learned that there weren't any notes about my case, so they could not confirm or deny the grounds of my appeal. As such, they decided to not move forward.

R:

We couldn't really report it because I didn't know the people who committed it.

Sarah:

I received a no-contact order because it was found that he had 'forcibly fondled' me. And that was all. We were both in the honors program. While I voluntarily told the honors director what was going on, the Office of Judicial Affairs never notified the program that one of their students had a no contact order against another student within the program. I mention this because Judicial Affairs did notify the honors program if any of the students had alcohol violations.

Princess:

[End Rape on Campus] listened to my story and they took me way more seriously than anyone at Temple did. Temple just looked at me with sad eyes and told me to go away.

Katie:

The worst thing about it was that they told me that even though this had happened and they were very sorry, [my assailant] would still be able to stay in the dorms. I finished up the semester living in a women's shelter. It seemed like they cared more about him than me.

A scene from Temple University, where Princess reported her sexual assault. Photograph: Terry Robinson/flickr

Though all of these women's experiences are different, together they reveal many common problems prevalent among American universities. Often, the students had to go through several levels of school bureaucracy to get help, were poorly informed or advised on their options and next step, and encountered school officials who were insensitive or not properly trained to handle their situation.



The Guardian called all the universities for comment. Administrators from Knox, Iowa State and Temple replied, all emphasizing their school's commitment to ensuring the safety of students: a spokeswoman for Knox pointed to updated policies; Iowa State's Title IX officer insisted the university "takes all incidents of sexual misconduct and sexual assault very seriously"; and Temple's spokesman said "students are advised that reporting an incident at the university, formally or informally, does not require prosecution of a crime, nor will it subject the victim to judgment or scrutiny."



Advocates for reform emphasized the need for increased education and transparency on campus.



"We need to create trauma-informed schools," said Casey Corcoran, program director at Futures Without Violence. "We've heard from many students that the experience with their colleges and universities were as traumatizing as the initial assault. We need to create a safe space for students to talk about these issues, and that means having an open and honest dialogue about the issue of sexual assault and gender based violence."



Corcoran also emphasized the need for colleges to create "safe, predictable, and comprehensive" processes for reporting sexual assault.



"Survivors shy away from processes that are confusing, with lots of hoops to jump through," said Dana Bolger, founding co-director of Know Your IX. Bolger also recommend disclosing what sanction perpetrators will face because, "If the sanctions are meaningful, survivors will see that and feel that coming forward is worthwhile."

