UPDATE: Washington Post's Erik Wemple reports that the three editors for the Post syndication group who reviewed Will's column were all male. Wemple writes this is “indeed important,” adding, “Women are the predominant victims of rape and sexual assault; therefore, they may have some insight on the editing of a column on sexual assault."

Original post

George Will doubled down on his claim that sexual assault victims have a “coveted status” on college campuses, refusing to apologize for a recent column that sparked significant backlash.

Will has been under fire from women's rights organizations following the column he wrote earlier this month about “the supposed campus epidemic of rape,” in which he claimed efforts to combat the problem “make victimhood a coveted status that confers privileges.” Four U.S. senators, Richard Blumenthal, Dianne Feinstein, Tammy Baldwin, and Robert P. Casey, Jr., wrote a letter condemning the column, and the St. Louis Post-Dispatch dropped their syndication of his work.

In a June 20 C-SPAN interview, Will doubled down on his conclusion, refusing to backtrack:

C-SPAN: You wouldn't take back any of the words you used? WILL: No, no.

Will also repeated his claim that universities, the Democratic U.S. senators, and the Department of Education had overstated the epidemic of sexual assaults on college campuses, dismissing the evidence that shows 1 in 5 women on college campuses are victims of sexual assault, and insisted the definition of assault was too wide and therefore trivialized the true problem.

Will also claimed that he takes “sexual assault somewhat more seriously” than the senators working to help the victims, a claim he previously made in a response letter to them.

The Washington Post stood by Will's column, telling Media Matters that the column was “well within the bounds of legitimate debate.”

This post has been updated.