When colleges take insufficient action to prevent sexual violence, students’ civil and human rights are violated. All people have the right to education free from sex discrimination, including sexual harassment and assault.
Sexual violence persists because powerful cultural forces suggest that it is normal and acceptable, even inevitable. While a minority of people commit sexual assault, the majority culture, on campus and beyond, creates an environment—known as “rape culture”—that enables, excuses, minimizes, even glamorizes sexual, gender-based, and interpersonal violence.