In an effort to raise awareness about the growing number of on-campus sexual assault, seven students in the Graduate Counseling Program at Lipscomb presented the documentary The Hunting Ground in Stowe Hall on Monday night.
Students Madison Nunneley, Alyse D. Woods, Caitlin Coile, Emily Desalvatore, Laura Spehar, Ashlyn Leatherwood and Lauren Burgen hosted the film and answered questions about sexual assault and Title IX.
As a precursor to watching the film, the graduate students invited Pieter Valk, graduate assistant to the Title IX coordinator, to speak on Lipscomb’s policies and the seriousness of Title IX.
“If you are a survivor of sexual assault or sexual harassment you are in control of where your story goes next,” Valk said. “You can talk to the Counseling Center, you can talk to someone in the Campus Ministry Office or someone in the University Health Clinic; all three are confidential resources.”
Due to Lipscomb’s policy on alcohol consumption and drug use, many students are afraid to report sexual assaults and do not receive justice. However, what students don’t know is that Lipscomb has an amnesty clause for reporting sexual assault.
“Lipscomb has a policy that if you report a sexual assault, or you aid a survivor and report their assault, you are immune from any other policy violations that happened at the event,” Valk said. “We want students to be able to get justice and resources they deserve.”
In an effort to raise student awareness about Lipscomb’s victim resources these graduate students from large and small undergraduate universities shared their motives for sponsoring the event.
“I went to a small Christian school similar to Lipscomb, and I know that alcohol consumption and sexual assault can be a secretive topic that no one wants to talk about,” Nunneley said. “I think bringing that awareness and getting that out is really important to me.”
Though not as common as larger public universities, Lipscomb is not immune to the epidemic that plagues other campuses.
Safety for students is a priority on Lipscomb’s campus and any student who violates this safety will be brought to justice.
“I feel safe on Lipscomb’s campus,” Desalvatore said. “Our main goal tonight was to educate and prevent.”
Directed by Kirby Dick and released in early 2015, The Hunting Ground is a documentary exposing the deep-rooted epidemic: on-campus sexual assault. The film ironically showed the marketing and promises of safety on several popular university campuses that have refused to help victims of sexual assault that came forward.
The documentary showed the journey of Andrea Pino and Annie Clark, two sexual assault survivors, as they traveled across the country raising awareness for sexual assault at high profile universities, such as Universities mentioned in the film included University of North Carolina, University of South Carolina, Yale University, Harvard University, Vanderbilt University and others. Throughout the film they help many other victims, male and female, find justice through Title IX, a law protecting students against sexual discrimination.
In the film, several survivors shared their powerful stories in an effort to raise awareness of the assaults surrounding fraternities and athletes, the majority of offenders. Students such as Jameis Winston, football star and Heisman Trophy winner, have been linked to multiple sexual assault cases but were never brought to justice due to the culture of entitlement surrounding athletes and fraternities.
Several university presidents were singled out in the film for allowing sexual offenders to continue to attend the university, participate in athletics and participate in Fraternities after multiple sexual assault offenses.
After showing the violent truth surrounding these universities, the film told how over 100 universities that thrived off of silencing victims found themselves under federal investigation for violating Title IX and refusing justice.