Gemmell 1

Sydney Gemmell
Dr. Arnold
ENGL 101
28 October 2015
Annotated Bibliography
Sexual assault has always been a problem, especially on college campuses; but in the last

several years, the issue has caught the nations attention. There is a never-ending list of

controversies and criticisms on the policies of colleges as well as the prevention programs that

are currently in place. There are many ongoing discussions on how colleges should handle

reported incidents of sexual assault and rape. Some say that it should be left up to the university,

while others believe that the reports should be immediately handed over to law enforcement and

the school should have no say. I will address what kinds of programs would be the most useful in

universities to both prevent and help report incidents of sexual assault and rape. I will also

discuss how colleges have previously handled reports of rape and how the disciplinary process

should progress.

The sources have similar viewpoints on the issue but have different opinions on what

policies the colleges should have in place and the prevention programs that should be initiated.

All of the sources use outside research to strengthen their arguments. The common theme

throughout all of the articles is that colleges are not handling reported rapes correctly and there

needs to be a change in their procedures. The fact that one in five women will be sexually

assaulted while attending college shows that schools are not doing the job that students, parents,

and staff trust them to be doing. The sources all have consistent information and ideas, making

them appear to be very reliable. The facts and statistics are impactful and further reinforce the

arguments that each source is making.

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Bedera, Nicole, and Kristjane Nordmeyer. "'Never Go Out Alone': An Analysis of College Rape

Prevention Tips." Sexuality & Culture: An Interdisciplinary Quarterly 19.3 (2015): 533-

542. PsycINFO. Web. 24 Oct. 2015.

The source analyzes rape prevention tips that colleges post on their websites for

students to reference. The tips all have four common themes: there are no safe places, you

cant trust anyone, never be alone, and you are vulnerable. An overwhelming amount of

the tips are directed at women and as the article suggests, this is because victim-blaming

is still very prominent in todays society. Some of the most frequent tips on colleges

websites were: communicate sexual limits, trust your instincts, and be aware of

surroundings. All of those were meant for women, implying that the rape is the womans

fault because she was not aware of her surroundings. The article continues to analyze

several more tips and the concluding message is that colleges do not have strong enough

rape prevention programs and will most of the time, still blame the woman for the rape.

The article is current because it was written in February of 2015. The information

is not out of date because there are constantly new prevention programs and ideas of how

to stop rape from occurring, especially on college campuses. The information is relevant

because it is an examination of current rape prevention tips. The article analyzes these

and shows how colleges are not doing enough to promote prevention programs. The two

authors of the article are both employed by colleges and this gives them the authority to

write this article because they are around college students all day. They may have a better

idea of what the students are dealing with and can even see that their own colleges are not

doing enough to prevent rape. The article is accurate because it has several cited sources

throughout the entire article. The purpose of the article is to inform the public that
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colleges are not doing an adequate job of helping prevent rape on their campuses. I will

use this article to show that colleges could be taking a lot more action to inform and

protect all of their students from rape and other sexual violence.

"Coastal Carolina University - AlcoholEdu & Haven Information." Coastal.edu. Web. 17 Nov.

2015.

This is short paragraph from Coastals website that explains the Haven program.

This source gives the reader a good idea of what Haven is if they have never heard of it

before. This paragraph does not go into very much detail but it is a well-worded

explanation of exactly what Haven is.

I am unsure if this article is current or not, but since this information does not

change very often, I think the explanation is correct. The source is relevant because it

gives a brief summary of exactly what Haven is. The authors have the authority to write

this source since they are most likely employed by Coastal and know what Haven is. The

information is accurate because the explanation matches up with my knowledge of the

online program, and since Haven is run by Coastal, the authors of the paragraph should

know what theyre talking about. The purpose of this source is to give a brief summary of

what Haven is, for any students or parents who want to know. I will use this source to

compare how I explain Haven versus what Coastal says about it. I also will use it to back

up my own explanation of the program.

Gillibrand, Kirsten, et al. "The Debate: How Should College Campuses Handle Sexual

Assault?" Time 183.20 (2014): 28-29. Academic Search Complete. Web. 24 Oct. 2015.
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This article is from a magazine periodical and has several short stories that focus

on the topic of how colleges should handle sexual assault. The most impactful statistic

was that 90% of college rapes that occur are committed by just 3% of college men who

are repeat offenders. The article also goes into detail about how trials that are done by the

school are not properly executed and usually very informal. The punishments that are

given, if any, do not match the crime. The common theme in a majority of the stories is

that sexual assault is a serious problem on all college campuses and victims need to speak

up so that colleges cant continue to ignore what is going on.

This article has current information because it was written in 2014. The source is

not out of date and has valuable facts. The information is relevant because all of the

individual stories are criticizing the current ways colleges handle sexual assault. There

are multiple authors of the article because there is a different author for each individual

stories. The Nation published all of these stories in this article and they are an accredited

magazine. This information is reliable because it is stories and quotes from U.S.

politicians and individual accounts from college students who have been raped. The

purpose of this article is to show multiple accounts of rape and ways to combat this

ongoing problem. This is a way to inform a mass amount of the public to this problem. I

will use this article to show several personal accounts of rape as well as multiple opinions

on how this problem should be fixed.

Goldberg, Michelle. "Campus Rape Crisis. (Cover Story)." Nation 298.26 (2014): 12-16.

Academic Search Complete. Web. 24 Oct. 2015.

This article examines universitys disciplinary processes when dealing with sexual

assault and rape. There are three main criticisms of the current processes in place. The
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first being that the reported incidents are being handled by amateur individuals who do

not know how to properly handle these cases. The second problem is that the disciplinary

panels on campus are usually more interested in protecting the schools reputation rather

than helping the individual that was affected by the rapist. The final criticism is that the

accused individual is not given proper ordinary due process. All of these criticisms lead

to the final conclusion that no one would ever leave the school in charge of disciplining a

murderer, so why let the school handle the trial and punishment of a rapist?

The information in this article is current because it was written in 2014. This

article is relevant because of how it examines the problems that are wrong with how

universities handle sexual assault and rape cases. This directly rates to my topic and

provides more evidence to support it. The author, Michelle Goldberg, is the senior

contributing writer at The Nation. This makes her qualified to write this article because of

how much experience she has in the journalism field. The information in this article is

accurate because it references incidents of rape that have previously happened on college

campuses and there is clear background research that was done to ensure truthfulness.

The purpose of this article is to inform the public of the issue and raise awareness that

colleges are not doing enough to prevent and report sexual assault incidents. I will use

this source to explain how the universities should not be solely in charge of the

disciplinary process when dealing with reported sexual assaults and rape.

Mantel, Barbara. "Campus Sexual Assault." CQ Researcher 31 Oct. 2014: 913-36. CQ

Researcher Online. Web. 24 Oct. 2015.

This article focuses on the question of Do colleges handle sexual assault

allegations fairly? and references many universities that have wrongly handled reported
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rape cases. The main statistic that sticks out is that one in five women are sexually

assaulted while at college. The complaints against colleges wrongly handling reports of

rape and the trials that are held tripled between the years of 2013 and 2014. One of the

biggest events that brought this issue to light was a student from Columbia University

carrying a mattress around campus with her after a school panel found her rapist not

responsible. This brought national coverage to how colleges are handling sexual assault

accusations as well as their disciplinary process for the students that are accused.

The information in this article is accurate because it was written in October of

2014. This article references many past rape cases and this information will not change

with time. The article is relevant because it questions whether or not colleges handle rape

accusations correctly, and the answer is no. The author of the article, Barbara Mantel, is a

freelance writer and has several awards in writing. This gives her the authority to write

this article. The information in the article is accurate because there are several cited

sources in the article that provide evidence to the argument Mantel is making. The

purpose of this article is to inform and teach the public that universities are treating

students unfairly and are not able to properly handle rape accusations that are made. I will

use this article to give examples of specific incidents of rape that have happened on

college campuses and how they were handled incorrectly. This will show how university

policies need to be updated.

McMahon, Sarah. "Rape Myth Beliefs and Bystander Attitudes among Incoming College

Students." Journal of American College Health 59.1 (2010): 3-11. Academic Search

Complete. Web. 16 Nov. 2015.

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This article explains how rape myth beliefs and the bystander affect relate to

college students. There was a study done on about 2,000 college students and their

attitudes towards rape myths. A rape myth is a belief about rape, that a lot of people

believe to be true, but it is actually incorrect. There was a higher acceptance rate found

among males and those without previous rape education. Whereas a lower acceptance

rate among females and those who knew someone who has been sexually assaulted. The

results of the research found that colleges prevention programs need to include education

for both genders and include the idea that as a bystander to sexual assault, you are

capable of intervening.

The information in this article is accurate because the article was published in the

2010 July/August issue of the Journal of American College Health. This information is

susceptible to change, but this study has concrete facts in it. The article is relevant

because the research is done on college students and their attitudes towards rape. This

information only enhances my argument for the need for more intensive prevention

programs. The author of this article, Sarah McMahon, is employed by Rutgers University

and the center on violence against women and children. This makes gives McMahon

personal experience with this issue and she has also done extensive research on this topic.

This source is accurate because there are multiple cited sources and she extensively

explains how the research was done. The purpose of this article is to share the results that

McMahon found from her study. I will use the source to further show why colleges need

better prevention programs, especially for males and those without previous education.
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Napolitano, Janet. "Only Yes Means Yes": An Essay On University Policies Regarding Sexual

Violence And Sexual Assault." Yale Law & Policy Review 33.2 (2015): 387-402.

Academic Search Complete. Web. 24 Oct. 2015.

This article explains several reasons on why sexual assault occurs so much on

college campuses. The two main reasons that are given are: it is the first time these young

adults are living on their own, and in such close proximity to one another, and that all of

the parents, faculty, and members of the community expect that the colleges will provide

a safe environment for all of the students. The latter statement attributes to why a lot of

colleges have difficulty believing reports of rape; they never thought it could happen on

their own campus. The article also mentions the vast amount of attention that the issue of

rape and prevention programs have attained over the past several years. There is

discussion over some of the programs that are being implemented at certain universities.

For example, the University of California has established a constant response team, in

order to ensure that all incidents of rape can be reported correctly and in a timely manner.

There are several other programs recommendations stated throughout the entirety of the

article.

This article was written in 2015, making the information extremely current. This

information is in no way out of date for my topic. The article is relevant because it

examines the current policies regarding sexual assault and also mentions programs that

are being implemented to reduce the occurrence of sexual assault. The author of the

article, Janet Napolitano, is the president of the University of California. She actually

discusses some of the prevention programs she has implemented at her own university

and how they could benefit schools across the country. The information in the article is
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accurate because they are multiple cited sources and it is clear that Napolitano has done

her research on the topic. The purpose of this article is to inform other universities about

the programs that could be implemented and persuade them to do so. I will use this article

to give examples of programs that other universities are implementing and explain how

they could have a positive impact if other schools used them as well.