Far too many incidents of sexual assault or harassment go unreported each year, and the report rates are even lower on college campuses.
The U.S. Department of Justice estimates about 30 percent of rapes and sexual assaults involving women 18-25 - the age group with the highest rate of incidents - are reported each year. But for the women that age enrolled on a college campus, the report rate is even lower, about 20 percent.
Certainly, the stigmas victims face contribute to that reluctance to report. In addition to the pain and embarrassment of revealing personal details, victims also face public attitudes and a judicial process that will sometimes blame their dress or actions for contributing to the attack.
Holding signs that read "Stop Victim Blaming" and "My Dress Is Not a Yes," about 150 Marshall University students staged a demonstration this week to raise public awareness about the damaging impact of those attitudes.
"This is something no one would wish on anyone, but we are so quick to blame the victim for an attack than we are the perpetrator," Shelby Wilmoth, a 20-year-old criminal justice major, told The Herald-Dispatch. Changing those attitudes could help empower more victims to come forward.
But other factors in the college setting are likely contributing to the low reporting rate, as well. As cases around the country have shown, schools sometimes create a climate that marginalizes victims' reports or at least does not encourage them. Too often, the first reaction has been to protect the image of the institution rather than address the problem.
While it is certainly a complex issue, the numbers tell the story. College campuses reported about 5,000 forcible rapes in 2013, according to U.S. Department of Education data, but the actual number is estimated at about six times that.
But thanks to the concerns raised by students and victims, better practices are being implemented on many campuses and suggested for all. Several senators, including Shelley Moore Capito of West Virginia, last year introduced the Campus Accountability and Safety Act to lay out better standards for schools to follow.
That bill, which is expected to be considered again this spring, would require more transparency, more training for staff and students and better coordination with local law enforcement. It also would require national student surveys to maintain a better idea of what is really going on.
As the Marshall students emphasized this week, attitudes need to change and with them campus climates. Many students begin their college experience unprepared for the social and sexual pressures that they may soon face, and it is in each institution's best interest to make that transition and the campus experience as safe as it can be.