Mishandling of Sexual Assault Cases at Howard University

This past Tuesday, March 22nd, 2016, over 100 students protested at Howard University for the way that the University has been handling recent allegations of two rape cases. The first incident occurred in May of 2015 and the second occurred in February of this year. According to sources, both cases were committed by the same student and to this day he is still free to roam the campus which has female students fearing for their safety.

The perpetrator is a fellow student and a former residential advisor at the university. The article did not give the exact reason why he is no longer a residential advisor but I think it is safe to say that it is because of the allegations against him. One aspect of the case that is especially appalling is the fact that the alleged attacker has had previous experiences with sexual misconduct. He initially began his education at the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) where he was banned by UCLA officials as a result of him distributing revenge porn depicting a female student. Despite his past and recent allegations justice has yet to be served which has brought students to the current protests and the distribution of a list of demands for the university.

One of the alleged victims and other students have taken to Twitter and other social media platforms to let their voices be heard. In response, the university issued a statement that appears to exist for the sole purpose of saving face.

What is also shocking is that many of the comments in response to the story were blaming the victim for the way she reported the incident and how she broke her silence (mostly written by men). Rather than being outraged by the rape people placed blame and responsibility on the victim, a trend we see all too often in sexual assault cases.

A specific aspect I noted was that in the majority of the limited coverage of the situation at Howard, sources made sure to include that Howard University is a member of the Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) in Washington, D.C.. As I read, I could not help but to think about other instances we have seen through the news involving sexual assault on college campuses in which the school is simply labeled as a university, with no additional explanation or racial context included. As we discussed earlier in class, it makes you wonder why they made it a point to include race and how that may impact the way in which people view this incident. 

The fact remains that two students at this university have been raped and deserve a proper investigation into their cases.