Student’s sexual assault experience gathers attention on Twitter after university ‘failed to act’

Sign up for the Independent Women email for the latest news, opinion and features Get the Independent Women email for free Get the Independent Women email for free SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Describing how AUC students “blame and bash victims,” the woman wrote: “It’s sad I have to create a page to express myself rather than tweeting from my real account. I was drunk but that doesn’t mean I forgot about what happened.” Since the account began to attract attention, Spelman College’s president, Mary Schmidt Campbell, reached out to the student on the social media site, urging her to reveal her identity to the president so she could offer her “full support and assistance.” Issuing a statement to the student body, the president called the account “disturbing,” and added: “I know members of our Spelman community join me in expressing heartbreak and outrage over the incidents and experiences recounted on Twitter. He added: “At Morehouse, we take seriously all allegations of sexual assault and we are redoubling our efforts to ensure our students and students throughout AUC are encouraged to report any such incident. The issue was explored recently in an award-winning documentary-film, The Hunting Ground, in which victims and experts provided their own insights into on-campus rape culture, with one telling the film: “They protect perpetrators because they have a financial incentive to do so.” Others claimed “sexual assault on campuses is enormous” and that “universities cover such crimes up” because they are “protecting a brand.” Closer to home, in the UK, the distributor of the film told the Independent in September last year there was a similar and worrying trend of sexual assault on UK campuses and, referring to two NUS reports, added how one in seven British women students is affected, compared with one in five in the US.