Emma Sulkowicz

Watch: Campus rape costs — and what schools must do about it

Mental healthcare costs. Medical costs. Abortion and child-care costs. Transportation. Housing. Tuition. Lost scholarships. Lost income. The financial repercussions of sexual violence go on and on. UltraViolet has a new PSA out today that highlights these costs for survivors in school. 

As Alexandra and I have written before, these expenses have real impacts on student survivors’ ability to access education, as well as on their earnings long down the road. The PSA explains, “For the unlucky among us, the emotional, psychological, health, and economic impacts can last a lifetime.” It’s a powerful watch and an important message, particularly for people who haven’t (yet) experienced violence.

UltraViolet’s PSA ends with a general call to “end rape culture.” Let’s do that, for sure. But for folks like me who need a concrete place to start, let’s begin by teaching the students in our lives about their civil rights on campus and about their schools’ legal obligations to protect them — obligations which include, in many cases, ameliorating the very financial costs of violence the PSA describes.

violence costs infographicAs we’ve written here previously, the exact services a victim’s school needs to provide and pay for depend on the particular circumstances of the situation and on what kind of support the survivor needs in order to stay in school and learn, but here are some things that colleges are often required to do — free of charge — in order to meet their legal obligations under federal civil rights law Title IX:

  • provide counseling and medical services to survivors
  • provide tutoring and other academic support services
  • provide disability services, including for students who develop mental health-related disabilities as a result of violence
  • provide an escort so that a survivor can move safely and comfortably between classes, campus jobs, sports, and other extracurricular activities
  • move the victim or perpetrator out of a shared class and/or dorm or, if the victim is an elementary or secondary school student, to another school within the district
  • allow the survivor to retake a course or withdraw from a class without academic or financial penalty, and make sure that any changes do not adversely affect the survivor’s academic record

You can learn more about student survivors’ rights over at Know Your IX.

Recalling what would have helped me as a young student survivor — who knew intimately the financial costs of violence but nothing about my school’s obligations to ameliorate them — I can’t help but feel that what I needed most was some basic legal literacy. So when we all share UltraViolet’s powerful new PSA, let’s make sure to do a little legal ed at the same time. I have no doubt the student survivors in our lives will thank us for it.

If anyone has time to write up a transcript in the comments, I’d appreciate it!

New Haven, CT

Dana Bolger is a Senior Editor at Feministing and the co-founder of Know Your IX, the national youth-led organization working to end gender violence in schools. She's testified before Congress on Title IX policy and legislative reform, and her writing has appeared in a number of outlets, including The New York Times, Washington Post, and The Wall Street Journal. She's also a student at Yale Law School, and you can find her on Twitter at @danabolger.

Dana Bolger is a Senior Editor at Feministing and a student at Yale Law School.

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