Report CoverStrong, comprehensive policies are critical to an effective approach to sexual violence on college campuses.  To assist in the effort to improve campus sexual assault policies,  SAFER and V-Day have just released a report on campus sexual assault policies in the U.S.  Making the Grade? Findings from the Campus Accountability Project on Sexual Assault Policies provides a snapshot of policies from a sample of four-year colleges and universities in the U.S. during a given time frame.
While the report demonstrates some promising findings, overall, it concludes that schools’ policies do not comprehensively address campus sexual assault.  Therefore, the report recommends the following improvements for colleges and universities:

  • Increase the availability and accessibility of survivor resources, such as free emergency contraception after sexual assault
  • Increase primary prevention efforts and create more opportunities for students to engage meaningfully with primary prevention activities
  • Ensure that sexual assault policies are accessible to students in regard to centralized placement on schools’ websites, readability, and comprehensiveness
  • Adopt amnesty clauses to encourage reporting by survivors who may have been in violation of other school policies at the time of their assault
  • Create more opportunities for students to participate in policy decisions

Access the full report here.  Learn more about CALCASA’s campus work here.