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Entity reports on rape culture across college campuses.

As a 20-year-old woman on a college campus, sexual harassment is a very real issue.

Before leaving for college (and every time I see them) I am warned by my parents to always “be careful” and never get “too drunk” because something terrible could happen… and that is an extremely scary thought.

To think that just because I have one too many drinks or my friends leave my side for a few minutes too long I could end up being assaulted is frightening, but it is a reality many college girls live with. I am lucky enough to never have experienced anything to this degree.

But I have friends who have.

Universities, especially prominent ones, have come under scrutiny for remaining too neutral as rape culture on college campuses persists.

Princeton University recently posted a job listing for an “Interpersonal Violence Clinician and Men’s Engagement Manager.” It took me re-reading that job title about three times to understand what kind of job position they had created and what that person will be doing.

Part of the job description includes “promoting an environment for healthy male social development by challenging belief systems and social constructs that contribute to violence and offering alternative options.”

AKA they’re trying to change the prominent culture that now characterizes college campuses across the nation. Since majority of sexual assaults occur among women, this position is trying to change the tendencies or “masculinity” of college men in order to improve college environments.

Being a student at Princeton, I can say that, as with most other college campuses, the men committing these acts of intimidation and assault are a minority of college guys, but despite the numbers, universities have become a place where people don’t feel entirely safe.

I found out about the new position when one of my girlfriends sent the FOX News article announcing it. Being from FOX, the article was obviously written a little skewed, but even so, in the reaction to the new position, my friends were appalled. The way they were portraying men at Princeton, some of our best friends, seemed like slander. The article discouraged parents from sending their sons to our university for the sake of not wanting them to be changed.

At one of the most distinguished institutions in the nation, you would not expect its students to need the type of guidance to lead them away from violent and inappropriate acts. At Princeton we all live in co-ed dorms and have plenty of guy friends. I probably have more close guy friends than girlfriends.

We eat lunch every Tuesday and Thursday with the football guys and we do almost all of our homework (unless we need to actually be productive) with the hockey guys. I walk down to practice and watch countless episodes of “Gossip Girl” with the water polo guys. When thinking of all the guys I am constantly surrounded by on campus, I would not have said they needed someone to “manage” their behavior.

The creation of this position alluded to the University not trusting the men on campus to behave responsibly or safely. They did not trust the guys to not endanger more girls. They did not trust them to make sensible decisions on their own.

And the guys were pissed.

Their own institution, one they play sports for or rightfully brag that they attend, felt so strongly that this type of environment was persisting that they needed to make an official position to combat it.

Reading the article more thoroughly, however, I was taken aback not only by the fact that they thought we needed this new position, but by the fact that we did need it. It made me realize the reality we live in on a college campus and the fact that some of the best guys (and people) I know did not seem to be doing enough to change it.

Did any of the guys really have a right to be mad about this new position if they weren’t already doing everything in their power to change the environment we live in?

Men attending an Ivy League school are nearly synonymous with the utmost privilege, and despite being a rather large generalization of the type of people I go to school with, there is some truth to that.

These men have social capital and influence that I don’t even think they realize they posses, but being in this position comes with responsibility, a responsibility to use that influence to create a new environment.

If the guys that I call some of my best friends are so outraged about how they are being portrayed, then they need to change that narrative.

Do your part so the University doesn’t feel like they have to bring in fancy “managers” with abstract names and vague objectives. The rape culture on college campuses needs to stop somewhere, and it is easier to change from the inside than the outside.

So if this article infuriated you because you think the administration is wrong, then do something about it. Change it. Because currently, it’s not a stereotype. It’s a reality. Students on college campuses really do face this problem every day.

Change starts in the little things people do. Tell your buddy to shut up when they make a derogatory comment about that girl from your class, or walk your girl friends home when they have one too many drinks (asking nothing in return).

I am lucky to have some of the greatest guys in my life, and I hate to think that they are being grouped together with such lesser men; but there are far too many guys’ actions contributing to rape culture and not enough guys’ actions trying to counter it. It’s easier said than done, but it has to start somewhere.

The only way to do this is to do something. Step in if you see a dangerous situation. Say something when something seems off.

Nearly all of the college guys I know care about a few girl friends (or their girlfriends) enough to want them to feel safe. So help make them feel safe on their college campuses.

Don’t make the administration feel like they have to bring in psychologists or “managers.” Change the environment yourself.

Edited by Kayla Caldwell
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