Campus Sexual Assaults: US Universities Face Scrutiny Amid Policy Shifts
A look at the systemic failures of US universities in handling campus sexual assaults, highlighted by historical cases at Columbia and Cornell, and shifting federal policies.
In 2013, Emma Sulkowicz, then an art student at Columbia University, filed a formal complaint with the university administration, claiming she was raped in her campus dorm room by a fellow student named Paul Nungesser. The two had known each other previously and had a consensual relationship in the past, but Sulkowicz stated that this incident was non-consensual and involved violence, including choking. Nungesser denied the allegations, maintaining that the entire encounter was fully consensual. Columbia conducted an internal inquiry, ultimately finding Nungesser 'not responsible' and deciding against taking action. Sulkowicz's appeal was rejected. Three additional complaints filed against Nungesser by other female students were also dismissed or dropped. Sulkowicz filed a complaint with the New York City Police Department, but authorities determined there was insufficient evidence for criminal charges.
The Mattress Performance and Campus Crisis
Sulkowicz then decided to turn her trauma into a performance art piece that served as her graduation project. Throughout her final year at Columbia, she carried a dormitory mattress everywhere she went on campus. The mattress was intended to physically embody the weight of trauma that victims of sexual assault are forced to carry daily. Before her graduation ceremony in 2015, the university asked Sulkowicz not to bring the mattress, but she refused and walked onto the stage accompanied by friends who helped her carry it. Two years later, Columbia reached a financial settlement with Paul Nungesser, publishing a statement expressing regret for 'the damage caused to his reputation.' Sulkowicz received nothing from the university.
Sexual assaults on campuses across the US are a long-standing epidemic that has never been resolved. Cornell University became the latest flashpoint this week, but it is just another brick in the wall of elite institutions, political mechanisms, and American society at large that shields those accused of sexual violence against women. The numbers are staggering. According to data from the National Sexual Violence Resource Center (NSVRC), one in five female students experiences sexual assault while in college. Nearly 90% of campus perpetrators are known to the victim. Alcohol or other substances are involved in about 70% of reported assaults, and perpetrators frequently use them intentionally to render the victim incapable of resisting or consenting. More than 90% of campus sexual assaults are not reported to law enforcement or university authorities due to fear, social stigma, or hopelessness that anything will be done.
Statistics and Institutional Failures
At Cornell alone, more than 1,200 reports and complaints of sexual assault were filed between 2018 and 2024, and according to a USA Today investigation, the university pursued disciplinary charges in only 162 cases. Out of 51 students found responsible, only 14 cases ended in suspension and only seven resulted in permanent expulsion. As in many other areas, winds blowing from Washington have a significant impact here. In the first half of the previous decade, significant progress appeared to be made in how universities addressed the issue. In 2011, the Obama administration sent a reminder to higher education institutions that Title IX—a revolutionary 1972 law prohibiting gender-based discrimination in any federally funded educational institution—obligates them to address sexual violence and instructed them to ramp up investigations.
Colleges and universities responded with significant educational efforts and strengthened their Title IX offices, leading to more reporting and more women coming forward. Conversely, critics argued that the Obama-era guidelines went too far. The first Trump administration rescinded these guidelines in 2017, the Biden administration reinstated them—and the Trump administration rescinded them yet again this week. 'In a society plagued by deep-seated misogyny, groups of boys and men often forge social bonds around the degradation and exploitation of women,' wrote Kate Manne, a professor of philosophy at Cornell University, in New York Magazine this week. 'As a professor at Cornell, I have met countless survivors in my office who shared their experiences of sexual assault and harassment. Many of the women didn't even try to report it to the police or the university—and for those who did, the experiences and outcomes were rarely positive.'
The Jane Doe Case and Systemic Bias
In the case of 'Jane Doe,' who has maintained for two years that she was gang-raped by seven Cornell students, the district attorney declined to file charges after relying on an investigation conducted by campus police. Investigators never even spoke to the men involved. The university allowed five of the seven students to complete their studies and graduate. Meanwhile, 'Jane Doe' was forced to leave Cornell, and her request for a tuition refund—so she could transfer to another university—was denied. Only the lawsuit she filed last week against the university prompted a reopened investigation and brought the issue of campus sexual assaults back to major headlines.
In her article, Professor Manne argued that US universities often adopt a much harsher hand and stricter punishment for students participating in political protests or accused of academic cheating than for students accused and found guilty of sexual assault. 'Therefore,' she wrote, 'Jane Doe faced more severe consequences than most of the men she alleges gang-raped her. And rape can, in effect, serve as a punishment for the crime of being a woman.'
