College is supposed to be a time when you find yourself and grow. You try new things, meet new people and join different organizations. However, for many college men and women those dreams and new experiences end in severe tragedy. According to the National Sexual Violence Resource Center, one in five women and one in 16 men are sexually assaulted while in college.

Eight in 10 victims know their rapist. More than 90 percent of those crimes do not get reported. This dream of college is extinguished even more when a victim’s rapist is let go with no charges against them, testifying and seeing that person every day. What I am most shocked about is not only are there hundreds of victims, but the lack of support causes college students to not report.

How are women and men supposed to feel safe coming to school after an assault?

What are colleges and universities doing to make things better and safer?

I have seen so many videos on Facebook documenting sexual abuse, seen documentaries on rape victims being blamed and seen the damage that it causes especially to young women. But let’s take a step back. Universities and colleges all have sexual harassment forms and policies in place. While those might cover charges like this, there should be more justice for victims.

I’m still wondering how men who commit rape go free. How university presidents can passively take the alleged perpetrators side. How does that happen?

It’s actually very simple. In my research I found an article on The Atlantic entitled, “When Helping Rape Victims Hurts a College’s Reputation.” Curious, I read the article and was very shocked at what I read. The article talks about University of Virginia’s lack of empathy with students who have been raped. Sexual misconduct definitely puts a college or university on the main stage.

What they do with that media coverage is support or blame the victim. The story continued to trace through another gang rape that allegedly happened to a freshman girl attending the University of New Hampshire. She was reportedly drunk and moving through the halls of the freshmen dorms when she ran into two young men. One asked for a good night kiss and then reportedly had sex with her. From there, more men joined until there was a line, just like an amusement park. Expect here we are talking about a human. No one, not even the Resident Assistant stopped the alleged inhumane rape. It’s disgusting.

The University of New Hampshire disciplinary committee, “…found all three men not guilty of sexual assault.” Just let that sink in. This girl went through the trauma of allegedly being raped, is questioned by administration, asked personal questions and her alleged (I use that word loosely) go free. When protestors actually wanted another trial, some men were protesting for their right to rape whomever they wanted. This despicable action actually helped the girl’s case because it meant that her story was true.

Some colleges and universities attempt to cover up rapes by claiming that they never happened. How much longer are we going to stand in a victim blaming society? No means no. Drunk or sober. She or he is never asking for it.

It’s no wonder that young women do not report rapes. Why double the trauma when you can just let it be. Why put yourself out there for threats when no one will believe you?

But there are people and organizations out there to change college campuses and hold colleges and universities accountable for rapes on their campus. End Rape On Campus, EROC, is an organization that is dedicated to helping men and women who have been sexually assaulted. EROC’s mission is, “end campus sexual violence through direct support for survivors and their communities; prevention through education; and policy reform at the campus, local, state, and federal levels.”

While I have never been a victim, I have known friends who have been. The more awareness we bring to this topic, the more we will change the way colleges look at these cases. Let’s make it the norm to give out just verdicts and put guilty people behind bars. There should be no excuses for the young man to have the “college experience.”

During David Becker’s case, according to Liberals Unite, Becker sexual assault charges were dropped because the judge did not want to, “impede this individual from graduating high school and to go onto the next step of his life, which is a college experience.” But what about the two women he assaulted? The courts had no sympathy or sense of justice for them.

The message that was sent is your physical and mental well-being is not as important as a young man’s college experience. We are going to put that before looking into how we can make you feel safe and secure in continuing your education.

Are we seriously as a society intentionally keeping rapists on college campuses to make sure that young men get the college experience? A slap on the wrist is not going to change anything.