Violence - Violence on Campus

Violence - Violence on Campus In many cases, when the topic of violence on college campuses is raised, what comes to mind are the examples involving premeditated attacks with firearms or mass casualties, such as the 2007 Virginia Tech massacre. That is mainly a function of the degree to which the mass media sensationalize the most extreme forms of campus violence, such as premeditated attacks involving firearms or even serial killings of college students, such as those perpetrated by Ted Bundy at Florida State University in 1980 (Innes 2007).

Actually, the vast majority of violence on college campuses is not sensational enough to warrant news coverage; on the other hand, the frequency with which college students experience violence of one form or another. The specific types of violence affecting college students is not atypical of the types of violence that exist in society in general, except that the statistics reflect the specific demographics and social circumstances represented on campus (Conlon 2004).

Premeditated Massacres on College Campuses: The first documented incident of premeditated violence on college campuses was the 1966 massacre of 14 people by Charles Whitman at the University of Texas, at Austin (USDOE 2002). In the 42 years since then, there have been fewer than one college campus shooting every two years, on average (USDOE 2002). Nevertheless, because it (understandably) causes such panic when it happens, the media cover it very heavily, out of proportion to its newsworthiness, in many respects.

Suggestions have even been made that excessive news coverage is one contributing factor in the so-called copycat phenomenon (Innes 2007). Particularly since the notorious massacre at Columbine, college campus police and college administrators across the nation have implemented multiple levels of campus security enhancement features. Those improvements are designed to protect students and faculty by ensuring that unauthorized persons are not admitted to dormitories and other campus facilities, as well as by keeping weapons off campus (USDOE 2002).

However, according to many campus security experts, gun law reforms would be instrumental in preventing college campus shootings, because "...it is much easier to keep guns off campus if students have less access to them in the first place. There's relatively little we can do to if a student who is authorized to come and go from his dorm and owns firearms legally suddenly snaps and brings one onto the campus." (Schwartz 2008).

Date Rape and Sexual Assault: According to Barrett Seaman (2005), who studies the incidence of rape and sexual assaults on American college campuses, they occur with "frightening regularity." In fact, as many as one-quarter of female college students admit to experiencing inappropriate sexual contact, ranging from being grabbed over their clothes in public to actually being raped by a male classmate during the course of their college education (Seaman 2005).

As is the case with rape in general (Macionis 2003), many occurring on college campuses are never reported in fact, college students are even less likely to report being raped because most campus sexual assaults are perpetrated in the context of date rape, which, in general, is reported much less often wherever it occurs than rape by a complete stranger (Seaman 2005). Other types of sexual assault on college campuses are reported even less frequently (Seamen 2005) than rape.

Specifically, while the fact that one-quarter of college females are the victims of attempted date rape, it is equally disturbing that as many as three times that many admit to experiencing other inappropriate forms of unauthorized and unwanted sexual contact short of actual rape, such as being grabbed over their clothes (or even underneath their clothes) by male students whom they do not know (Seaman 2005).

According to Seaman (2005), "...when it happens in loud, extremely crowded parties, doing anything much about it under those circumstances is very difficult if not impossible." The circumstances in which college students typically socialize (both on and off campus) are particularly conducive to date rape, by virtue of factors such as the emphasis on alcohol consumption and the fact that at many institutions, excessive drinking takes place in close proximity to common living quarters such as dormitories and fraternities.

Ironically, the presence of so many other people and the fact that college campuses are somewhat restricted to access to on-campus nightlife from outside contributes to a false sense of security (Seaman 2005) on campus. The same students who sponsor night walks to check the lighting and grounds to increase safety will hold the door open for a stranger entering their residence hall. Despite frequent warnings, students - and even faculty, administrators, and other campus personnel - act less judiciously than they would elsewhere." (Siegel 1994).

Seaman (2005) agrees, saying, "Typically, there is a social encounter in which a certain amount of kissing or other sexually intimate touching is consensual, but at some point, the girl indicates that she would like t terminate that sexual encounter but the other party continues...the fact that alcohol is often involved only compromises the perpetrator's impulse control and he overpowers her." The Role of Alcohol in Violence on College Campuses: When one examines the data of violence, on college campuses, the one contributing element shared most commonly by all forms other than premeditated attacks on random individuals (Siegel 1994) is alcohol consumption.

Despite the fact that most college underclassmen are not of legal drinking age, "...t would be unrealistic to imagine very strictly enforcing the drinking age on many campuses.. realistically, unless you ban alcohol completely, students who really want to drink will manage to get alcohol" (Siegel 1994). Strictly speaking, college campus violence does not include violent encounters that take place off campus, but many authorities consider violence that occurs between college students in off-campus situations are considered within the framework of violence on college campuses (Siegel 1994).

Typically, intoxication-related violence is likely to be male-on-male, initiated in or around college bars or fraternity parties (Seaman 2005). Fraternities also feature another form of violence associated with alcohol consumption on college campuses, in the form of forced excessive (sometimes fatal) alcohol consumption during fraternity pledge hazing. Unlike the other forms of campus violence, most serious incidents or deaths associated with fraternity hazing are accidental.

Nevertheless, especially when death results, they should be included in any discussion of college campus violence because they occur more often than the premeditated mass murders on campus that receive so much more media attention. Conclusion: Violence is a fact of life, both in society at large as well as on college campuses.

Generally, college campuses are less susceptible to many of the random acts of violence, such as muggings, physical attacks from complete strangers, armed robbery, gang violence, or drive by shootings that come to mind in general when one considers violence in society. On the other hand, many people associate college campus violence with the premeditated mass murders, such as the recent Virginia tech shootings in 2007. Campus authorities have.