Editorial: Learning about campus sex assault

There are things you need to go to college to learn.

How to design a skyscraper. How to perform brain surgery. How to split atoms.

There are things you shouldn’t have to learn in college. Like how to keep your hands to yourself. That’s more of a kindergarten thing.

Nonetheless, every year, a large number of college students prove they can’t grasp that particular lesson. The Rape, Abuse and Incest National Network shows that college-age women are three times more likely to be at risk of sexual violence than those outside the 18-24 age group.

On Jan. 16, Gov. Tom Wolf announced $1 million in grants to 36 colleges and universities in Pennsylvania, part of the state’s “It’s On Us PA” initiative. For four years, Pennsylvania has been pushing forward with efforts that were begun under the Obama administration and encouraged by U.S. Sen. Bob Casey’s Campus Sexual and Violence Elimination Act.

The grant money will be used in different ways at different schools, including adopting anonymous online reporting options a state law is requiring. Saint Vincent College will use its $15,000 on research to see how well the “It’s On Us PA” program is working.

Let us hope it is helping, but it isn’t eradicating. Just one day before that announcement, State College police announced an investigation into a report of sexual assault by four unidentified individuals at a Alpha Epsilon Pi fraternity party. Penn State University is also investigating the case.

Clearly, despite years of effort and piles of money, this college-level lesson still needs to be taught like remedial math — going back to basics. No means no. Stop means stop. Unconscious is not consent.

It might help if sexual violence was looked at as more than a women’s problem. It is a crime problem, and anyone can be a victim of crime. Male students in that same college-age group are 78% more likely to be sexually victimized than men who aren’t in school.

Indiana University of Pennsylvania is using its $30,000 state grant to promote education about sexual violence and assault. As a college, that makes sense.

But it still seems like a lesson everyone should already have learned.