I started this article wanting to write about Women’s History Month — intending for it to be commemorative and empowering — definitely on a lighter note. I stumbled upon the topic of sexual assault, thinking I could write about Penn’s resources and history with the issue. I was horrified to find a pile of articles and blogs describing rape culture at Penn. I could not believe the extent to which rape had become normalized for people to start referring to it as a culture, almost as casually as you say dating culture. I shouldn’t have to be writing an article like this: asking Penn to stop enabling rape so much as for it to become cultural.
According to the last AAU Survey on Sexual Assault and Sexual Misconduct conducted, 25.9% of undergraduate women reported non-consensual sexual contact involving physical force. The data is alarming — it means that a fourth of the undergraduate female population has experienced sexual assault.
As one of the wealthiest institutions in the country, Penn definitely has the money to invest in better resources to provide support to sexual assault survivors. However, this is not apparent in the stories survivors recount. Farah Sayed, a sexual assault survivor, stresses that she felt incredibly alone throughout the whole process, not backed by any of the services Penn fancies itself to have — including the Penn Women’s Center and the LGBT Center.
Both the PWC and LGBT center directors are aware of the importance of sufficient funding to support survivors. An increase in funding could fix staffing issues, ensuring survivors have confidential resources at all times and making investigative processes more efficient. However, allocation of funding for these resources doesn’t seem to be Penn’s top priority, but not due to lack of cash flow.
Even though I made several attempts to contact people in those centers and Penn Violence Prevention to obtain more information on funding, no one replied. The lack of effective response from Penn resources leaves a lot to the imagination for a service that should be available 24/7.
The Title IX office has also proved to be inefficient. Administrators took over a month to reply to Sayed when she attempted to report what happened to her. In the end, she was unable to file a complaint because her case did not meet the bar established for consideration. Again, this was not an isolated incident. “I need to know if this is a concerted effort by Penn to cover up sexual violence on campus, or a few isolated incidents,” asked someone on Reddit, referring to the unresponsiveness of the Title IX office.
Under the Trump administration, Title IX was modified to the extent that it becomes almost impossible for survivors to cite their cases. It tightened the conditions for which a case should be taken into account: The assault must be objectively offensive and severe. However, this obliviates the fact that most of the time sexual harassment is not considered directly offensive; for instance, not all sexual harassment involves forced touch. This does not make any other statutes less valid. Additionally, Trump’s alterations declare a case can only be taken if it occurred on campus, again ignoring the fact that sexual assault can take place off campus. Though the Biden administration has spoken about making amendments, no change has yet occurred, leaving survivors powerless before a very impersonal and bureaucratic structure.
While Title IX is government-mandated, universities are free to establish their own policies. Additionally, universities like Penn are backed by a powerful and wealthy board of trustees capable of financially committing themselves to the University’s causes. Penn could, for instance, invest and make investigative processes more efficient and lower the bar for taking cases. They could also take cases even if they happened off campus. Penn could improve Student Health Services to be better equipped to deal with sexual assault cases. Now, survivors are forced to go to North Philadelphia if they need a rape kit, which only adds to the trauma and emotional distress.
Sadly, gender violence is a reality. But Penn ignoring rape culture won’t make it go away. Not only are their sexual misconduct responses toward victims lacking, but also traumatizing and emotionally draining. Penn must invest more of its resources into sexual assault prevention and restoration. It’s absurd that an institution with so much wealth and political power still leaves survivors isolated and is unresponsive towards an issue as relevant as a campus with rape culture.
MARIANA MARTINEZ is a College first year studying English and classical studies from Bogotá, Colombia. Her email is marmari@sas.upenn.edu.
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