Assistant Dean of Students and Title IX Coordinator Kristie Damell and Lower Campus Area Coordinator Steven Couras jointly hosted a screening and discussion on The Hunting Ground for all Stevens resident assistants (RAs), sorority and fraternity executive boards, varsity sports captains, and other campus leaders this past Wednesday.
“This documentary has been shown across the country at over 700 universities for and by students already,” said Couras, who also serves as a Title IX Investigator at Stevens. After welcoming students to the event, he opened with a presentation on Title IX, which is federal legislature that prohibits sex-based discrimination under any educational program or activity receiving federal financial assistance.
The Hunting Ground was first premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in Utah, which functions to showcase independent films and other works of theater. Kirby Dick wrote and directed The Hunting Ground, following his critically-acclaimed feature documentary, The Invisible War which illustrates the rape epidemic within the U.S. military.
The documentary opens with young women discovering that they have been accepted to college. The laughter and joy that comes with matriculation into college is soon quelled as Andrea Pino, a young woman who graduated from University of North Carolina, recounts a violent sexual assault that took place before classes even began.
The film examines many college and universities’ failure to respond to rape and sexual assault victims’ reports. One male student who was interviewed stated that an administrator at his university suggested that he “drop out until it blows over.”
According to the statistics in the film, between 2002 and 2013, there were 155 sexual assault cases reported at Dartmouth Colege, with only three expulsions; 136 cases with 0 expulsions at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; and 10 expulsions out of 135 cases from Harvard. On the other hand, the University of Virginia had over 100 expulsions due to cheating and honor code violations with zero expulsions from reported sexual assault cases.
The Hunting Ground also examines the roles that both Greek Life and athletics have in rape culture on campuses. Erica Kinsman, who claims to have been violently assaulted by Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Jameis Winston while they attended Florida State University, was interviewed for the film, showing how universities with large, multi-million dollar athletic programs often entice administration to turn a blind eye when star athletics are implicated for sexual assault violence.
After the screening, Couras facilitated a discussion among the student leaders. When asked if sexual assault and violence is an issue on Stevens campus, a young woman in the room responded, “I want to say no, but it’d be dumb to say that it doesn’t.”
Another student argued that the film “targets” Greek Life and athletics specifically. The director’s choice of expert opinions did highlight how sexual assault and violence is sustained by a very small percentage of student populations, yet some of the students in attendance felt the film tarnishes the images of their organizations and athletic teams.
Overall, there was a consensus that Stevens as a small school has built a community of trust, which might not be present at big institutions which carry larger populations, bigger athletic programs, and more instances of sexual assault.
The screening gave many statistics, but one that is of significance is the list of higher education institutions with open Title IX sexual violence investigations. Stevens is not on the list, but schools including Harvard, Carnegie Mellon, University of Chicago, Vanderbilt, Florida State University, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill are currently under investigation. As of April 2015, 106 schools are being investigated by the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights. “No school is immune to this,” said Couras. “However, Stevens isn’t on this list, which we should be proud of.”
Damell, Couras, and others have been working diligently to educate Stevens students about sexual assault and rape culture through various avenues, including freshmen orientation, bystander intervention training, Women’s Programs, and now, The Hunting Ground screening.
