I remember Dr. Renzi talking about an email she received not too long ago from MSU administrators. The email stated that Professors have an obligation to report cases of sexual assault that has either been admitted to them by the student, or perhaps a case of suspected assault. I just read this article from the Huffington Post about Title IX--a 40 year old federal gender equity law that also talks about cases of rape.  Essentially, I found out that if a school does too little to enforce this law or does too about sexual assault can lose federal funding.

I thought that was really interesting--especially tied to the email that Dr. Renzi received. Is this recent administrative awareness about sexual assault on campus due to the controversy that happened on campus last year (where two MSU basketball players were accused of taking turns raping a woman) even though no criminal action was ever taken? I doubt it. It seems, like aways, that there is a power structure in place. And when it is beneficial--or required--to act a certain way, that is the way in which people/whatever act.

I realize this is a pretty cynical take, and hopefully this stronger awareness of sexual assault can lead to a decrease in such acts, but I'm not sure that forcing professors to 'tattle' on their students is what is best for the students who have already been through something unimaginable.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/04/23/for-colleges-rape-cases-a_n_1445271.html?ref=college