Talia is a 19-year-old college student who was sexually assaulted by a classmate while attending a fraternity party (Plummer et al., 2014). She did not seek counseling until 3 weeks after the incident due to experiencing a extreme emotions around the incident (Plummer et al., 2014). She was coping anxiety which was negatively impacting her process in schoolwork. During the sessions she worked on skills to address triggers regarding the rape. Talia eventually decided to report the rape to the school (Plummer et al., 2014). She was worried the perpetrator would attack someone else (Plummer et al., 2014).
The policy to change regarding Talia’s case would be the University’s procedure on when confronting rape/sexual assault cases. The Dean of Students like many other schools handled this situation in house not including the authorities (Laureate Education, 2013). This is a concern because the Dean does not have the proper training and understanding to speak with victims and he has the desire to protect the schools reputation this makes him bias and not a good judge for the crime. He also placed both students in the same room. This could have been a trigger for Talia, setting her back in her recovery.
“Proven methods to reduce rapes and sexual assaults on college campuses include education, prevention, accountability, common sense, and the use of the local criminal justice system, which promotes fairness for both the accuser and accused” (Spakvosky, 2017). Talia wanted justice served for a crime committed against herself while in care of her school. it is the school’s responsibility to ensure a safe environment for the students. Unfortunately, many students do not report assaults because nothing happens since it is considered hearsay. If schools allow for professionals to evaluate the situation and speak with the victims and the accused they will have an unbiased and educated assessment of the situation.