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Schools are well aware that these problems are occurring and administrators are being encouraged to be proactive about curtailing the problem.

The Historically Black College and University Campus Sexual Assault Study has data that proves alcohol played a role in 14 percent of sexual assaults.

Some HBCU campuses have places where students can go, like health centers, campus police and counseling facilities specifically to report these crimes, but we know that decision to make these types of crimes public are difficult.  That’s why, in spite of what the colleges and universities are doing, these conversations need to be had in advance.

One study showed that the reasons for not reporting sexual attacks on campus ranged from not wanting anyone to know to feeling that the assault was not serious enough.

But when drugs and alcohol are part of the equation, it’s even more complicated because the victim and the person perpetrating the act are probably both doing something they never would ordinarily do.

Even though we can blame a lot of this behavior on alcohol, boys and girls who go to college need and their parents need a wake up call.

Here is a statistic from the New York State Coalition Against Sexual Assault: At least 1 and four college women will be the victim of a sexual attack during her academic career.

If your daughter has three friends, that means there’s a good chance one of them will have this horrible fate.

It’s more complicated than telling your son “no means no,” because some drugs will cause girls to consent. You know your children better than any one does and you need to use any kind of language necessary and do whatever it takes to make them understand the danger that’s out there. It could mean drug tests, it could mean weekend unannounced visits from you or a relative, it could mean making them move home if they break the rules. These are big sacrifices and inconveniences but far better than what the parents of the five students involved are going through today.

Let take a stand as parents, and the march should start now, right into out children’s heads that sexual violence is NEVER ok.

Reading, Writing and Rape? Sexual Assaults on Campuses Must End  was originally published on blackamericaweb.com

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