Contextualizing the 1990 campus security act and campus sexual assault in intersectional and historical terms

Abstract

Purpose

Residential college campuses remain dangerous – especially for women students who face a persistent threat of sexual violence, despite passage of the 1990 Campus Security Act and its multiple amendments. Campuses have developed new programming, yet recent research confirms one in five women will experience some form of sexual assault before graduating. Research on campus crime legislation does not describe in detail the context in which it developed. The purpose of this paper is to draw attention to the effects of early rhetorical frames on the ineffective policy.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors discuss the rhetorical construction of “campus crime,” and related “criminals” and “victims,” through content analysis and a close interpretive reading of related newspaper articles.

Findings

The 1986 violent rape and murder of Jeanne Clery at Lehigh University in Pennsylvania became iconic in media descriptions of campus crime. Media drew attention to the racial and classed dimensions of the attack on Clery, but elided the misogyny central to all sexual assaults. This reinforced a stereotype that “insiders” on campuses, primarily white and middle class, were most vulnerable to “outsider” attacks by persons of color. Colleges and universities adopted rhetoric of “endangerment” and “unreason” and focused on what potential victims could do to protect themselves, ignoring the role of students in perpetrating crime.

Research limitations/implications

This analysis does not link rhetoric in newspapers to legislative discussion. Further analysis is necessary to confirm the impact of particular claims and to understand why some claims may have superseded others.

Originality/value

This analysis focuses critical attention on how campus crime policy is shaped by cultural frames.

Citation

Graham, R.D. and Konradi, A. (2018), "Contextualizing the 1990 campus security act and campus sexual assault in intersectional and historical terms", Journal of Aggression, Conflict and Peace Research, Vol. 10 No. 2, pp. 93-102. https://doi.org/10.1108/JACPR-05-2017-0284