Exploring Ways To Deal With Sexual Assaults on Campus

I read an article on Twitter by Jake New on Virgina's new proposal to create a regional center for the investigation of sexual assaults on campus. The purpose was to inform readers of the pros and cons of having a regional center for such investigations and to explain how the center would operate. The article also relayed the program's details thus far. Furthermore, the article summarized the opinions of some of the people present at the panel discussion regarding the program.

A section of the article I found particularly interesting was the one in which the opposing views voiced their opinions on whether the investigations should take place on campus or off campus:

"Since the U.S. Department of Education began urging colleges to more rigorously investigate cases of campus sexual assault in 2011, some politicians and advocates have questioned the wisdom of allowing college disciplinary proceedings to tackle offenses as serious as sexual violence. Victims' advocacy groups and the Education Department's Office for Civil Rights argue that colleges have an obligation to do so under the gender discrimination law Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, and that campus processes can be more victim focused than formal criminal proceedings."

 This passage mentions some of the points made on the matter, that is, that a college may not be suitable for such serious offenses versus the fact that regional centers would not be as victim-centered as university center would be. These arguments are significant because they are part of the collective arguments that will determine whether or not this regional center will come into being. The center for investigation of sexual assault is also significant since sexual assault is becoming increasingly prevalent on college campuses.

I agree with both sides of the argument. I believe in a balance and everything in moderation so either argument is too extreme. Thus, the best solution would be to have some sort of combination of the two sides. One solution could be to have a regional center where university staff also work or visit. An alternate solution could be the reverse, that is, to have a center at the university with regional staff present/visiting.