Just about every student dreams about attending college and earning a degree which lands them their dream job. Unfortunately, when going to college some students experience a 1 in 5 chance of being sexually assaulted. Sexual assault is a global issue that affects the environments of a lot of educational institutions. Many colleges have suspended fraternity's, expel students, and lose students due to sexual assault cases. This global issue has drawn so much attention in the United States that the President of the United States, Barack Obama launched the ItsOnUs campaign. ItsOnUs is a campaign that fights to put an end to sexual assault on college campuses. This campaign helps to educate students on college campuses about what they should do if they sense signs of someone who is in danger of being sexually assaulted, what they should do if they experience sexual assault, and how they can help spread awareness.

This issue affects me because I attend Spelman College, which is an all girls institution. Next to Spelman is Morehouse, an all boys school and Clark Atlanta University, which is both girls and boys. There are a plethora of sexual assault cases occurring on these college campuses since students are allowed to go on each others campus. Many complaints that are reported only result in the victim receiving a no contact contract and the suspect receiving a warning and community service. With this type of behavior there is no solution for this ongoing problem. Currently, there are 124 universities under federal investigation by the U.S. Department of Education’s Office due to alleged sexual assault crimes. Personally, I was molested for five years starting from the age of twelve. My abuse caused me to develop trust issues, anger issues, and attempt suicide. Throughout my entire life I never trusted anyone, it was always hard for me to open up to someone. Every “I love you”, “I’ll protect you”, “I’ll never hurt you” that I heard was a lie to me. I felt dirty, unloved, and worthless. I thought God hated me and I believed that he had let me down. The mental, emotional, and possibly physical damage that sexual abuse can cause is very difficult to overcome and it takes time.

Sexual abuse does not only happen on college campuses around the world, it also happens in public places, homes, and even in the military. Senator Gillibrand is currently fighting to combat sexual assault that occurs in the military. She proposed the Military Justice Improvement Act, which removes sexual assault cases from the military chain of the command and establishes an independent justice system to handle those crimes. Unfortunately, her proposal fell short and sexual assault cases in the military are still handled by the chain of command. It is very heartbreaking that one can still experience this type of abuse even when fighting for their country. Sexual assault does not only occur in the U.S. in many other countries too. 35% of women worldwide have experienced sexual abuse. Between 15% of women in Japan and 71% of women in Ethiopia have reported being sexually assaulted. Worldwide 98% of people who are accused of sexually assaulting someone will never see life behind bars and up to 50 percent of sexual assaults are committed against girls under the age of 16.

I've been given the opportunity to speak with members of American Progress and Generation Progress, Generation Progress is the youth engagement arm of the center for American Progress and they run the ItsOnUs campaign with the White House. I will be partnering with students at my institution in order to spread awareness and get others involved. I've also been put on the speakers bureau to tell my story at future ItsOnUs events. Both men and women are being forced to engaged in sexual acts, often times they are scared because they think no one will believe them or they are embarrassed. Until we are able to both recognize sexual assault and actually try to put a stop to it when it occurs instead of victim blaming, when going into things like the military or a place of education it will not be taken seriously. As said by President Obama, "It is on all of us to reject the quiet tolerance of sexual assault and to refuse to accept what’s unacceptable."