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Thankfully, the film is not all doom-and-gloom. Not only did FSU fail to timely investigate, the eventual investigation and school conduct discipline hearing were grossly inadequate. Investigating a sexual assault complaint one year after it was made is a clear violation of Title IX, which requires a school to take immediate and appropriate action under the 2011 Dear Colleague Letter. Interviews within the film detail the ways in which the big money from college football, incompetent policing, and administrative inaction converged such that Winston led FSU to the BSC National Championship and received the Heisman Trophy before the University asked to question him about an alleged assault that occurred the previous year. Late in the film, the directors dive deeply into the Jameis Winston case, the Florida State University (FSU) quarterback expected to be the first pick in the 2015 NFL draft. A former campus police officer describes Notre Dame’s policy of forbidding campus police from approaching athletes at any athletic facility or from contacting any athletic employee. The film describes several cases in which schools protected athletes accused of sexual assault, investigating or punishing only once the sports season has ended. In fact, college athletes make up 4% of the undergraduate population but 19% of the reported rapes.
#Annie clark the hunting ground drivers#
The film convincingly argues that since the number one role of the college president is fundraising, presidents are beholden to alumni donations, and, in turn, to athletic teams and fraternities, two drivers of alumni donations and two of the populations most likely to sexually assault. The film discusses specific cases in which advocating for victims jeopardized professors’ and administrators’ careers. Indeed, sexual assault is a “public relations management” problem, claims former Harvard professor Kimberly Theidon. The film argues that administrators’ main goal is to protect the institution, not victims. Perhaps most strikingly, the film emphasizes the economic incentives that foster a campus environment that suppresses sexual assault reports and exculpates perpetrators. “Expulsion upon graduation,” a one-day suspension, and a reflection essay are punishments mentioned in the film.
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When colleges do issue punishments, they are often light. During the same time period, zero students were expelled for sexual assault, despite the fact that 205 were reported. At the University of Virginia, 183 students were expelled from school for plagiarism or cheating. In school after school, the number of expulsions for sexual assault is miniscule compared to the number of sexual assault reports. Some of the most damning statistics in the documentary compare reports of sexual assault to punishments of assault. In addition to these personal accounts, the film neatly collates statistics from decades of experimental research, surveys, and documentation of disciplinary outcomes. Despite the fact that only 2 to 8% of sexual assault reports are false, administrators question the victims’ behaviors and discourage reporting, leading to a sense of institutional betrayal among survivors. “The rape was bad, but the way I was treated afterward was worse,” one survivor laments, a sentiment also voiced by others interviewed. The film is effective at highlighting commonalities in experiences of sexual assault and the universities’ responses, or non-responses. The tone soon shifts as several women interviewed reveal that they were sexually assaulted shortly after arriving on campus. The film begins with a montage of students and their families reacting with joy to their college acceptances and another montage of inspirational welcome speeches by college administrators. Filmmakers Kirby Dick and Amy Ziering have created a tightly edited and well-researched film that weaves personal narratives, institutional analysis, and social science statistics to make a persuasive argument that in an effort to maintain their brands, universities have overlooked the alarming incidence of campus sexual assault. The Hunting Ground is a devastating examination of the university response to campus sexual assault.