The Next Step in Combating Sexual Assault on Campus

An anonymous Harvard University female student took to the college's newspaper, the Harvard Crimson, to not only share the story of her sexual assault, but the inaction taken by the university when she attempted to do something about it. She was faced with a dated policy for dealing with sexual assault, dead ends in the student judicial process, and she isn't alone. One in five college women will be sexually assaulted before they graduate—but only 12 percent of these attacks are reported.

With articles like "Dear Harvard: You Win" making their way to every corner of the internet, treatment of sexual assault victims—and perpetrators on college campuses is becoming an increasingly buzzed about topic. And it's not just the internet that's talking about it. Just last week, the White House released guidelines that aim to put further pressure on universities to take action against sexual assault on campus, along with a list of 55 schools under investigation for their treatment of sexual assault cases.

Now, UltraViolet, an online community group that works to fight sexism, is proposing much more than just a collection of colleges and universities that may or may not be pushing sexual assault under the rug. The group started an online petition for The Princeton Review, home of college rankings in every topic ranging from on-campus food to the political leaning of students, to add a list to their repertoire—one that was determined by school's track records in combating sexual assault. The petition states that "If the Princeton Review starts including information on campuses' sexual assault track records, the public statistics will motivate colleges across the country to get serious about the epidemic of campus rape." The petition has quite a few supporters—it's garnered over 27 thousand signatures so far. Feel the same? Join the fight against sexual assault by signing the petition here.