Following two alleged sexual assaults at Boston University, the administration has formed a task force to analyze the “culture and climate” of the hockey team. BU president was quoted on Boston.com in saying that the allegations “understandably lead to questions about whether the hockey team’s culture and climate have contributed in some way to the actions of the two individuals.”

Both alleged perpetrators have pled not-guilty and have been suspended from the team pending investigation. But I don’t want to talk about these two alleged perpetrators. It is neither my job nor yours in reading this post or news articles to determine their guilt or innocence. But what I want to say to Boston University, and all college administrations seeking to figure out why their students are perpetrating sexual violence, is that they are going to have to look a lot deeper than the climate of a sports team.

Of course, we read about sexual assault perpetrated by athletes all the time — at the high school, college, and professional levels. I don’t think I have to list them. Yes, research concedes that masculinity and gender roles facilitate this perpetration and, yes, I think we can also argue sports teams, especially at the college level, are bursting with masculinity. But being on the BU hockey team did not lead these men to perpetrate violence, if, in fact, they did.

These men have been raised in a society that disrespects women, sexualizes women, fails to protect women’s rights. They have been inundated by the media since they could comprehend what television, radio, and internet was in their very basic essence. Advertisements portraying women as sexual objects, commodities, inhuman displays for the purpose of capitalization. Movies, TV shows, and ideo games displaying horrible acts of violence and zero acts of accountability. Chris Brown dominating two performances at the Grammy’s despite his brutal beating of Rhianna, his long-time girlfriend. The public’s response to Chris Brown  and Rhianna: Tweets saying “I’d let him beat me any day” and “She should be punched in the face for being with him again” demonstrate the outright ignorance of the cycle of violence.

So no, BU, you cannot just look at the culture of your hockey team. You need to look at the culture in which your students have been raised and if you really want to do something about it, you need to stand up against the way women are portrayed, treated, and displayed to the public eye. Then you have to ensure that you hold perpetrators on your campus accountable. We have read news story after news story where sexual assaults occurred and no justice was sought by the university. This sends a message loud and clear that only supplements what the media is telling these students: You can violate a woman’s rights and disrespect her with no consequences.

I do have to say that I applaud BU for attempting to address the perpetrator side. Too often we hear that women need to dress more conservatively, not drink as much, take self-defense classes. But it’s about time we start raising our men so they never perpetrate sexual violence against anyone.

Following investigations of sexual assault reports at the University of Montana, President Royce Engstrom turned to the University community for help in spreading awareness that sexual assault is a serious crime that has serious consequences. In response, a health and human performance professor, Charles Palmer, tasked his students in his upper-level ethics class with a homework assignment that consisted of proposing a plan for spreading UM’s no-tolerance message. I would like to take up these recommendations, as I read them in Chelsi Moy’s article in the Billings Gazette.

Do not have freshman orientation be the only venue for discussing sexual assault

Not only are freshman inundated with information regarding class schedules, campus policies, dining hall protocol, but they are constantly reminded in the first week of their college career that they are embarking on a critical journey. No pressure, right? On top of that, they’re being informed about drinking, the legal, academic, and health consequences that could stem from drinking underage, and the ways to keep themselves safe on Friday and Saturday nights. Throw in the word rape or sexual assault and their overwhelmed scale skyrockets but they are not retaining any information at this point. Anxiety has officially taken over or they have maintained their “it won’t happen to me, I’m ready for college!” attitude.

With that being said, research shows that there are high rates of sexual assault against freshman women in the first month of college. So it makes sense that this would be the target population on campus to educate about sexual assault. But one meeting where the word rape is voiced and then never talked about again until allegations are brought against a student is not a productive or effective way of preventing sexual assaults on campus.

Students must be aware of and reminded of the sexual assault services on campus or locally available.

Furthermore, giving students a brochure with a hotline phone number to campus or local sexual assault services will only increase the amount of paper in the recycle bin after orientation. Students must be reminded that these services are available, how to access the services, and what it means for a student to access these services. Walking into a rape crisis center on campus, located across from a building with classrooms or next to the health services center is extremely daunting for any victim. Confidentiality must be discussed with the student body. The services that they will be offered, not obligated to have, must be discussed with the student body so they know what will happen when they walk through those doors or call that hotline. If these things are not consistently discussed with the student body, then victims are less likely to come forward to seek the help that they need and deserve.

Two quotes from students stood out to me: “People don’t understand the consequences. They don’t realize this is a serious crime. They just think they can get away with this.” – Ryan Johnson and “We have to hold each other accountable. We have to tell each other that it’s not OK. We cannot be in the silent majority.” – Brian Buckreus

I found these quotes both interesting and worth noting because though they are 100% right, a lot has to happen in order to see consequences and hold perpetrators accountable. All too often we read in the news that allegations have been brought forward on campus and the alleged perpetrator faced no consequences while the victim received humiliation, threats on campus, and no justice. All too often we read about allegations being silenced on a campus community and no actions being taken. All you have to do is skim the blog posts on this very blog. So although Buckreus and Johnson are onto something, the entire campus community, including law enforcement and administration, must also be on board.

The fact that UM is rallying students to enter into a very important dialogue about this pervasive problem occurring not only on their campus but on every campus in the country and beyond is extremely commendable. Students listen to students. If I have learned anything about prevention education in my very short career in anti-sexual violence work, it is that an educator challenging a student on a belief, attitude, or norm is not as effective as his or her own peer challenging him or her on that very belief, attitude, or norm. Furthermore, although campus security/law enforcement, the administration, and other faculty and staff are prominent members of the University community, they do not see everything that occurs nor can they understand the experience of students. Therefore, engaging students in the conversation is both necessary and sufficient. Without their voice, a valuable perspective is lost.