TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – A still-to-be-defined change at the federal level in how colleges treat victims and those accused of sexual assault on college campuses has victims advocates concerned. The proposal is being floated amid the beginning of the fall semester as assaults on college women increase.
Shayna Lopez-Rivas has been an outspoken advocate for campus-carry legislation since her 2014 rape. She has spoken about what happened to her in front of multiple legislative committees.
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The Florida State University campus is deserted, but not for long. With the return of students comes an increase in sexual assaults. Victims advocates call August to October the Red Zone.
“When new freshmen in particular are coming on campus, (they) are targeted by perpetrators as prey,” said counselor Meg Baldwin, with the Refuge House.
The fall semester is beginning as federal education officials are floating changes to the way campuses handle rape accusations under Title IX. The change could make it harder to punish offenders. A deputy Department of Education secretary was quoted as saying “Both parties were drunk” in 90 percent of the cases.
Lopez-Rivas was not drunk when she was raped 2014, but she said the response by police made her feel victimized all over again.
“He kind of kept pressuring me, and I kind of felt like I (was) under investigation, like I was a criminal,” Lopez-Rivas said. "I mean, I felt treated pretty poorly.”
The most recent national report says 11 women were raped at FSU in 2015. Counselors said 10 of those were verified.
If the proposed change in evidentiary standards goes through, Baldwin said fewer victims will come forward.
“It would be another signal to victims that the system doesn’t trust them,” Baldwin said.
The U.S. Department of Education has yet to make its discussed changes an official proposal.