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VICTIMIZED COLLEGE STUDENTS

SEXUAL ASSAULTS OF STUDENTS

ON COLLEGE CAMPUSES:

go to the page about

“Victims of Sexual Assault”

STUDENTS MURDERED

WHILE ATTENDING COLLEGE:

Furnishes more disturbing examples of cases that “hit home” and raise awareness about the victimization of young men and women while taking college classes in what is usually a very safe environment, as described on p. 3 of Chapter 1 in the 10th Edition.

Unfortunately, cases about the slaying of college students occasionally pop up in nightly news reports. Here are some recent tragedies, most of which fit the pattern of young women murdered by young men they knew::

  • A 21 year old student at the University of Mississippi was murdered by her sometimes boyfriend and classmate, shortly after confiding in him that she might be pregnant, as reported here.
  • A 20 year old student at Ohio State is kidnapped on campus at gunpoint by her 24 year old former intimate partner. They had been embroiled in a custody dispute and she had lodged complaints of sexual assault against him. After a high speed car chase, they both are killed, as described here.
  • A 21 year old University of Utah student breaks off a brief relationship with a 37 year old man after she finds out he was a convicted sex offender. She complains to the campus police that he is harassing and blackmailing her. After he abducts her and shoots her to death in his car, as described in this TV news video, the university implements new safety measures, as summarized here.
  • A 23 year-old University of Utah student is transported from an airport to a park at 3 am by a Lyft driver. When she misses an exam and then a flight home, her father reports her missing. The police locate a suspect by finding out who she was messaging with the night she was dropped off at the park, as explained here and here.
  • A 19-year-old student at Southern Union State Community College disappears after shopping in an Alabama convenience store. A man out on bail for kidnapping and attempted murder is arrested and charged with her abduction, as recounted here.
  • A 21 year old college student was stabbed to death by her 23 year old male roommate when she returned to their apartment after visiting her boyfriend. She was studying psychology abroad in the Netherlands, as detailed here.
  • A 21 year old University of South Carolina senior leaves her friends at a bar at 2 am and arranges for an Uber to take her back to campus. When a car pulls up, she gets right in, but the driver does not work for Uber. He is a vicious predator who seizes an opportunity, and he stabs her to death and dumps her body in a remote location, as described here. Her tragic death causes ride-sharing   companies to adopt protections for their customers, as explained here.
  • Back in 1996, a 19-year-old student at California Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo, disappeared after she went to a party. Thanks to a true crime podcast that kept the case alive in the public eye, the man who walked her home that night was charged in 2021 with murdering her, as recounted here.
  • An 18 year-old first year student at Barnard College was stabbed to death by three younger robbers in a park on the edge of Columbia University’s Manhattan campus, as reported on TV  here.

 

  • Although college campuses are generally safe havens, due to some high profile killings, administrations are scrambling to increase the safety of their students in surrounding neighborhoods of big cities, as reported on TV here.

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MASS SHOOTINGS ON THE GROUNDS OF INSTITUTIONS OF HIGHER LEARNING

Adds more tragic examples of outbursts of gun violence shattering the calm on college campuses, as listed in Box 11.1 on p. 340.

DATABASE ASSEMBLES INFORMATION ABOUT ALL CAMPUS MASS SHOOTINGS FROM 1966 UP TO THE START OF 2020

This collection put together by the federal government’s radio station
provides details about the locations and the victims. View it here.

STABBINGS AND SHOOTINGS BREAK OUT NEAR A COLLEGE CAMPUS IN SANTA BARBARA

     A deeply disturbed young man stabs his three roommates and then continues his killing spree in the beachfront town of Isla Vista by randomly targeting passersby, especially young women. Six students were murdered (view their profiles here), and 13 others were injured, as described here and summarized here.
Also illustrates how victimologists are interested in the social reaction to the victims’ plight, as noted in Chapter One on p.20.
     Although four of the killer’s six victims were males, his hatred of women (expressed in videos he posted right before his rampage) touched off a great many comments on Twitter about male violence and female victimization, as summed up here. Many commentators addressed the issue of misogyny and especially its more violent expressions across the globe and through history, such as here and here.

INTRUDER FIRES SHOTGUN AT STUDENTS ON A SEATTLE CAMPUS

A mentally disturbed non-student barged into a college building in Seattle where students were taking their final exams and opened fire with his shotgun, killing one young man and wounding two other undergraduates. But one brave teaching assistant sitting at a security desk pepper-sprayed him, and then other students held him until the police arrived  as described here.
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SEXUAL ABUSE OF STUDENTS BY COLLEGE DOCTORS

Many Teenage Girls and Young Women Involved in Gymnastics Were Molested By A College Physician At Michigan State

A physician affiliated with Michigan State University was convicted of sexually abusing for decades a large number of teenage girls and college women under the guise of examining them and treating their injuries. At his sentencing hearing, a number of his victims spoke out. Hear what they told the judge here.

Several successful lawsuits against MSU have yielded judgments totaling about $880 million, plus a pledge to enable victims to play a role in reforming campus criminal investigations into sexual abuse cases. But some activists seeking justice have one more target to pursue: the FBI agents and leaders of professional gymnastic and olympics organizations who allegedly were informed about the doctor’s sexual abuse but failed to take actions – and perhaps even protected him – as described here.

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Many Male Athletes At Ohio State University Were Molested By A College Physician

For decades, at least 185 male members of various teams, especially wrestlers, were molested under various pretexts by the university-employed and approved doctor, now deceased.  The victims allege they were groped, fondled, and even drugged and raped by the team physician during medical exams.  Learn about the lawsuits against the university, and hear from some of the victims in this TV news report.
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Many College Women Were Sexually Abused By A Physician At Columbia University

Nearly 80 women have won a settlement of over $70 million from Columbia University and its affiliated hospital for enabling a college gynecologist  from 1993 to 2012 to sexually abuse his patients, as described here.
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HAZING ON CAMPUS

Describes another criminal case, to illustrate the seriousness of the problem discussed on pp. 440-441 in Ch. 11 of the 10th edition.

Several students who were pledging the DKE chapter at Louisiana complained to the authorities that they were physically assaulted and abused during hazing rituals. They claimed they were struck with a pipe, punched, kicked, slapped and burned with cigarettes. One was doused with gasoline to the point that he had trouble seeing. Another was forced to sit in ice water for over a half hour and then had to lie down on broken glass. Nine members of the now-defunct fraternity were arrested on charges that included criminal hazing, felony battery, and false imprisonment, as reported in this news video

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STUDENTS ARE SAFER THESE DAYS WHILE ATTENDING HIGH SCHOOLS, BUT PARENTS DON’T THINK SO

Addresses issues discussed on pages 434-435 of Chapter 11 in the Tenth Edition

According to a public opinion poll, Americans believe that schools today are less safe than they were twenty years ago. But statistically speaking, levels of violence in public schools have subsided substantially. A relatively few highly publicized tragic school shootings over this time period may be responsible for the misperception. Target-hardening may not deserve much credit, but has surely drained off funds from other important expenditures, such as hiring enough guidance counselors and school nurses, as explained here.

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