Vice President Joe Biden listens as President Barack Obama speaks in the East Room of the White House in Washington, Wednesday before the president signed a memorandum creating a task force to respond to campus rapes during an event for the Council on Women and Girls.WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama shined a light Wednesday on a college sexual assault epidemic that is often shrouded in secrecy, with victims fearing stigma, police poorly trained to investigate and universities reluctant to disclose the violence.
A White House report highlights a stunning prevalence of rape on college campuses, with 1 in 5 female students assaulted while only 1 in 8 student victims report it.
“No one is more at risk of being raped or sexually assaulted than women at our nation’s colleges and universities,” said the report by the White House Council on Women and Girls.
Nearly 22 million American women and 1.6 million men have been raped in their lifetimes, according to the report. It chronicled the devastating effects, including depression, substance abuse and a wide range of physical ailments such as chronic pain and diabetes.
The report said campus sexual assaults are fueled by drinking and drug use that can incapacitate victims, often at student parties at the hands of someone they know.