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Sex assault, drinking push colleges to moment of reckoning

In this Feb. 24, 2015 photo, Vivek Shah, right, a sophomore resident advisor at Vanderbilt University, talks with friends Samara Lieberman, left, a senior from Detroit, and Tyler Shull, center, a sophomore from Chapel Hill, NC, by a fireplace in the great room in the Warren College and Moore College section of the Vanderbilt campus in Nashville, Tenn. Vanderbilt is one of a small but growing number of U.S. colleges and universities that have embraced a "residential college" model where students become part of a close-knit but diverse community that enhances both their academic and social lives. (AP Photo/Mark Humphrey)
In this Feb. 24, 2015 photo, Vivek Shah, right, a sophomore resident advisor at Vanderbilt University, talks with friends Samara Lieberman, left, a senior from Detroit, and Tyler Shull, center, a sophomore from Chapel Hill, NC, by a fireplace in the great room in the Warren College and Moore College section of the Vanderbilt campus in Nashville, Tenn. Vanderbilt is one of a small but growing number of U.S. colleges and universities that have embraced a "residential college" model where students become part of a close-knit but diverse community that enhances both their academic and social lives. (AP Photo/Mark Humphrey) In this Feb. 24, 2015 photo, Vivek Shah, right, a sophomore resident advisor at Vanderbilt University, talks with friends Samara Lieberman, left, a senior from Detroit, and Tyler Shull, center, a sophomore from Chapel Hill, NC, by a fireplace in the great room in the Warren College and Moore College section of the Vanderbilt campus in Nashville, Tenn. Vanderbilt is one of a small but growing number of U.S. colleges and universities that have embraced a "residential college" model where students become part of a close-knit but diverse community that enhances both their academic and social lives. (AP Photo/Mark Humphrey)

By Associated Press 6 min read

CONCORD, N.H. (AP) – On college campuses nationwide, the intertwined problems of sexual assault and alcohol are under intense scrutiny as students increasingly speak up and the federal government cracks down. Pushed to a collective moment of reckoning, colleges and universities are trying a slew of solutions focused on education, environment and enforcement.

At the University of Virginia, a social network will connect female freshmen with older mentors. Brown University hopes to make it easier for women to report sexual assault. In New Hampshire, Dartmouth College has banned hard liquor plans to take the unusual step of completely overhaul its housing system.

At Dartmouth, where a committee spent nine months researching high-risk drinking, sexual assault and a general lack of community on campus, no one solution stood out.

“I was hopeful that they would find some campus that had really unlocked the secret, but what they found is that every campus is suffering from these issues and struggling with these issues,” Dartmouth President Philip Hanlon said.

Even as administrators implement changes, new incidents have cropped up. A Penn State fraternity is accused of posting photos of nude women, some apparently unconscious, on a private Facebook page. The University of Wisconsin-Madison terminated a fraternity chapter last week after an investigation found it engaged in hazing that included excessive underage drinking and sexualized conduct.