The Epidemic of Sexual Assault on Campus

What Counts As A Sexual Assault/Sexual Violence?

• Sexual assault is any sexual behavior or act that is unwanted or occurs without willing and intentional consent. Nonconsensual sex includes taking advantage of a person’s inability to make a clear, intentional decision to consent due to being drunk or high, or the use of deception to get someone to have sex. (Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network [RAINN], 2026b)
• Sexual assaults do not necessarily involve physical force or violence and may involve psychological force or sexual coercion.
• With sexual coercion, the perpetrator uses pressure, guilt-tripping, deception, or other tactics to manipulate a person’s emotions or gain their trust so they will give in to sex. In these situations, the woman feels pressured and uncomfortable but ultimately complies.
• When consent is not given freely and intentionally, consent loses its meaning.
• Sexual assaults involve power, dominance, and control over the victim and are not about sex and desire. (RAINN, 2026b)

How Prevalent Is Sexual Assault on College Campuses?

According to RAINN (2026c):

• An estimated 1 in 3 undergraduate women who attend college for four years or more experience rape or sexual assault.
• Freshman women are at the highest risk of sexual assault.
• About 80% of sexual assaults overall involve someone the victim knows—either an acquaintance, friend, partner, or family member. (RAINN, 2026b)
• The majority of sexual assaults on college campuses are not reported and are not included in college crime statistics. (Rochford et al., 2025)

BestColleges reported that:

• 42% of the more than 31,000 crimes reported on campuses in 2021 qualified as Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) offenses, including domestic violence, dating violence, and stalking. (Bryant, 2023)
• Women are particularly vulnerable to rape and sexual assault during the first weeks and months of college. (Bryant, 2024; RAINN, 2026c)

Role of Alcohol and Substances in Sexual Assault

What Is Drug-Facilitated Sexual Assault (DFSA)?

Drug-facilitated sexual assault involves having sexual contact with a person whose ability to give meaningful consent is impaired due to alcohol or drugs, regardless of whether they used drugs or alcohol voluntarily. (RAINN, 2026a; Recalde-Esnoz et al., 2024)

The majority of sexual assaults on campus involve alcohol use by the victim. (Bryant, 2024)

Drug-facilitated sexual assault may involve:

Intentional deceptive manipulation. Examples include:

• Deliberately spiking or concealing what is in a drink or punch bowl.
• Pressuring someone to drink more or use drugs with the intent to make them an easier target.

Or

Opportunistic manipulation—taking advantage of someone who is in an altered state. Examples include:

• Sexual contact with someone visibly too drunk or high to consent.
• Sexual contact with someone who has stated or indicated that they don’t feel well or are too drunk/high to consent.

(RAINN, 2026a; Recalde-Esnoz et al., 2024)

Role of Greek Life in Sexual Assault

Fraternity Members More Likely to Commit Sexual Assault

Fraternity members are more likely than other men on campus to sexually assault women. (Treat et al., 2021); (Hoxmeier & Zapp, 2022)

Sorority Members More Vulnerable to Being Assaulted

Sorority members are more vulnerable to being sexually assaulted than other women on campus. (Barnes et al., 2021)

Why Are Fraternity Members More Likely to Commit Sexual Assault Than Other College Men?

1. Beliefs About Masculinity, Women, and Sex and Peer Pressure to Uphold Them

Fraternity members are more likely than other men on campus to:

• Endorse and spread beliefs associated with traditional masculinity, experiencing pressure to conform to and uphold ideals of what it means to be a “real man,” including: a sense of entitlement as men, sexual dominance, and accepting the objectification of women as sex objects. (Seabrook et al., 2018)
• Endorse rape myths. Rape myth acceptance is associated with sexual assault. Pornography use among fraternity members is associated with greater rape myth acceptance and reported willingness to commit sexual assault. (Foubert et al., 2011)
  Rape myth examples: (Canan et al., 2018); (Martinez et al., 2018)
  • Blaming the victim: A woman who is drinking is partly responsible if she is raped.
  • Minimizing sexual assault: It’s not really rape or sexual assault unless the woman physically fights back.
  • Believing women secretly want forced sex. Exposure to violent pornography is associated with sexually coercive behavior among college men. (Bhuptani et al., 2025)
  • Assuming victims exaggerate or lie: For example, believing that women make accusations because of next-morning regret or to seek revenge.
  • Believing in “token resistance”: The false belief that when a woman says “no,” she really means “yes.”
• Sexual deception: Fraternity membership is associated with both rape myth acceptance, a known risk factor for sexual aggression, and sexual deception—for example, saying “I love you” or telling other lies to get a woman to have sex, so her decision is based on false information about the relationship between them. (Seabrook et al., 2018)

2. Fraternity Practices, Drinking/Party Culture, and Brotherhood Mentality

• Fraternity culture can support a perpetrator mentality, normalizing sexual violence through male rituals and joking, making sexual assault difficult to recognize, all of which are further fueled through alcohol and party culture. (Fishman et al., 2023); (Treat et al., 2021)
• A brotherhood mentality reinforces these beliefs and behaviors by creating social pressure to prioritize loyalty to fraternity brothers over accountability. This loyalty can normalize participation in assault and pressure members to protect perpetrators from consequences at all costs (Fishman et al., 2023).

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Why Universities Are Biased in Favor of Fraternities

The national fraternity and sorority system is powerful, wielding substantial financial and political influence through lobbying, supporting congressional candidates, and efforts to influence federal policymaking to promote their agendas. (Fraternity & Sorority Political Action Committee, 2025)

Fraternities and sororities also have considerable power to shape university policies through financial contributions, extensive alumni networks, housing, their prominent role in campus social life, and their ability to attract prospective students (Ispa-Landa & Thomas, 2023).

Dr. Margolies’ Commentary: Guidance for Young Men

To protect themselves (and women), boys and young men must be aware of the following five points before they go to college:

1. Sex with a woman who is drunk or under the influence of substances and incapacitated is a drug-facilitated sexual assault and may be illegal, based on the fact that she is considered unable to consent. According to legal experts, signs of incapacitation include slurred speech, unsteadiness, vomiting, and unconsciousness. (Miltenberg, 2023)

   For legal definitions of consent and how they pertain to alcohol, see Does Title IX Apply if Both Parties Were Under the Influence of Alcohol?

2. The following behaviors towards someone may legally constitute signs of being a predator (or “predation”) and evidence of sexual misconduct, even if both people were drunk or high at the time of the incident. These behaviors include: following the woman to bed after she goes to sleep; getting a woman to be alone with them; encouraging her to drink or use drugs; lying to her; overcoming her will in any way. (Miltenberg, 2023)
3. Research shows that many college students support affirmative consent—an explicit, voluntary agreement to sexual activity—rather than assuming consent simply because a woman did not say “no,” resist, or fight back. (Javidi et al., 2026); (Lee & Wong, 2025)
4. Be educated about fraternities and aware of the toxic influence of fraternity membership before choosing one or making the decision to join a fraternity at all. Fraternity membership is associated with increased binge drinking and future sexual aggression. (Treat et al., 2021)
5. Given the culture of brotherhood and peer pressure, rather than participating in or covering up behaviors associated with toxic masculinity, make a decision beforehand to channel your loyalty towards your fraternity brothers into protecting them by preventing them from sexually assaulting women in the first place. True loyalty means helping your brothers avoid harming women and the serious consequences that can upend their lives.

Dr. Margolies’ Commentary on Sexual Assault and Trauma:

• Survivors of sexual assault suffer from shame, and blame themselves more than with other crimes. They often keep what happened to them a secret and/or wait a long time before telling anyone or getting help. These feelings are reinforced by explicit and/or implicit blaming and shaming attitudes of people around them and society in general – often leading to what survivors have referred to as a “second rape,” and delaying recovery.
• It is not uncommon for memory for details of a rape to be unclear or confused as a result of dissociation. This does not constitute evidence of lying. Memories of trauma often emerge in fragments or are re-experienced through flashbacks and nightmares. Given the stigma associated with sexual assault, most women would not want to publicly claim they were raped. Although there are cases of false accusations – approximately 5.9 percent – which can damage the lives of boys and men, it is much more common for a woman not to be believed when telling the truth. Further, the symptoms of trauma, which include significant changes in personality and functioning, are difficult to fake. Symptoms of trauma include: fear/terror, shame, withdrawal, depression, flashbacks, amnesia, avoidance, dissociation, insomnia, startle reactions and others.
• Trauma syndromes such as: acute stress reactions and PTSD are common result of sexual assault – often leading students into a downwards spiral of poor grades, isolation, drug use, self-destructive behavior, and having to leave school.

Guidance for Young Women on How to Protect Themselves

• Women can protect themselves by being aware of these findings, not getting drunk when going to parties – or having a trusted sober friend watch out for them, not drinking from punch bowls or open containers, keeping drinks with them at all times so they are not spiked, and thinking through in advance how they plan to get home.
• These suggestions do not in any way imply that if a woman gets raped or assaulted while drinking or drunk, it is her fault that she was victimized. Nor do they imply that the solution to the problem is for women to protect themselves better. But just as the solution to robbery is not just that people should put locks on their door, it still makes sense to do so.
  

References

1. Barnes, M. L., Adams-Clark, A., Rosenthal, M. N., Smith, C. P., & Freyd, J. J. (2021). Pledged into harm: Sorority and fraternity members face increased risk of sexual assault and sexual harassment. Dignity: A Journal of Analysis of Exploitation and Violence, 6(1), Article 9. https://doi.org/10.23860/dignity.2021.06.01.09
2. Bhuptani, P. H., Cashin, D., & Orchowski, L. M. (2025). The impact of violent pornography on sexual coercive behaviors among college men: A prospective examination. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 40(21–22), 5011–5035. https://doi.org/10.1177/08862605241299442
3. Bryant, J. (2023, August 15). College campus crime and safety statistics. BestColleges. https://www.bestcolleges.com/research/campus-crime-statistics/
4. Bryant, J. (2024, January 17). Sexual assault on college campuses: Facts and statistics. BestColleges. https://www.bestcolleges.com/research/campus-sexual-assault-statistics/
5. Canan, S. N., Jozkowski, K. N., & Crawford, B. L. (2018). Sexual assault supportive attitudes: Rape myth acceptance and token resistance in Greek and non-Greek college students from two university samples in the United States. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 33(22), 3502–3530. https://doi.org/10.1177/0886260516636064
6. Fishman, D., Nielsen, L. B., & Esthappan, S. (2023). The exonerating “guise of brotherhood”: Intra-fraternal sexual violence survivors’ accounts of illegibility and impunity. Men and Masculinities, 26(1), 91–111. https://doi.org/10.1177/1097184X221133122
7. Foubert, J. D., Brosi, M. W., & Bannon, R. S. (2011). Pornography viewing among fraternity men: Effects on bystander intervention, rape myth acceptance and behavioral intent to commit sexual assault. Sexual Addiction & Compulsivity, 18(4), 212–231. https://doi.org/10.1080/10720162.2011.625552
8. Fraternity & Sorority Political Action Committee. (2025, January 19). Kicking off a year of celebration. https://fspac.org/2025/01/19/kicking-off-a-year-of-celebration/
9. Hoxmeier, J. C., & Zapp, D. (2022). History of sexual assault perpetration and violence-related prosocial tendencies among men by fraternity affiliation status. Violence Against Women, 28(9), 1965–1986. https://doi.org/10.1177/10778012211037381
10. Ispa-Landa, S., & Thomas, S. E. (2023). Navigating the risks of party rape in historically White Greek life at an elite college: Women’s accounts. Sociology of Education, 96(3), 169–189. https://doi.org/10.1177/00380407231163799
11. Javidi, H., Lederer, A. M., & Johnson, K. (2026). What influences college students’ endorsement or rejection of affirmative consent? Violence Against Women, 32(12–13), 4810–4833. https://doi.org/10.1177/10778012251379428
12. Lee, C., & Wong, J. S. (2025). Does “Consent Matter”? An evaluation of a sexual consent awareness campaign for college students. Violence Against Women, 31(14), 3552–3578. https://doi.org/10.1177/10778012241280059
13. Martinez, T., Wiersma-Mosley, J. D., Jozkowski, K. N., & Becnel, J. (2018). “Good guys don’t rape”: Greek and non-Greek college student perpetrator rape myths. Behavioral Sciences, 8(7), Article 60. https://doi.org/10.3390/bs8070060
14. Miltenberg, A. (2023, May 1). Does Title IX apply if both parties were under the influence of alcohol? Nesenoff & Miltenberg, LLP. https://www.duffylawct.com/does-title-ix-apply-if-both-parties-were-under-the-influence-of-alcohol/
15. Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network. (2026a, May 31). Get the facts about drug-facilitated sexual assault. https://rainn.org/what-counts-as-sexual-violence/get-the-facts-about-drug-facilitated-sexual-assault/
16. Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network. (2026b, May 31). Get the facts about sexual assault & rape. https://rainn.org/get-the-facts-about-sexual-assault-rape/
17. Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network. (2026c, September 6). Statistics: Sexual violence against college students. https://rainn.org/red-zone/campus-sexual-violence-statistics/
18. Recalde-Esnoz, I., Prego-Meleiro, P., Montalvo, G., & del Castillo, H. (2024). Drug-facilitated sexual assault: A systematic review. Trauma, Violence, & Abuse, 25(3), 1814–1825. https://doi.org/10.1177/15248380231195877
19. Rochford, H., Peek-Asa, C., Zahnd, W., & Kaskie, B. (2025). The Clery Act’s transparency purpose & campus sexual misconduct: A longitudinal analysis. Journal of American College Health, 73(5), 2116–2128. https://doi.org/10.1080/07448481.2025.2461606
20. Seabrook, R. C., Ward, L. M., & Giaccardi, S. (2018). Why is fraternity membership associated with sexual assault? Exploring the roles of conformity to masculine norms, pressure to uphold masculinity, and objectification of women. Psychology of Men & Masculinity, 19(1), 3–13. https://doi.org/10.1037/men0000076
21. Treat, T. A., Corbin, W. R., Papova, A., Richner, K., Craney, R., & Fromme, K. (2021). Selection and socialization accounts of the relation between fraternity membership and sexual aggression. Psychology of Addictive Behaviors, 35(3), 337–350. https://doi.org/10.1037/adb0000662