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Press Box: Michael Sam Page 14
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OLD GOLD&BLACK WAKE FOREST UNIVERSITY
VOL. 97, NO. 19
T H U R S DAY, F E B R UA RY 1 3 , 2 014 “Cover s the campus like the magnolias”
oldgoldandblack.com
College sexual assault returns to spotlight Universities across the country are reexamining and revamping their sexual assault prevention and response policies after the president created a task force to address the issue BY IAN RUTLEDGE Print Managing Editor rutlig11@wfu.edu On Jan. 22 President Obama signed a memorandum that created a task force aimed at determining ways to more effectively respond to allegations of sexual assault, aid victims and ensure campuses are complying with legal obligations. According to a 2012 report by the Centers of Disease Control, as well as a study prepared by the White House that was released in conjunction with the task force’s creation, one in five women will experience an attempted or completed sexual assault in their four years at college. However, approximately only 12 percent of these women ever report their sexual assaults to authorities. Similarly, PREPARE, a branch of the university counseling center that coordinates educational programs regarding sexual assault and provides support services for victims of sexual assault, conducted a survey in 2008 that revealed that women at Wake Forest are just as likely to be a victim of sexual assault with 18.6 percent of women reporting they were a victim of an attempted or completed sexual assault in their four years at Wake. Wake Forest’s handling of sexual assault on campus From the years 2010-12 there were a total of 16 forcible sex offenses, according to the university’s 2012 Clery report. The course of action that was taken in regards to these cases was dependent on the choices of the victims themselves. Victims of sexual assault have the options to pursue cases in either the university or public judicial systems, according to the University Police Department. If the victim chooses to report the assault and pursue legal action a case file is opened, their statement is obtained for the record and they are put in contact with victim support services. “Some survivors do not want to press charges or to go through either system while some want to do both. I think the most impor-
See Assault, Page 4
Law school tries to keep advantage in tough market With most law schools operating at a loss, the university’s program is trying to maintain a competitive advantage in a challenging market BY RACHEL WALLEN Asst. News Editor wallsr12@wfu.edu The vast majority of law schools in the United States are operating at a significant financial loss, according to a survey conducted by a professor of law at the University of Colorado. In a recent article on his blog, “Lawyers, Guns and Money,” Paul Campos, professor of law at the University of Colorado, estimated that 80-85 percent of the nation’s law schools are currently loosing money each year.
“Very few law schools were running 15 percent operating surpluses three years ago,” Campos wrote, “which means that the large majority of law schools — I estimate between 80 percent and 85 percent — are incurring significant operating deficits in the present fiscal year.” In the post, Campos gives an outline of his research into the budgets of various different ABA-accredited law schools, measuring the majority of income that comes from tuition, endowments and alumni giving. He argues that the obsession with university rankings pushes law institutions into spending more than they earn with Morant the hopes of boosting their reputation, spiraling them into “fiscally reckless” positions. As a result, many law schools, including Wake Forest’s, are trying to
stay ahead of the flailing market with new strategies and programs of study. Blake Morant, dean of the Wake Forest University School of Law, has a different outlook on the same numbers Campos has collected. Though many schools are not in an ideal place financially, this is not an issue that is only affecting the field of law, according to Morant. “The situation with law schools in the United States is not unique. Many disciplines have suffered as a result of the recession, especially now that the market demands that graduates be specifically trained for jobs sought,” said Morant. An education in law, he maintains, is still highly important for American society. “Law permeates every single thing on the planet,” he said. “There is no institution on earth that doesn’t involve law.”
See Law, Page 5