With this unflinching expose, sexual assault on college campuses gets the film treatment it deserves-a piercing, in-depth, journalistic look at the terror so many survivors face when coming forward. The Hunting Ground opens in select theaters this weekend. (Personalized accounts have more impact, they discover Dick has come to the same conclusion.The gripping film chronicles college sexual assault survivors’ struggle for justice. Victim after victim contacted them finally, they had someone to tell their stories to. They set up a kind of survivors network, loosely at first and then more organized. They filed a complaint with the Department of Education, which took up their case. Tired of UNC dragging its feet, Pino and Clark devoted themselves to learning all they could about Title IX, the federal act designed to make schools protect their students from sexual discrimination.
There is, at least, some reason for optimism.
On the other hand, presidents and chancellors of most of the schools he indicts declined to be interviewed. Certainly, it would be instructive to at least hear from the other side.
No college wants to be known as a "rape school," after all, although it seems that some may fit the description.ĭick offers a few disclaimers - most student athletes aren't involved in any kind of assault, nor are frat members - but he's not seeking balance with "The Hunting Ground." He is seeking change, change brought about by anger and outrage. But it also is in a school's best interest to have a low rate of reported sexual assaults. The letters stand for Sigma Alpha Epsilon, but women on several campuses tell the camera the more-popular name: Sexual Assault Expected.īig-time sports and fraternities offer financial benefits to schools, which are reluctant to strain those ties. One fraternity in particular comes in for a bashing: SAE. Fraternity members are three times more likely to commit sexual assaults than other male students. Male student athletes are responsible for 19 percent of sexual assaults on campus. What could she have done differently, she is asked? Other common questions: Were you drunk? What were you wearing? Why didn't you fight?ĭick provides statistics: One in five women are sexually assaulted during their college years. In what becomes a familiar litany, the women say that as bad as the assaults were, the treatment at the hands of the university was worse. Clark.Ĭlark was raped before classes began. Soon we're hearing from Andrea Pino, who was thrilled to be accepted to the University of North Carolina. Nor did Bayless and Smith talk to Kinsman.ĭick begins the film with high-school students learning online or by mail that they've been accepted to college. Perhaps they weren't troubled that the investigating officer - a Florida State graduate and fundraiser - didn't bother to take DNA samples, didn't have the rape kit tested for almost a year, didn't interview witnesses or do much of anything else. They tear into Erica Kinsman, his accuser, labeling her an opportunist. Smith on the sexual-assault charges against Florida State quarterback Jameis Winston. Harvard and the University of North Carolina are among the many schools that have put up roadblocks to investigations.įor me, the tipping point was a discussion on ESPN by talking heads Skip Bayless and Stephen A. Director Kirby Dick and producer Amy Ziering ("Outrage," "The Invisible War") delve into the epidemic of sexual assault on campus, and the outrageous legal gymnastics these institutions of higher learning perform to keep their names clean. When and where your frustration and anger boil over while watching "The Hunting Ground" is an individual experience, one that will be different for everyone who sees it.Īnd you should see it, and you will boil over.