The Office of Multicultural Affairs and Diversity Programs (MADP) hosted a screening of The Hunting Ground by Kirby Dick in Gottesman last Tuesday afternoon to show how often sexual assault is mishandled on college campuses.

The film examined how common sexual assault is, from statistics of multiple colleges, including Notre Dame, Harvard, Amherst College, the University of North Carolina, and the University of Virginia, which allegedly had very low prosecution rates when compared to the number of reported cases –for example, the University of Virginia had 200 reported cases and zero prosecutions.

Other statistics included how one fourth of students are sexually assaulted, and how less than eight percent of people commit 90 percent of sexual assaults because they can get away with it repeatedly.

The film addressed how school administrators will often blame the victim for their assault, and put pressure on them to not make a large issue out of their assault in order to preserve the schools reputation.

It also addressed how the actions of athletes are often overlooked, using the example of how Florida State Star Quarterback Jameis Winston, after allegedly raping Erica Kingston, faced little investigation and no punishment.

“I hope students find this film thought provoking, and present students with a new perspective of what’s happening around them, and hopefully will enable them to think critically about how they can address sexual assault on campuses, how universities have addressed it, and how to stop sexual assault,” MADP Assistant Director and LGBTQQ Coordinator Rachel Simon said.

Resident Director Tiffany Bermudez has found herself more inspired to help students after watching the film.

“I thought the movie was incredibly moving. It just motivated me to want to help students, to advocate, and do programming so that students are aware and educated about what’s going on, what their rights are, for both men and women,” Bermudez said. “I want to get them to understand how do you approach a person, what do you do at a party, how can you make sure that your friends are okay, and how you can be an effective bystander.”

This was the second time MADP has screened The Hunting Ground. Last spring they showed the film with the Sarah Lawrence College’s Dean for Students.

“The first time was a positive response, people told us they were glad too have seen the film, a number of people wrote us afterward saying ‘Oh I couldn’t be there on a Sunday night,’ so I wanted to give them another opportunity,” Simon said.

This was the first sexual assault prevention event hosted by MADP this semester.

Pace’s Sexual Assault and Education Specialist Mary Breen is planning on gathering students to host others.

“I’m also starting some programs; one of the programs I’m starting is the peer educator program for sexual assault awareness and prevention. I’m hoping to have a group of five to ten students to start training in March to facilitate events like this to be a confidential resource for their fellow students, and hopefully change rape culture on the campus environment,” Breen said.