Since its founding in , the school has produced 28 Rhodes scholars. It is, in short, the kind of place that makes its alumni cheer and serves as a symbol of pride throughout the state. But something changed for Missoula on May 1, , when Thomas Perez came to town. Perez, then the U. Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights, stood before a press conference to announce a federal investigation into the university, city police and county attorney.
The nickname, however, has it wrong. Calling Missoula the rape capital is as misleading as it is ugly. Instead, it is fairly average. Recent research shows that 1 in 5 women is the victim of an attempted or completed sexual assault during college.
It is just outrageous. The numbers on campus rape and sexual assault are so disturbing that it can be tempting to look for a flaw, to assume they are inflated by some overly broad definition—misunderstandings or morning-after regrets. The broader term sexual assault used in the 1-in-5 statistic includes rape along with other forms of unwanted sexual contact, such as forced fondling or kissing—but more than half the assaults reported meet the strict definition of rape.
Nearly three-quarters of those victims were incapacitated, underscoring the role of alcohol in campus assaults. The best research suggests that a large proportion of the worst offenses are committed by a relatively small group of students—sexual predators who find college an alarmingly auspicious environment both for targeting women and escaping punishment.
No campus is immune from concerns about sexual misconduct—a point driven home May 1 when the Obama Administration released a list of 55 colleges under federal scrutiny over how they handle sexual-assault complaints. So rather than focus on Missoula as an outrageous oddity, it is more productive to see it as a starting point for fixing a shameful situation. Over the past two years, federal investigators have collaborated—and sometimes clashed—with school and local officials.
