Domestic Violence, Mental Health, and Its Effect on College Students

Sahiba Beniwal
Aug 23, 2017 · 13 min read

A Proposal to Better Support Students

“Teach the ignorant as much as you can; society is culpable in not providing a free education for all and it must answer for the night which it produces. If the soul is left in darkness sins will be committed. The guilty one is not he who commits the sin, but he who causes the darkness.”

Victor Hugo, Les Misérables


This excerpt eloquently brings light to an issue so rampantly placing not only millions of people globally in danger, but also millions of college students within the US who are fighting through this cycle by means of education; and that is domestic violence. As a strong believer of the profound impact education has on battling through the most dark and difficult life circumstances, it is of utmost concern that the impact of domestic violence on college students’ educational lives is indeed brutal. College, which serves as the foundation for one’s career, is arguably the most crucial educational time for a student. It is the time to form interpersonal connections, pick majors, work on internships, take rigorous prerequisite and major classes, and then begin a career/attend graduate school. However, when facing domestic violence amid a full time college schedule and solid goals and dreams, this can be an incredibly stressful, debilitating, and painful situation.

Domestic violence can be described as behavior which includes abuse or violence by one individual against another in a domestic setting. Whether it is in the form of intimate partner violence (abuse of one partner towards another in a relationship) or within family relationships (such as violence towards children), it can take many different forms. College students in the US have been facing physical, financial, sexual, verbal, emotional, and psychological abuse- all of which have devastating effects on their ability to function normally and handle the rigors of college education as well as non-victims can. In short, domestic violence is a major problem. Whether physical, emotional, or sexual, or any other form, all share one common feature: they have devastating effects on one’s mental health. Physical wounds can often heal, but mental scars take longer to heal. In some cases, they remain.

Now, here is the core of the issue. Without sound mental health, a student cannot attain a full educational experience; and when school is not going right, a student’s mental health only worsens. It is a vicious and consuming cycle. Amidst the long, arduous, and often disappointing process of reporting domestic violence (especially sexual assault) in college campuses, institutions are neglecting to make the mental health and safety of the victim, who is paying thousands of dollars towards tuition and housing, the highest priority. The solution? Well, in order to discuss what can be done to fix this problem, it necessary to first discuss what exactly is happening when a student faces domestic violence. This proposal strives to reveal five major issues with domestic violence in US colleges, how they affect the health and education of a student, and how each problem can be tackled with a solution.

Firstly, it is necessary to note data on violence in order to understand just how serious of an issue this is. In a survey conducted on 910 students across universities in 3 urban cities and 67 different classes, it was found that 42% had been the victim of relationship violence by a friend, partner, or acquaintance during or before college, while 17% had been the perpetrator. Additional findings were that: women were more likely to be victims of various forms of relationship violence (27% of men vs 53% women); more than 50% of relationship violence reported in college involved an intimate partner; emotional violence was the most common form of violence reported before college (21%), while sexual and emotional violence were equally common (12% each) during the span of college; and men were more likely to perpetrate sexual violence. According to researchers, emotional abuse is not often the focus of violence prevention programs, but it may cause victims to be more vulnerable to other forms of abuse (Warner, 2008). In addition, violent relationships in adolescence may have serious ramifications by placing the victims at higher risk for eating disorders, substance abuse, impulsive and risky sexual behavior, and more domestic violence. A 2011 College Dating Violence & Abuse Poll showed that 1 in 3 (29%) of women in college have reported that they have been in an abusive relationship. However, a shocking 43% of dating college women have reported experiencing abusive and violent dating behaviors including verbal, sexual, physical, tech, or controlling abuse. Additionally, 57% of college students who report experiencing dating violence claim it occurred within college. The same percentage (57%) of students do not know how to determine whether they are victims of dating violence (Gray, 2012). These statistics depict the high rates of violence occurring in college and just how complex and painstaking it is to effectively identify and be aware of domestic abuse in college.

How can this issue be tackled? Well since relationships pose a serious safety risk, researchers agree that efforts to educate on healthy relationships should begin in early childhood. For example, parents/teachers/family or even peers should completely end the concept of “cooties”, or “girls rule boys drool”. The more mature kids are at a young age, the more they will mature by the time the are college ready. If younger boys are taught and “trained” to treat girls with care and respect, that behavior will be better bookmarked into their brains. Other factors affecting the risk for college abuse, according to researchers, include behavior change caused by the desire to be accepted by peers, isolation in an unfamiliar place, and less monitoring by parents. Kids and adolescents should strive to maintain strong, healthy bonds with their parents, who put in loads of time and effort to protect and nurture their kids. Furthermore, institutions throughout the nation should raise as much awareness of dating relationships and risks before students begin their freshman year. In the summer before college begins, institutions should be as honest as possible with these statistics in order to help students have their guard up beforehand.

One major issue with victims of sexual assault, a serious form of abuse all over campuses, is the debilitating effects it has on their mental and physical health. According to studies, those who have been sexually assaulted are likely to be sexually abused later in life, develop an eating disorder, have difficulty with intimacy in a marriage, and abuse drugs or alcohol. Because these victims are “taught” that their bodies are not their own, they often feel feelings of terror, shame, guilt, and self-blame. Other serious effects include: depression, post traumatic stress disorder, chronic fatigue syndrome, anxiety, low blood pressure, increased risk of heart disease, and other unexplained aches and pains in the body. Some evidence suggests that victims can develop borderline personality disorder, a serious mental condition where it is extremely difficult to regulate emotion and function normally daily, as a result of such incident. Further research shows that survivors are 26 times more likely to abuse drugs in an attempt to numb the pain, but this leads to further health concerns. More serious health issues are STI’s, STD’s, and decreased immunity (Good Therapy, 2016). Given this data, what can universities do to improve the health of these students?

Mental and physical health go hand in hand. If a student faces any physical injuries, institutions should take immediate care of the victim’s health in a nearby center. The faster the tests are done, and appointments are made, the more likely the recovery/treatment can begin. Also, abuse victims should be able to feel as comfortable as possible discussing what has happened. Unfortunately, 38% of college students say they would not know how to reach help themselves if they were a victim of abuse (Travillian and Oram, 2012). Raising awareness of the effects of dating abuse on mental and physical health be it any form (sexual, physical, etc.), via student government at institutions is one way to help these students feel safer reaching for help. In addition, universities should offer free meditation/yoga sessions for victims or at least educate students on its healing power. Jim Hopper, a well knowns clinical psychologist and independent consultant at Harvard Medical School, teaches that mindfulness meditation and yoga are highly effective ways to heal the minds and even bodies of abuse victims (Hopper, 2016). It is free, safe, and has countless cognitive and bodily benefits.

The second major problem is the social isolation victims in college face as a result of domestic violence. Many victims become victims of harassment, slander, and fear from triggers. While facing conditions such as traumatic stress, depression, and anxiety, it becomes nearly impossible for a student to maintain a healthy social life in college.

Institutions can help by encouraging student organizations to promote mental health campaigns/ discussions on campus. In 2016, Ria Jain, the external vice president candidate of student government at UCLA began a Mental Health campaign that promoted more care for students suffering from abuse. In January 2017, Shabnam Habib, another member of student government at UCLA began the “Beautiful Mind Project”, an intellectual organization for those who have something to share, for those who can reach out, discuss, and help their peers heal. These social groups attracted hundred of students who were passionate about this issue to raise their voices. If masses of students put this issue into their leadership goals, institutions will be pressurized to take this very seriously; and the opposite also works: if universities encourage students to reach out to such student run organizations, there will be less tension and a more unified movement between students and their institutions to protect and heal victims.

The third and most dangerous problem is the resulting drop in a student victims’ academic record. Now, many would say that health is more important than grades, but these two are closely related. The chances of a victim failing academically are over 8 times as high as a non-victim. If a student is consequently placed on a hold, he/she will have limited access to university support with the hold placed on their account. In many universities especially large public institutions, student victims under these holds may not be eligible for counseling/therapeutic/medical appointments, university housing, and more. Just how is this going to help the student, who is not at fault? Harvard lawyer, Title IX attorney, and Inaugural Fellow for the Harvard Law School Gender Violence Program, Cari Simon, published a powerful article revealing the core of this shocking reality. “As one of my clients bluntly put it, ‘it’s as if my transcript is covered in his [the perpetrator’s] semen’”, wrote Simon. She further wrote, “Grades matter. They are the mechanism professors use to assess a student’s performance and schools use to rank the student body. They are the means by which students measure their own achievement. Outside of school, employers and graduate programs rely on grades to evaluate candidates among an increasingly competitive field” ( Simon, 2014). She begins the account of a student client named Deena* who was raped in her university, and her grades plummeted. She failed a course and earned a “D” in the other. It was the participation portion of the classes that caused her overall grades to suffer most. If the student is not well, not feeling safe, he/she will not go to class and will fail. Simon mentions that Deena was too afraid to step out of her dorm, especially after bumping into her assailant on campus. When Deena went to the dean to explain, he patronized claiming that lots of students graduate with a 2.0. However, Deena was in the very top of her high school class; she should not have been one of them. Simon continues by mentioning that all of her clients have had a major grade drop. Though there are no national statistics on the effect of sexual assault on grades, her colleagues reported similar findings.This issue has serious consequences on the macro level. We as a society are missing out on the contributions that these students could have made had they been able to start off strong in college and attend graduate programs that reflect their merit, not their assault.

The solution is for universities to accommodate as much as possible and make this a rule. National statistics show that hardly over 30% of campuses provide accommodations in academics and housing. This number must go up. In the case of Deena, she did not earn an “F” or “D”. Her rapist and her university are responsible for those grades and failing to accommodate her academic needs. Diane Rosenfeld, director of Harvard Law School Gender Violence Program helped Deena with removing the “F” and replacing the “D” with a “Pass”. This change increased Deena’s confidence and gave her hope to achieve her dream of studying abroad (Simon, 2014).

A proposed remedial measure a school can offer is to assist students who have gone under this horrifying and traumatic experience by allowing for his/her transcript to be cleaned up quickly. According to Cari Simon, it is the responsibility of the school, not the student, to make sure accommodations are met. A student in this traumatized condition should not have to bear the burden of reaching out to professors, writing appeals/petitions, and finding alternate ways for basic needs and medical help all on their own. A campus administrator should be assigned to assist the student with these needs even if the student is not registered for the following term at that university. The amount of stress the student undergoes trying to fix all of these issues alone is only imaginable. The least a University can do is make sure the student is safe and can succeed.

This leads into the fourth major problem with domestic violence, most commonly sexual assault, on campus: institutions do not handle these cases properly. Schools stress that students should report such incidents, yet the reality is that very little, if anything is done. At UC Berkeley, less than 5% of assailants were found guilty by the university and only a handful of them were punished- and that too only resulted in suspension for a term or two. In a more detailed account on CNN news, Eva (name protected), a student at Southern Illinois University in 2014 mentions she was sexually assaulted and the university handled it so poorly that she was devastated by the whole process. Without her consent, her friend reported the incident out of concern for her, and she was shocked to receive an email from the dean mentioning that an investigation is to begin regardless of whether she decides she wishes to be a part of it or not in accordance with the regulations of the Department of Education. The accused was also sent the same email. “The whole reason I didn’t report anything was so I could get my education and I could feel safe. And I knew all of that was gone,” she said (Black and Ganim, 2015). The investigation she was forcefully dragged into lasted for months, destroyed her physical and mental health, ruined her grades, and ended at nothing. She had to constantly call in for updates and her calls were ignored. The accused was suspended for two years but he was able to appeal and win. “”I felt like I had survived a semester of torture, of being forced to relive what was the worst day of my life over and over again, and I felt like it was for nothing,” she said (Black and Ganim, 2015). The sheer negligence and lack of concern of universities defies the very core of education, which is knowledge and morality combined to evolve mankind for the better.

After all, most universities pridefully carry a motto such as “academic excellence, integrity, reliability, honesty, community service, problem solver”. Where are these qualities in the the school itself? Again, a university should make a student victims’ welfare the number one priority. The time it takes for a case to end should be substantially reduced. Dragging the process no matter how investigative for a semester or over has an enormous, unjustifying impact on a victim, his/her peers, and possible contributions at a macro social level. The punishment for such incidents should be more than a suspension if the victim is to remain at that university. At the very least, until he/she safely completes his/her education, the perpetrator should not be allowed to return.

Lastly, universities are not being honest about the statistics of the rate of sexual assault. Research statistics reveal that 91% of campuses throughout the nation claim that there was 0% of sexual assault on their campus (“Empowering Women Since 1881”, 2016). Compared with the statistic that 1 in 4 women in colleges face sexual assault, this simply does not align. If schools are not honest about the reality, how can they expect students to prepared for it? One cannot help but speculate whether the schools are more interested in personal gain such as fees and alumni benefits rather than genuine concern for students’ wellbeing and academic success.

The solution to this has partially been made recently. In October, the U.S. Department of Education published its rules to bring changes to the Clery Act under the Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act of 2013. The new rule now requires colleges to bring together statistics not only for cases of sexual assault, but also for incidents of stalking, dating violence, and domestic violence. So the question is why should students not be able to be aware of these realities? Concern for safety should come before concern for reputation; because the safer students are, the better the school’s reputation.

As Victor Hugo ingeniously said, “Teach the ignorant as much as you can; society is culpable in not providing a free education for all and it must answer for the night which it produces. If the soul is left in darkness sins will be committed. The guilty one is not he who commits the sin, but he who causes the darkness.” This quote could not better wrap the message of this proposal. Education- it is empowerment, it is freedom, it is the freedom to fight injustice, the power to bring out the most innovative minds, the path to serve mankind. When a student’s welfare and education is at risk, colleges should keep this message in mind.

References

“College Students.” Center For Relationship Abuse Awareness. N.p., n.d. Web. 17 Apr. 2017.

Ed, Jake New Inside Higher. “Domestic Violence as Prevalent for College Students as Sexual Assault.” PBS. Public Broadcasting Service, 02 Dec. 2014. Web. 17 Apr. 2017.

Ganim, Sara, and Nelli Black. “An Imperfect Process: How Campuses Deal with Sexual Assault.”CNN. Cable News Network, 21 Dec. 2015. Web. 14 Apr. 2017.

Gray, Robin Hattersley. “Dating Abuse Statistics.” School Safety RSS. N.p., 10 Dec. 2012. Web. 12 Apr. 2017.

“National Statistics.” Rape Response Services RSS. N.p., n.d. Web. 17 Apr. 2017.

“Sexual Assault / Abuse.” Good Therapy. N.p., March 3, 2016 Web. 14 Apr. 2017.

Simon, Cari. “On Top of Everything Else, Sexual Assault Hurts the Survivors’ Grades.” The Washington Post. WP Company, 06 Aug. 2014. Web. 17 Apr. 2017.

Trevillion, Kylee, Siân Oram, Gene Feder, and Louise M. Howard. “Experiences of Domestic Violence and Mental Disorders: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.” PLOS ONE.

Public Library of Science, n.d. Web. 12 Apr. 2017.

Warner, Jennifer. “Relationship Violence Common in College.” WebMD. WebMD, 08 July 2008. Web.

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Sahiba Beniwal

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Dedicated to medicine, ethics, publications & music. Student member of ICMA foundation http://www.icmafoundation.org

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