Being accepted to uni should be a joyous and celebratory occasion for anyone.
But in the US, potential students’ happiness is haunted by the fact that one in five women, and one in 16 men are reportedly sexually assaulted on campus.
This epidemic is something that has been documented by filmmaker Kirby Dick in his film, The Hunting Ground, which explores the prevalence of sexual assault amongst students. A 2012 documentary The Invisible War also shone a light on the issue.
According to The Washington Post, 20 per cent of young women who attended college in the past four years have reported being sexually assaulted.
An awareness group known as Don’t Accept Rape has now conceived a compelling campaign to alert students to the potential danger.
This letter looks like an acceptance letter, and begins to read like one too, but then spells out the dangers in black and white.
College acceptance letters get seriously dark, beginning with one in the Harvard Crimson: https://t.co/vUjXvIY0kc pic.twitter.com/YWmLrFJTeF
— ADWEEK (@Adweek) April 18, 2016
It reads:
“Dear Ms. X
On behalf of the X community, I would like to congratulate you on your acceptance into the University of X. We know you will make lifelong friends and memories here on campus.
We’re sorry that one of these memories will include being raped by someone you thought you could trust. You’ll fear him the night he presses you against a wall and every day after that.
The claims you will make against your rapist will be ignored, much like your right to feel safe at school. After all, you can’t expect us to expel someone on the basis of a story that begins with “I had been drinking.”
Alcohol has a way of making you stretch the truth, and we don’t respond to liars.
Sincerely,
Director of Admissions”
Videos of reactions to the Unacceptable Acceptance letter accompany the campaign and are being widely shared on social media.
