STUDY: 1 in 4 Women Are Raped Before Graduating from College

As college students gear up once again to taste the sweet freedom of the college campus, there’s one thing they’re not likely not focusing on: the probability that one out of four female college students will be raped before receiving a diploma.

A recent study from the Department of Justice estimated that 25 percent of college women will be victims of rape or attempted rape before they graduate within a four-year college period, and that women between the ages of 16 to 24 will experience rape at a rate that’s four times higher than the assault rate of all women.

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Such was seemingly the case of Megan Wright, a 19-year-old from New Jersey. Wright was wrapping up her freshman year in May 2006 at Dominican College, a small Catholic school in Orangeburg, N.Y., about an hour away from New York City, when she was allegedly gang raped on its campus. She committed suicide before the year ended.

Her mother, Cindy McGrath, is suing Dominican, claiming that the college failed to conduct a proper investigation into her daughter’s assault, and thereby violated Title IX of the Civil Rights Act, which guarantees equal access to education.

The lawsuit also alleges that Dominican violated the law by not accurately disclosing the number of sexual assaults reported on its campus.

Attorney Gloria Allred, who has represented parties in several high-profile discrimination cases, is representing McGrath.

“A victim who reports a sexual assault to a college, which is receiving federal funds, has a right to expect, under the law, that that college will conduct a fair, thorough investigation,” Allred said. “We take very seriously a college’s duty, and we want it enforced, and when they violate it there are real consequences.”

The Center for Public Integrity conducted a 12-month probe into sexual assault on college campuses that was completed earlier this year.

Why Rape Is Under-Reported

The investigation found that students will often keep quiet when they are sexually assaulted because they blame themselves for what happened, don’t realize that what happened to them was a crime or fear that their assailants or others will strike again if they report them.

According to court documents, McGrath said her daughter made all the right decisions a rape victim should make in her situation. She told someone, had a rape kit performed and reported the crime to college authorities, but to no avail, McGrath said.

The first person Wright told was school friend Kelly Rocco.

The night after the alleged attack occurred, “She said that there was blood in her underwear,” Rocco told “Nightline.” “We got up and went to the hospital by my house. She had a rape kit [performed] and her face was just in so much pain as they were doing everything.”

Wright then told her mother, who immediately rushed to the campus to be with her daughter.

“She broke down and said, ‘Mom, I’ve been raped. I’ve been raped,'” McGrath said.

Surveillance video in the hallway of the residence hall where Wright claimed the attack happened later showed a disoriented, seemingly impaired Wright being led in and out of a room by several different men, some of whom were identified as students by authorities.

The Center for Public Integrity concluded in its report that “students found ‘responsible’ for alleged sexual assaults on campuses often face little or no punishment,” and victims who do report these crimes run into “barriers” — from counselors worried about privacy to universities concerned about their public image.

Mother and daughter reported the incident to the resident adviser and then to the dean but received little in the way of a response, according to McGrath.

“The dean offered her no accommodations. [My daughter] left her math final crying. She couldn’t sit and take it,” McGrath said.

According to court documents, McGrath claimed her daughter tried to meet with the president of the college as well, but they are still waiting for a response to their request

Shortly after the alleged assault, Wright fell into a deep depression.