"Hunting Ground" panel discusses assault epidemic

Zero: the number of students expelled from UNC for sexual assault in recent years.

This and many other shocking realities of sexual assault on college campuses was revealed by “The Hunting Ground,” a documentary based off of the experiences of UNC alumni Andrea Pino and Annie Clark and other survivors.

Pino, Clark, former Assistant Dean of Students Melinda Manning and Chancellor Carol Folt spoke on a panel before the film.

Manning worries sexual assault cases are underreported or not taken seriously so a university’s brand is kept clean from tarnish. She admits during her time in office, UNC did not handle sexual assault cases well.

“We did a horrible job preparing and training the Honor Court (on) hearing the cases appropriately,” Manning said. “In that previous system, very few students wanted to take their cases to the Honor Court.”

Survivor and advocate, Landen Gambill, held a sign that read, "Chancellor Folt: My rapist confessed and was still not found responsible. #UNCprotectsrapists." 

In front of Gambill sat Folt, who spoke about steps the University has taken to support survivors while admitting there is still work to be done.

“I think we all know we’re not declaring victory in any way. I’m here because I really want to continue working on this, and this is not what you do in a year or a day or even five years,” said Folt, not responding to the sign.

Gambill said she brought the sign to call out the hypocrisy of UNC for not providing recourse for people like her.

“(The University’s) line is, ‘Things are better, things are getting better,’” Gambill said. “We want to be a voice for ourselves, but a voice that (says) things are still just as bad as they are in the movie. And the University knows.”

After the showing, Pino spoke about the fears some survivors have with informing an administrator.

“I was a Carolina Covenant scholar and my fear of coming forward was that I’d lose my scholarship,” Pino said.

Pino said it is hard for institutions to find the inertia to admit that their campuses have a rape problem.

“I think in colleges we have this collective activism problem where nobody wants to step up and admit it. Once that first person takes that initial plunge hopefully administrators and leaders around the country will follow.”

university@dailytarheel.com

CORRECTION: Due to a reporting error, a previous version of this story incorrectly described the words written on Landen Gambill's sign. It read, "Chancellor Folt: My rapist confessed and was still not found responsible. #UNCprotectsrapists." The story has been updated to reflect this change. The Daily Tar Heel apologizes for the error.