Preventing campus sexual assault could start in kindergarten

In the weeks since Jane Doe alleged she was gang-raped at a Cornell University fraternity party in 2024, the plague of campus sexual assault has once again become the topic of a heated national debate. Those discussions inevitably land on familiar solutions. Experts, pundits, and parents argue for stricter criminal laws and a more transparent and punitive Title IX campus adjudicatory process. But these solutions have been tried in the past and not proven effective: Campus climate surveys show persistently high rates of assault, and Cornell’s own data show that reported incidents rose from 23 percent to 35 percent between 2023 and 2025. It’s increasingly clear that to make meaningful progress requires a focus on prevention — not just punishment.

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