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PRINCETON: Jimmy Carter criticizes rapes on college campuses

By Philip Sean Curran, Staff Writer
Former President Jimmy Carter used an appearance at Princeton University Wednesday to criticize American colleges for looking the other way at rapes taking place on their campuses.
Mr. Carter, speaking to an audience of 800 people in the university Chapel, argued the problem is part of a broader pattern of violence taking place against women and girls around the world.
He said less than 5 percent of campus rapes are reported nationally, as most colleges are more concerned about avoiding bad publicity than they are about bringing rapists to justice. One in five girls at an American university is sexually assaulted before she graduates, he said.
"Universities don’t want to address this issue," he said during a nearly 28-minute speech.
He said a large portion of campus rape is committed by athletes, whose prowess on the football field or basketball court make them "almost impervious" from being expelled.
"I can’t understand why a university would want a serial rapist to remain as a student," he said. "There’s just a few serial rapists on any college campus. And they perpetrate 90 percent of all the rapes on the campus, just a few boys."
He referenced how Princeton and other schools have been cited by the federal government on their handling of campus sex crimes.
He also cited the allegations that a female student at the University of Virginia has made about being gang-raped by seven men in a fraternity house, while another student watched.
The 90-year-old former president was at the university to promote his latest book, "Call to Action: Women, Religion, Violence and Power," and to sign copies.