A college campus where one in 10 students becomes a victim of a drive-by shooting — perpetrated by a fellow student, no less — would be considered preposterously dangerous. But a college campus where at least one in 10 students is sexually assaulted during their time in school? Well, that’s just the cost of doing business.
That’s the provocative but compelling argument made by “The Hunting Ground,” a timely, thorough and truly inspiring documentary about the financial and marketing imperatives that lead academic institutions to deny their students safety and justice. A worthy follow-up to “The Invisible War,” director Kirby Dick and producer Amy Ziering’s Oscar-nominated exposé of rape in the military, “The Hunting Ground” also follows the rise of an organized network of young, self-taught activists who recruited the federal government in their legal campaign against their schools’ complacency toward — or outright cover-ups of — sexual violence.