A Case Study on a Campus's Sexual Assault History 

Bestselling Nonfiction Author Jon Krakauer to Discuss His New Book, Missoula: Rape and the Justice System in a College Town, Feb. 23 

The book is particularly relevant to college campuses today as they strive to address Title IX standards that prohibit discrimination on the basis of sex in all education programs or activities receiving federal financial assistance.

ALBANY, N.Y. (February 17, 2016) – Writer and mountaineer Jon Krakauer will discuss his latest book Missoula: Rape and the Justice System in a College Town (2015) on Tuesday, Feb. 23, at 8 p.m. in Page Hall on the Downtown Campus.

Earlier, at 4:15 p.m., the author will present an informal seminar in the Recital Hall of the Performing Arts Center. Free and open to the public, the events are sponsored by the New York State Writers Institute and cosponsored in conjunction with UAlbany’s #JustAsk Campaign of the Office of the Title IX Coordinator, and the Division of Student Affairs.

Krakauer, a journalist, mountaineer, and bestselling nonfiction author, uses actual incidents in a Montana college town in the book to underscore the national issue of college sexual assault.

Non-fiction author Jon Krakauer.

Taking the town as a case study, he investigates a series of rape cases that occurred in Missoula over a four-year period, focusing on the victims and the deficiencies of the justice system that is responsible for investigating and prosecuting the reported crimes. The book is particularly relevant to college campuses today as they struggle to address Title IX standards that prohibit discrimination on the basis of sex in all education programs or activities receiving federal financial assistance, and 2011 guidelines from the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights on how campuses should respond to complaints of sexual assault.

Krakauer first received attention for his magazine articles about the outdoors that appeared in such publications as Outside, National Geographic, Rolling Stone, The New Yorker, The New York Times, and Smithsonian.

Known for compelling storytelling and insightful chronicles of lives lived “on the edge,” his bestselling nonfiction books include Into the Wild (1996), a true story about a young man with a dream to live off the land in the Alaska wilderness, which remained on The New York Times bestseller list for more than two years; Into Thin Air (1997), a personal account of a fateful climb of Mt. Everest, a Time magazine “Book of the Year;” Under the Banner of Heaven (2003), an examination of extremes of religious beliefs; and Where Men Win Glory (2009), about the life of Pat Tillman, an NFL professional football player turned U.S. Army Ranger who died in the Afghanistan conflict in 2004.

In 1999 Krakauer was awarded a literary prize from the American Academy of Arts and Letters as a writer “of exceptional accomplishment.” The Academy’s citation said, “Krakauer combines the tenacity and courage of the finest tradition of investigative journalism with the stylish subtlety and profound insight of the born writer.”

For additional information, visit the New York Writers Institute, send an email to [email protected], or call 518-442-5620.

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