IT’S MIDWAY THROUGH the week and you want to get up to speed on the latest news topics and catch up on opinions and insights.

We’re here to help you do just that, with our three midweek longreads:

1. Sexual assault at a ‘safe’ school

Kiera Feldman writes about what occurred when a sexual assault took place at ‘God’s Harvard’, Patrick Henry College. It was supposed to be a safe place, she says – but it wasn’t.

(New Republic, approx 36 minutes reading time, 7304 words)

Researchers estimate that one in five American women is sexually assaulted in college, and Patrick Henry College’s unique campus culture has not insulated the school from sexual violence. In fact, it puts female students, like Claire Spear, in a particular bind: How do you report sexual assault at a place where authorities seem skeptical that such a thing even exists?

2. Saving lives with donations

Jonah Ogles wanted to know if his donations to a young boy living in poverty in Haiti were of benefit, or if they made any difference to him at all.

(Outside approx 27 minutes reading time, 5406 words)

Then, in late 2011, I got an e-mail. Ervenson would like to meet you, it said. It was a form e-mail, something every sponsor gets on occasion, but it was the first time I had received it. If I wanted to, I could pay Compassion to join a handful of other sponsors to meet our respective kids. By then, Ervenson was 17, and I was 26. In a year, he’d be an adult and I’d no longer support him. This was my last chance to see him. I decided: Yes, I did want to meet him.

3. Cooking frugally

Do you have a limited budget for food at home? Caitriona Redmond does, so she wrote about how to stretch your budget without relying on packaged foods. Plus, our commenters give their tips on eating frugally.

(TheJournal.ie, approx 4 minutes reading time, 747 words)

To eat frugally I am faced with two options. I can either buy cheap convenience food with a long list of ingredients, high fat content, high sugar content and which is unlikely to be fresh; or buy fresh ingredients in the fruit and vegetable, meat, and dairy sections of the supermarket, then invest my time and skills to make healthier frugal food for my family.

Want some more longreads? Then check out Sitdown Sunday>

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