this is "nightline." >> tonight -- the powerful oscar performance of "till it happens to you." lady gaga surrounded by survivors of sexual violence. that song from "the hunting ground." calling the world's attention to the epidemic of rape culture on college campuses. tonight, we're with two activists from that stage fighting to make colleges safe. plus inside portlandia. the sketch comedy tv show that's gathered a cult following. how fred arm miss 10 and kerry

heros that may resemble versions of themselves. political takedown? a journalist violently thrown to the ground at a trump rally by secret service. marco rubio taking on trump with schoolyard taunts. with only hours until the super tuesday showdown can any of the candidates stop trump? but first the "nightline 5." >> when you're told you have cancer, start with a specialist. start with a team of experts who treat only cancer. every stage, every day. the evolution of cancer care is here. learn more at cancercenter.com/experts. appointments available now. hey, need fast heartburn relief? zantac releases a cooling sensation in your mouth and throat. zantac works in as little as 30 minutes. nexium can take 24 hours. try cool mint zantac. no pill relieves heartburn faster.

good evening. thanks for joining us. the women you're about to meet say college campuses have become a hunting ground. where all too many students assault. lady gaga's performance at the oscars calling the world's attention to the ongoing epidemic. tonight we're with two survivors turned activists who have taken their fight from college campuses to the courthouse, now to the oscar stage. you tell me it gets better >> reporter: it was a show-stopping performance. you say to pull myself >> reporter: lady gaga passionately belting out her song "till it happens to you." till it happens to you >> reporter: suddenly surrounded by 50 sexual assault survivors. men and women with unbreakable

their arms. the young survivors became the more than crescendo to lady gaga's oscar-nominated song written for the searing campus rape documentary "the hunting ground." till it happens to you you won't know how i feel >> reporter: it brought the a-list room to its feet. captured on twitter, best actress winner brie larson hugging each person as they came off the stage. lady gaga later posting on instagram, thank you for standing next to me on stage. 50 survivors so brave, relentless determination. >> i am myself a survivor. very grateful to the academy for giving us this world stage. >> reporter: the artist who's gone public about her own sexual assault was introduced on stage by vice president joe biden.

>> to take the pledge, a pledge that says, i will intervene in situations when consent has not let's change the culture. >> reporter: it seems the call was heard with the it's on us campaign hitting 300,000 pledges following the vice president's speech. >> one of the first things lady gaga said was, i want you to make them feel your pain. which at first it was just -- wow, that was really deep, what does that mean? but i think we definitely felt a lot of pain, a lot of courage, on that stage. >> reporter: for some of the 50 people on stage, this was the first time they came forward about their assaults. but a number of them, including annie clark and andrea pinot, courageously told their stories in "the hunting ground" documentary. >> we've got a lot further to go. >> the first few weeks i made

but two of us were sexually assaulted before classes had even started. >> reporter: annie and andrea together helped found the group end rape on campus after they say they were both raped while attending university of north carolina. >> our are colleges safe? they could be but we're not doing enough yet. >> reporter: the issue of rape on campus explode ing on the national consciousness, provoking conversations at universities nationwide. >> when we're behind stage a lot of similar themes were repeated. and one of them was, my assault was bad, my rape was bad -- but the way i was treated by people was worse. >> there's a lot of victim blaming. >> he lectured us about how we shouldn't go out in short skirts. >> reporter: the filmmakers behind "the hunting ground" sought to expose what they saw a shocking epidemic of violence and substitutional cover-up. >> universities are protecting a brand. >> reporter: sweeping college campuses across america. >> when you're scared, when you

you -- you just stay there and you hope that you don't die. >> reporter: annie and andrea sat down with my colleague amy robach last year. annie says she faced more questions than support when she reported her incident to officials at university of north carolina. >> why didn't you go to police? >> i didn't know who it was. i was scared. and i was young. you hear horror stories. i know there are a lot of wonderful police officers out there, but to sit through and absolute worst thing that happened to your body -- i didn't want my friends to know, i didn't want my parents to know. >> reporter: according to the bureau of justice statistics, only 20% of sexual assaults on college females are reported to police. andrea and annie say their frustration over unc's response motivated them to take action, filing a title ix complaint with the department of education. class at that same university.

one of the political science courses about sexual harassment laws, anita hill, reading about how title ix was originally gender equity, not sports. >> reporter: their central argument, unc's handling of sexual assault allegations violated their civil right to education. annie and andrea helping spur a national movement encouraging women at colleges around the country to come forward. >> my name is carolyn. >> my name is alexa. >> my name is ari. >> we started seeing what was happening at campuses across the country. >> why has no one connected the dots before? >> one of the big problems that is schools don't want to be spearheading this issue. what schools have to be doing is prioritizing less their image and more the safety of their students and actually empowering those report students to report if anything happens to me. >> reporter: in a statement to abc news unc said they've implemented a comprehensively revised policy on sexual assault and mandatory prevention training adding, this

it shows how the strong activism of students, including two of changed federal law. >> one of the things that schools really struggle with is they think it's going to go away. but we're not going to go away. we're not going to be avoiding these lawsuits. they have to start thinking that survivors have to be the priority in these conversations. >> reporter: just last month, florida state university settled a high-profile title ix case involving tampa bay buccaneers quarterback jameis winston, a former student. >> i kind of just want to know -- why me? >> reporter: in "the hunting ground," erika kinsman claims she was raped by the football star when they were classmates. winston maintained his innocence, was never charged by police, was cleared by the university. then erika filed that title ix lawsuit against fsu for failing to properly investigate the incident. the university settled for close to $1 million in exchange for

in a statement that they settled in order to move forward and that they believe that the ultimate outcome of a trial would have been consistent with the previous law enforcement investigations. >> more than anything, erika really wants fsu to support survivors. that's why she did this, that's why she came aboard. she's getting nothing out of this. the exact same reason we did, we want other people to know they are not alone. >> reporter: that's what they say last night was about, standing together in a unified front. several even got matching tattoos. an image of a rose on fire that means unity. they tell us that lady gaga is planning a matching one of her own. >> the fact that we're all on the stage together, we're all connected through this horrific experience, but finally taking a stand -- i think it shows a shift in our culture. and you shouldn't have to stand on an oscar stage to be believed and supported. >> you can see the full documentary "the hunting ground" on itunes now.

cult following. and later, how did this trump rally turn ugly today? what sparked the altercation? off right here. oh no, i'll take you up to the front of the school. that's where your friends are. seriously, it's, it's really fine. you don't want to be seen with your dad? no, it's..no.. this about a boy? dad! stop, please. oh, there's tracy. what! [ horn honking ] [ forward collision warning ] [ car braking ] bye dad! it brakes when you don't. forward collision warning and autonomous emergency braking. available on the newly redesigned passat. from volkswagen. huh. introducing centrum vitamints. a new multivitamin you enjoy like a mint... with a full spectrum of nutrients... new centrum vitamints.

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you know the hilarious tv show "portlandia" as full-fledged cult favorite poking fun at the hipster culture of portland, oregon. our nick watt is with the "portlandia" comic duo riffing on how they show is influencing our culture. >> i guess i do have a question about the chicken if you could just tell us a little bit more about it. >> reporter: if you actually order food like this -- >> you have this information --

his name was colin. here are his papers. >> that's great. he looks like a happy little guy, runs around. first. >> reporter: bookstores like >> different daughters? >> we could order that, it will take a year to get here. >> it has to be written. >> reporter: if you are as hipster-precious as this. >> we read an article about times." >> what's that? >> huh. >> reporter: if you are, shouldn't the show "portlandia" really, really offend you? >> i do like walking around downtown. >> reporter: we met the show's creators and stars carrie brandstein and fred armisten at the very portland ace hotel. here in l.a. they spoof the ace in the show, call it the deuce. >> we give out free typewriters, you want one? >> oh my god. >> hi, how's it going? >> reporter: and hipster fans confirmed they're not offended. >> can you act like you're

>> wow. >> reporter: the show praised and panned on the hipster mores of portland, oregon, the capital of weird. you know, the bikes. artis natural products. uber earnestness. >> go ahead. >> no, no, go ahead. >> go ahead. >> you go. >> no, no, no, no, no, no, no. you first. >> reporter: now in its sixth season -- >> get out! >> the name has become a kind of shorthand, oh, that's so portlandia. >> everywhere i go somebody says something to me. it's really nice. >> reporter: partly why those lampooned love them? it's on you? >> it's on me. people. >> i didn't know you did. >> okay. in the unkind -- >> go vegan! >> i skipped wilshire, took beverly to santa monica --

decade on "snl," armisen knows what works. >> there's a love audience there. the meaner a sketch was the less the audience reacted. if it stays in a place that comes from some kind of affection, it does a little better. >> reporter: they're hipster self-aware. >> we are these people. it's exploration, it's not mean spirited. you are these people? >> without a doubt. >> absolutely. see, now you're making fun of us, speaking about our characters and thinking -- >> i'm not making fun of anybody. >> i can tell, i feel so dredged. >> reporter: after sipping cough tee at stumptown. >> i've always liked stumptown. we almost called the show "stumptown." >> reporter: we headed to the last bookstore. >> i got you something. >> reporter: if a bookstore could self-describe as artisnal this one would. >> this is the venn diagram of everything i love right now. dogs, books. >> reporter: it could be the scene of arguesbly their most famous contracts.

>> that's not enough to pull it. >> we've taken two unlikely characters and turned them into literally the most popular characters on our show. all of a sudden you have these feminist superheroes. >> reporter: their life is art. their art is life. >> welcome to portland's allergy pride parade. >> there's a certain point where you're at an organic grocery store, at a restaurant catering to your gluten-free needs, that you think, wow, this is -- what a luxury to be able to have this as my problem. we're not separate from that but i think we also sort of -- we're exploring it. >> reporter: the show has moved beyond short sharp sketch to longer tales with our heroes playing versions of themselves. >> good night, carrie. >> good night, fred. >> sometimes it's subtly off. sometimes it's night and day from who we are. but it is fun to play a version >> let's not go. >> skip it. >> i can't this year. >> reporter: the season entire episode deals with the early middle aged admitting they'd rather watch from home than actually go to the music

>> we're introducing the first phase in virtual participation using drones. >> new technology. >> you want to be someplace where you don't have to stand at all. >> it's more the bathrooms. >> yes. you're in a line the whole time for the bathroom. i'm thinking about it the entire time. i'm not enjoying myself. >> the flaming lips, yeah. >> i'm sorry, who are you? >> the flaming coin of the flaming lips. >> reporter: the actual flaming lips guest star. >> do i look like a pimp? >> when a man pulls out money away from a register i have to wonder. >> reporter: over the years, steve buscemi -- >> i can't believe i'm meeting you guys. >> reporter: a real-life mayor of portland -- >> i'm still waiting to hear back from my guy. >> i still get to say, live in new york, it's saturday night particular. >> reporter: armisten has a comedy background -- >> you're the funniest half-german person i've met. >> danke schoen. >> reporter: brownstein does not.

>> had a button with my face on it. >> what? >> i know, creepy. also slattering. >> i love slater king so much, her band. they are my favorite band. >> how did you know she was going to be funny? >> as soon as i met her, i knew she was going to be funny. she's just perfectly funny. >> i just sew this bird onto the pillow -- >> reporter: also does this and they are now best friends on and off the show. >> apparently you scream and you like it? >> aahhh! >> the way she does it is like -- it's chilling. it's possessed. always surprises me. >> aahhh! >> aahhh! >> harsh, man, why? >> reporter: and portland's tics, portland's leif motifs are now everywhere. >> the more that i travel, the more that we travel, i keep finding that city, the aspects of that city, all over the place. >> i want you to want something. >> the breakfast burger. >> great. >> and the pancakes. >> no.

the show reflects a time, not just a place. >> people see themselves in it and it's part of a bigger cultural conversation we're having about this stuff. >> reporter: truth is, maybe we're all a little bit portlandia ourselves. >> a little san francisco right now. try to -- try to -- sorry. much better. welcome to portland. >> reporter: i'm nick watt for "nightline." in los angeles. >> and you too can watch "portlandia" thursdays on ifc. up next, with only hours until super tuesday, why a journalist was roughed up at a trump rally. guys, it's just the two of you. the setting is just right. there's something in the air. but here's the thing: about half of men over 40 have some degree of erectile dysfunction. well, viagra helps guys with ed get and keep an erection.

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it's the eve of the single biggest day of voting until november. and it's an all-out political brawl. donald trump surging ahead in yet another new national poll. but can he hold his lead after coming under fire for dodging a question about the kkk? and tonight a rally that turned violent. here's abc's david wright. >> reporter: a raucous rally at radford university and a reporter roughed up by a member of donald trump's secret service detail. the "time" magazine photographer chris morris says he stepped out of the press pen. secret service agent blocked him. harsh words exchanged. >> [ bleep ]. [ bleep ]. >> reporter: witnesses say that's when the agent grabbed him by the neck, threw him down. the republican primary seems like a schoolyard brawl these days.

i have never seen a human being sweat like he sweats. >> reporter: the tone set not just by trump, mocking his rivals, but by his rivals mocking him. >> he doesn't sweat because his pores are clogged from the spray tan. >> reporter: marco rubio hasn't yet called trump a short-fingered bulgarian -- >> i don't understand why his hands are the size of someone who's 5'2", have you seen his hands? they're like this. and you know what they say about men with small hands. >> reporter: he's used just about every other insult. >> you can't trust them. >> reporter: morris has since apologized for escalating this confrontation. >> he choked me so i put my hand arrested. >> reporter: the trump campaign and the secret service have yet to apologize to him. i'm david wright for "nightline" in new york. gma tomorrow. so stay tuned. thanks for watching. we'll have full coverage tomorrow night for super tuesday

political team beginning at 10:00 p.m. eastern. as always we're online 24/7 on our "nightline" facebook page. and at abcnews.com. good night, america. >> the beef with america's beef. >> the excesses. >> why cattle ranchers are blowing the lid off the industry. >> consumers are voting with their wallets. >> what they uncover could