By: Samantha Cleare
Recently, a friend from the University of Florida called me on her way home from class. She had to walk alone at night and feared the possibility of an attack. Within the past two weeks, three students had been assaulted in Gainesville. Upon hearing this information, I assured my friend that students at the University of Georgia did not encounter the same magnitude of violence. I was proven incorrect.
After recent UGA police reports and media outrage, I recognize not only my own ignorance, but also the ignorance of students across campus and the country. Since the Clergy Act of 1990, an act that calls for an annual disclosure including number of forcible sexual assault allegations, little has changed. Heinous sex crimes continue to plague universities.
UGA students as well as students all over America have been in the dark, in an opaqueness similar to the shadowy streets where many assaults happen. Sexual and domestic violence bring shame to victims. The topic is rarely exposed or dealt with, letting the perpetrators walk away freely and the problem continue. One in five college women survives rape, a statistic that has not moved since the 1980s. Every 21 hours, rape occurs on a college campus. Annually, 5 percent of women in college are rape victims. However, only 11 percent of those female victims report the incidents.
Colleges are fighting to decrease these daunting numbers. This year, the University of Florida held a “Sexual Assault Awareness Week” and the “No Gator Walks Alone” Campaign. College alumni from all over the country are currently refusing to donate money until more assaulters are brought to justice. Meanwhile, Capitol Hill is also getting involved. In January, the White House Council on Women and Girls released a report concerning “Rape and Sexual Assault: A Renewed Call to Action.” This report, as well as the White House Task Force to Protect Students from Sexual Assault, aims to aid and prevent cases of sexual violence through federal assistance. “Our daughters, our sisters, our wives, our mothers, our grandmothers have every single right to expect to be free from violence and sexual abuse,” said Vice President Joe Biden. “No matter what she’s wearing, no matter whether she’s in a bar, in a dormitory, in the back seat of a car, on a street, drunk or sober — no man has a right to go beyond the word ‘no.’ And if she can’t consent, it also means no.”
Protests and actions vary in sizes and means. At Columbia University, student Emma Sulkowicz goes so far as to drag around a mattress until her rapist is expelled. “Rape can happen anywhere. For me, I was raped in my own dorm bed,” said Sulkowicz. Dorms, where university students, especially underclassmen, supposedly find a new home away from home, are not always safe. Cases of rape in dorms heighten in numbers. Almost 60 percent of college rape reports take place in the victim’s residence on campus. In the past two weeks, there have been five rape and four sexual assault reports to the UGA police. One of these incidents took place in Oglethorpe House. The University of Georgia’s reports from 2013 included 16 sexual offense reports, nine of them from the residence halls.
The University of Georgia tackles this epidemic as well. Within the past year, UGA and its Student Government Assocation have passed legislation and held awareness-raising events. A vital player in this conflict, UGA Student Government Association Senator Madison Turner, wrote and helped pass legislation asking the University to add security escorts to the Miller Learning Center and the libraries at night. Sunday, Turner met with UGA administration concerning the legislation. A survey, asking about general and locational preferences for the escorts, will be sent to students. Action will be taken through the answers of these student surveys.
On Aug. 23, the first ever “Walk a Mile in Her Shoes” event took place on campus. Coordinators scheduled this walk during the “red zone.” A high incidence of sexual assaults happens throughout the beginning of the year or the “red zone.” The “Walk a Mile in Her Shoes” event was Turner’s senate project. The Relationship and Sexual Violence Prevention student organization and the university Health Center partnered with SGA to put together the walk. Men and women gathered at the arch and marched together in heels, raising awareness for sexual assaults. “For the first time, we have students, faculty, campus police, and the administration all trying to come together to fight this issue, and I think that’s what it takes to make a real change with something as complicated as sexual assault on a college campus of our size,” said Turner.
Social media also helps to educate students. Turner created a BuzzFeed article, including facts and pictures of fellow UGA students. The article reached over 15,000 views in 24 hours and continues to receive responses.
Hope over this conflict continues to prevail. While the number of sexual assaults currently remains unacceptable, Turner believes that, “Some of the numbers we’re seeing right now regarding an increase in reporting might have to do with our campus becoming more educated on this issue.” As the University of Georgia, as well as other universities all over America, fights for safer campuses, it is important to eradicate ignorance about sexual assault.
