The Reality of Our Campus

College is supposed to be a place where students expand their academics and discover who they are, but that doesn’t always happen. The harsh reality is, that just by being a college student, you and any of your peers may become part of the 13% of all college students who are victims of rape or sexual assault (RAINN). The topic of rape and sexual assault is a difficult one, but it needs to be talked about, especially on college campuses where the issue is especially prevalent. Throughout the month of April, Sexual Assault Awareness Month (SAMM), events and discussions of the topic have populated event calendars at Slippery Rock Univeristy, but is the SRU community and administration doing enough?

To get insight into this issue at Slippery Rock University, I conducted a survey of 84 SRU students. Through this survey, I was able to learn about real incidents that students have experienced on campus, as well as the student community’s relationship with the topic in general.

Many people are aware that incidents of rape, sexual assault, sexual harassment, and stalking are higher on college campuses, but they may not understand that our campus is no acceptation. Over a 1/3 of the survey participants reported that they have personally experienced sexual assault, sexual harassment, or stalking on the SRU campus.

Slippery Rock University has a number of resources that may play a part in the recuperation from a sexual assault. Slippery Rock University Police Department is one of the resources available to students to report crimes. While students know that they have this option, how many people actually report their attack to the university police? Furthermore, if a sexual assault is reported to the police, what happens next? From the experiences collected through the survey, the answer is... nothing. Multiple students reported that after filing reports with the university’s police department, they never heard from them again. 66.2% of participants say that there was no follow-up after they reported an incident. Alternatively, 25.4% of participants said that there was a follow-up after reporting an incident to the university’s police department, but they wish that more had been done to remedy the situation. The remaining 8.5% of survey participants say that they are satisfied with the follow-up that occurred after reporting their incident to SRUPD. As the data displays, reporting incidents of sexual assault, stalking, or something similar doesn’t do what it should – get the victim justice.

Even with more malicious cases, students say that SRUPD doesn’t do what they can do and more importantly what they morally should do – investigate reports. Many of the survey participants shared personal experiences that they’ve had with sexual assault, harassment, and stalking on campus. One student reported that they were drugged at a party, transported to the ER via ambulance, and the incident was never investigated. Another student shared that SRUPD told them they were overreacting when they reported that their ex was stalking them and threatening to kill them. In addition to these incidents, multiple students say that they’ve been verbally harassed on campus including one student who said that inappropriate comments were made to them by a Rock Dining employee at Rocky’s.

Reviewing the responses from just this group of Slippery Rock University students alone, it is clear that our campus is far from immune to sexual assault, harassment, and stalking. Over and over again, students express their concerns and share their stories, but nothing changes. What will it take for SRUPD to do its job and for the university to protect its students?