She says creating a checklist does two things. It creates a false sense of security – an attitude of ‘If I do this, I can’t or won’t be assaulted.’ It also gives people ammunition against survivors and can even be a way to place blame on them.
“There is no prescribed way to keep yourself safe,” Danica says. “Being alone or being drunk is not a reason for an assault to occur. Those things happen all the time with no assault. Every situation is different.”
Still many students on the MU campus do follow some set of rules to keep themselves safe. Although there is no way to guarantee safety, there are ways to take care of yourself in a potentially dangerous situation.
These include verbally refusing sexual activities that are against your will, reacting to situations, being aware of your feelings and reducing the possibility of violence by avoiding places in which you are isolated from others.
“I try to make sure I am always aware of what’s going on,” MU sophomore Alisabeth Schlager says. “I stay with a lot of friends and make sure we’re all together, and I check to make sure no one has drifted off.”
Being a good friend is one of the best forms of prevention, as well as the best support when an assault or rape does take place. Friends can help by listening, by believing the survivor’s story and by backing whatever choice he or she makes.
Providing options is also something a friend can do. In the event of a sexual assault, one can go to the hospital, notify the police, talk to a professional at the MU Counseling Center or visit the RSVP Center in the Student Center
If a survivor decides to go to the hospital, the University Hospital System has a free Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner Unit where they contact an advocate to provide the survivor with support and more options. In addition these nurses do a forensic exam, provide treatment for the two most common sexually transmitted infections, provide emergency contraception and notify the police if that is what the survivor wants.
On-campus options include the MU Counseling Center, which is located in Parker Hall and has crisis walk-ins daily. If the survivor doesn’t know where to go, the RSVP center will help him or her connect with resources and will be with the survivor through whatever he or she needs.
“I won’t ever tell a victim that he or she should or shouldn’t do something,” Danica says. “Being assaulted is the ultimate loss of power in an intimate situation, and I won’t do anything to take more power or control away.”
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MU provides services to survivors, as well as a few preventative measures. There are blue lights placed around campus that summon the University of Columbia Police Department when pushed.
“There is a lot of lighting on campus, and I definitely feel safe, both on campus and in my residence hall,” Schlager says.
Another preventive measure is the Green Dot Strategy. As a national program, the Green Dot Strategy combines the use of a map with red and green dots. “A red dot represents an act of power-based personal violence or a choice to tolerate, justify or perpetuate this violence,” an RSVP center pamphlet states. “A red dot is rape, a hit, a threat.”
Tolerance for violence can even extend to tolerance for rape jokes because it “sustains the norm of our culture that supports rape,” Danica says. A red dot could include a choice to not act in a situation that seems wrong. The goal of the Green Dot Strategy is to stop these red dot moments and turn them into green dots.
“A green dot represents any behavior, choice, word or attitude that promotes safety,” the pamphlet states. “It is pulling a friend out of a high-risk situation, believing rape is unacceptable and an individual choice at any given moment to make our community safer.”
“I’ve walked a girl home at night before,” MU sophomore Caleb Bolda says. “It wasn’t that far of a walk, but you never know what can happen.”
As a community, MU students and staff can act with green dot behavior. People can prepare and try to keep themselves safe, but it is difficult to prevent crimes of this nature. One in four college women have experienced forced intercourse, and 80 percent of those know the offender. It is important to be supportive of survivors.
“No one asks for it to happen,” Danica says. “It is not their fault, and they should know it is ok to talk about it.”
Read more on sexual assault.