With 10 to 29% of all women being victims of sexual assault or attempted sexual assault since beginning college, many women feel the campus has become unsafe. And it makes us all ask the question should college campuses be so open? In this article, I’ll discuss the pros and cons or better yet the discussions surrounding why colleges should be open or closed.
As a young woman myself hearing the statistic that up to 29% of all women attending college are possible victims of sexual assault scares me. Above all else it makes me wonder why schools aren’t doing more to help possible victims or better yet potential victims. One solution many proposed is to have a gated community-style campus where only students are allowed to attend or have access to the campus.
This would replicate what we often see when we look at more private colleges or universities that have more funds to allocate towards gated communities as opposed to public campuses like the university I attend. This is a problem because most Americans attend public universities and as such we should be given the same privileges of safety as others.
Another argument that can be held against this topic, however, is that a gate won’t stop the enemy if the enemy lives among you. We have to ask ourselves who are the perpetrators of the crimes towards women on University campuses is it strangers or is it, other students. I think that it’s easy to blame outsiders and think of all homeless people or people that we don’t know are possible murderers or rapists, but that’s mostly our stereotyping talking and it’s unfair to put such horrible cliches on to people we’ve never met. Especially when you look at the statistics. 50% of college sexual assaults are attempted assaults are done by said victim’s current or previous intimate partner. As well as a whopping 40% of attempts by the victim’s acquaintance. Only around 8% of college sexual assaults are attempted by strangers so is getting the community really going to stop the problem it’s not likely.
All this talk can make you feel quite hopeless but there are many other options that potential victims can do in order to lessen the chance of sexual assault.
-
Always carry some type of self-defense item whether that’s mace, a taser and if your campus allows it a gun.
-
Walk with someone that you truly trust especially at night.
-
Try not to hang out with people who are heavily intoxicated or go to parties by yourself. Have someone able to check on you be careful intimate partners have a 50% chance of sexually assaulting a victim most likely due to revenge or intoxication.
-
If you feel unsafe walking alone you can always contact campus police to escort you to your location.
-
Talk on the phone when you’re walking alone. That way if someone tries to attack you someone knows and you’re also less likely to be assaulted in any way I’m not just talking about sexual assault and also talking about being mugged or physically assaulted if you appear to be talking to someone on the phone.
Sources: https://www.rainn.org/statistics/campus-sexual-violence