The Influence Of Sexual Assault On Campus

Every morning when I wake up and walk into the bathroom I see it. A framed piece of paper that reads, “Sexual Assault Hotlines” in bold letters. The paper defines sexual assault and then goes on to list a total of twenty one phone numbers, both on and off campus. One In Four, a rape prevention organization, has found that “One in four college women report surviving rape or attempted rape at some point in their lifetime” (One In Four). These statistics have remained the same since the study first began in 1980. As a result of sexual assault, victims tend to suffer from depression, anxiety or most commonly, PTSD. While it is hard to say that sexual assault will completely cease to exist, there are steps we can take to lower the statistics that …show more content…
With that said, there are also certain flaws to the school, and I am not just talking about the parking situation. The school rates at a C when it comes to safety on the college review website, Niche. Security seems to be nonexistent on campus, besides the student volunteers who walk around in bright yellow shirts and who could realistically only do so much. Granted, there is a police station about a minute off campus, but they do not really seem to be that big of help either. In fact, there are twenty one emails from the University of California Police Department sitting in my inbox that all end with, “UCPD officers responded and checked the area, but could not find the suspect”. It has become a sort of a joke that if you call UCPD, you obviously do not want the problem solved. This makes you wonder who would be there to stop something awful from occurring, and also how fast would they get there. The proposed solution to this is simple, just hire campus security guards to secure campus. Not only would this possibly decrease the chance of assault, there would also be an end to the campus “danger zones”. Danger zones are essentially wherever those blue poles with “press for emergency” are located. The way I see it, there would not be danger zones if there were people in charge of keeping away the …show more content…
Something such as better lighting during night time could make a world of difference. San Francisco Gate reporter Tanya Schevitz wrote, “College officials said yesterday that in the past four years they have increased lighting by about 20 percent, primarily along roads and in parking lots” (Schevitz) at Los Medanos College after there were four rapes on campus. Anyone who has had classes past 6pm knows that lighting on campus is rare. There are a few lamps here and there, but for the most part it is pitch black. Last quarter, my days usually ended at 8pm. I can honestly say that I have never ran so much in the span of three months, solely out of fear. UCR has this saying that if you are ever lost on campus, just head to the Bell Tower and you will find your way from there. While that is nice and all, what am I supposed to do if I can not find the Bell Tower because it is too dark and there is absolutely no lighting surrounding it? The lighting surrounding UCR housing is the same thing. Walking around Pentland Hills at night not only feels unsafe, but it also looks the part. Lighting is so dim it is almost like it is not even there. In fact, for a couple of weeks it literally was not there since the lamps were broken and it took quite a bit of time for any repairs to be made. It is hard to imagine why and or