Recently, Syracuse University released its annual Safety and Security Report. This report listed the initiatives taken by the university to raise awareness and educate students about domestic violence and sexual assault on campus. SU is making several strides toward a safer campus, but could be doing more to combat this issue.

Topics like domestic and sexual violence aren’t easy to talk about and, for some, can be especially triggering. But students must learn how to talk about these subjects. Students should be exposed to these topics in meaningful ways that will allow them to understand the reality of domestic and sexual violence and how many of their peers deal with these issues.

Nationally, nearly 20 people per minute are physically abused by an intimate partner — more than 10 million men and women in a given year. What students must understand is that these are not just numbers. Domestic violence is directly affecting college students too.

Thirty-two percent of college students report having experienced dating violence in a past relationship. This means many students probably know someone or have come in contact with an individual who has suffered from domestic violence.

Vera House is one resource available to SU students in need of assistance or guidance relating to domestic violence or sexual assault. Vera House is dedicated to raising awareness and advocating for victims.

Amy Nakamura | Co-Digital Editor

“All folks involved could always be improving and doing more to address the issue, as this is an issue that has been going on for decades,” said Tiffany Brec, the campus project coordinator for Vera House.

Federal law requires colleges to educate new students, teachers and staff on the prevention of rape, dating violence and sexual assault. But how schools choose to do that varies widely.

The initiatives that SU’s Safety and Security report outlined include tactics such as the use of hashtags relating to raising awareness for these issues, online modules for incoming students to complete and a presentation demonstrating bystander intervention. The university also provides a number of resources to those experiencing violence.

While all of these steps are certainly critical in the process of spreading the word about abuse, they do not do enough to enact fundamental change on campus. These efforts are easy for students to look past and neglect to clearly communicate just how serious this topic is. While attempts to raise awareness are a step in the right direction, the university cannot stop there.

SU’s report says that “effective prevention of sexual and relationship violence, sexual harassment and other types of harassment and discrimination requires the commitment of community members to foster a respectful community.” But not all students are aware of how to develop this type of environment for their classmates. And some clearly don’t take that responsibility seriously.

Amy Nakamura | Co-Digital Editor

In the past three years alone — 2016 to 2018 — there have been 35 reported rapes on SU’s campus. The university’s spring 2018 Survey on Sexual and Relationship Violence, showed that about 27% of respondents said that they had been affected by dating violence since they became a student at SU. About 93% said they did not file a report with the university.

The survey also showed that 23% of respondents said they had experienced sexual contact without their consent since coming to SU. But about 95% of respondents who said they had been sexually assaulted did not file a report with the university, according to the poll.

Sexual and domestic violence is clearly still prominent on campus, but more needs to be done to show students how they can help to bring these numbers down.

“Students are fairly aware that these issues exist but are less sure how to prevent this from happening,” Brec said.

If students were educated in more detail about ways to intervene or advocate for their classmates who suffer from domestic violence or sexual assault, perhaps college students would come face to face with this type of trauma less often. Education offered by colleges must extend beyond strategies that give bystanders or survivors the responsibility of taking action to prevent violence — they must address the underlying attitudes that create violence in the first place.

The journey toward creating and promoting awareness is on the right track. However, it is imperative to recognize that more can always be done. The university offers resources for survivors, but ultimately needs to provide more for the students who are still unsure of what they can do.

In order to turn Syracuse University into a truly welcoming and safe place to go to school, students must feel confident in their abilities to understand and combat domestic violence and sexual assault. Our work is never done, and by knowing how to properly aid those who need help or who do not have the ability to speak up, we can make SU a more inclusive and safe place.

Alex Battaglia is a freshman newspaper and online journalism major. Her column appears bi-weekly. She can be reached at abatta02@syr.edu. She can be followed on Twitter at @alex_battaglia.

Published on October 22, 2019 at 10:26 pm