By Anne Hall
Staff Writer
With a short lesson or reminder of procedures, options, causes and local resources there may be hope to prime students for remaining safe during the holidays this party season at CSUSM and everywhere.
Students will be drinking and potentially carousing in celebration as midterms and holidays begin to intertwine. Various student organizations and groups party together regularly and campus life is not the only place that students turn to for a good time. Safety is everyone’s responsibility and unfortunate incidents are often unnecessary and can most often be prevented.
Statistics provided by the Gender Equity Center showed that in 95 percent of incidents involving rape, the perpetrator is someone the individual knows. One in four women are raped in society. As a first year college student, an individual is at a higher risk of rape from the time the fall semester has begun to Thanksgiving break. Sorority women are at a higher risk of being raped their entire college career. Sexual assault among men and women is no less of a problem.
Based on San Diego County Police records, DUI and DWI charges rise during the fall semesters for colleges and communities. Self-awareness, paying attention to surroundings, buddy systems and taking action as an “upstander” to look after the well-being of others is a strong step forward in being proactive against violence and danger
“Be an upstander and intervene if you see someone that might potentially be in danger,” Cathy Nguyen, a Health Educator at the H.O.P.E. and Wellness Center, said.
Have a designated driver, take someone else’s keys and make them sleep it off on the floor and do whatever it takes to avoid poor decision-making. Don’t look the other way when you see someone that might be in trouble or has been placed in a vulnerable position.
Even the most cautious individual can find themselves in a position that they just cannot escape from. If or when that does happen, there are options and resources that people can turn to. A Victims Advocate is always available to accompany and support sexual assault or rape survivors, regardless of gender, as they go through the experience of trying to get help. All a person has to do is ask for one if one is not offered to them.
According to Lieutenant Doug Miller, campus police has a policy to “help seek prosecution or at least file a report to get further assistance.”
“Regardless of how a violent crime is reported to the University, our primary concern is always the welfare and safety of the victim and connecting that victim to the many resources available to them to help in the recovery process,” Miller said. “Crime reported to the University Police from a Campus Security Administrator will be reflected on the annual US Department of Education Clery Campus Crime and Security Report, but may not be reflected on the US Department of Justice Uniform Crime Report. However, if a victim reports a crime directly to the University Police, the crime will be reflected on both reports. How the University Police report crimes on these reports is strictly regulated by the Department of Justice and the Department of Education and they often have very different requirements.”
Regardless of a victim’s decision to press charges, a paper trail exists of the incident report and all criminal activity primarily remains on police record. Survivors’ names can never be released to anyone but the District Attorney’s office in the event of sexual assault. Names do not go to the University without the reporter’s permission. Only with the survivor’s permission can names be released to the Dean of Students for the sake of dealing with incidents between students in order to perform a concurrent investigation for consideration of student involvement (restraining orders, class changes, etc.) considered for the students safety.
Another resource for students to turn to is Student Health and Counseling Services. The staff advocates for survivors and help to do only what the individual is willing to do. Should an individual have the desire to change their mind about reporting later on, they are always available to open an investigation or press charges at a later date, regardless of time lapse. Sensitivity of the survivors’ wants is the main focus. Everything at SHCS is confidential.
“If a student doesn’t report they miss out on ensuring their own health and they miss out on preventing a potential assault on another person,” Dr. Nicholson said.
Rape Aggression Defense Courses (R.A.D.) are also offered on campus at limited times throughout the year due to limited instructor availability. Classes normally occupy about 20 students. Instructors include Cathy Nguyen and Sergeant Stuart.
“The course takes a lot of staff effort. It is a 12-hour training that is broken up into three to four days. A majority of abductions happen to women. We’re empowering women to fight back,” Nguyen said.
“The degree of safety that is offered on this campus is good. Students can go to a blue box and call, but that’s not going to help you when you’re in the dorms, so it’s really getting to the culture of student life and in fostering an environment where students feel supported in reporting sex crimes because my experience so far in conversations with students is that they don’t feel that way. They feel that sometimes if they do report that there is a lot of questioning of the typical victim blaming of these kinds of questions that we would hope are out of our culture at this point but apparently are not,” says Dr. Pamela Redela.
Victim Advocates are a legal right for situations exactly like this. Traycie Mitchell, a volunteer Victim Advocate for sexual assault and domestic violence through the Women’s Resource Center in Oceanside, asserts that calling attention to these issues is key.
“If you’re out in the public you should contact law enforcement and a chain of events starts to happen. I am part of what is called a S.A.R.T. Team, which is a sexual assault response team…you have a right to a victims advocate. My job is to let the victim know that I am completely there for them; I am not in any way affiliated with the law or the medical community. My sole job there is to keep them comfortable, that they feel safe and that their rights are being respected. If at any time they want to stop…whatever, they have the right to say ‘I’m done’ and it has to stop,” Mitchell said.
Dr. Redela also asserted that finding these resources and utilizing them is what will help students that have been affected by sexual assault and prevent it from happening to more.
“I have, just this semester, have had students report to me that when they went into the Gender Equity Center, that was the only place where they found information on domestic violence and sexual assault…and when they go to Health Services there was nothing out available,” Redela said. “They would have to ask for that and sometimes people in that situation are afraid to ask or they’re embarrassed to ask and if there’s a pamphlet there in front of them with information on who to contact they’re more apt to do that than if they have to ask the desk person. I notice that students have addressed that this semester.”
Despite the fact that this school has been rated the “safest CSU in the state,” students cannot assume that violence does not exist because this campus still has its problems.
“It happens…can’t say bad things won’t happen,” Michelle Saavedra Diaz of Disabled Student Services said.
The current Clery report has available crime statistics for the last three years at http://www.csusm.edu/police/Clery.pdf.
“In general, I feel as safe on campus as elsewhere, including while driving on the freeway. I try to be safety conscious here and elsewhere and do not practice the same routine on a daily basis,” Professor David Avalos of the Visual and Performing Arts Department said.
When people work together to consider the safety of themselves and others, regardless of where you are in the world, the probability of facing unnecessary dangers becomes reduced and quality of life can be enjoyed to the fullest. Being armed with the knowledge and information needed to help yourself and others is the first step.