Sitting at my desk inside my safe college dorm, thinking about how thankful I am to have come to such an amazing school. Then it hits me that every male and female went to college with a dream, and some of those dreams were shattered just because a person did not know how to listen to the word “no.” RAINN, or the Rape, Abuse and Incest National Network, states that nearly 70 percent of victims do not inform the police and around 25 percent of reported assaults lead to an arrest. It is bad enough that people are having to go through with the emotional trauma of sexual assault but they are also being left in the dust by not getting the justice they so clearly deserve. In 2016, a study was performed on nine anonymous colleges and the results were deafening 21 percent of female undergraduates and nine percent of males reported that they had been sexually assaulted in the first 3 months of classes. This includes assaults reported by LGBT, or Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender, community members. Which makes what I am going to say next ten times worse, in some states such as Alabama, the law states that rape happens between opposite-sex couples and in North Carolina, anal penetration is not even considered rape.
As I kept reading I began to feel more unsafe, scared, and a little queasy; for me these statistics were terrifying, being that I am a freshman in college, and I live nearly five hours from my home. Most cases of rape and sexual assault occur within the victim’s home, 61 percent of the time it is their intimate partner and 21 percent it is a friend. The chances are so great that it could happen to one of my friends or to myself scares me greatly. It makes it worse that you do not even know whether your attacker will be punished for what they did.
There are things that you can do as a student to prevent this from happening to you and your peers; never go anywhere alone, to the bathroom, dining areas, parking lot, or to a store: have a buddy or just take your roommate. Do not leave your drink unattended, whether you are at a bar, or if you are just at a restaurant. Do not let someone distract you because in just mere seconds, someone could slip something into your drink. If someone is making you feel uncomfortable do not be afraid to call the police or campus security and ask them to escort you to wherever you need to go. Never be afraid to ask someone for help, police and security officers are there for a reason; use them when needed.
If you know someone who this has happened to and they are scared to go to an authority figure, encourage but do not push; let them know that you are there for them, even if you do not understand. Remember that this can happen to anyone male or female, young or old. Be an advocate and start spreading the word at your campus and to your friends that sexual violence, or abuse, is a real threat to a college student, especially in 2018.