The American Association of University Women reports that nationally 42 percent of college women who are raped don’t tell anyone about what happened to them — silenced by fear, shame, intimidation and confusion.

Yet even for those who find the courage to report their sexual assaults, their voices are unwillingly silenced.

Although the Department of Public Safety at Syracuse University has reported that crime on campus has decreased — through initiatives such as the blue light system, escort services and year-old University Area Crime-Control Team (UACT) — we should still take it upon ourselves as students to be allies for millennials at other schools.

A Nov. 6 article by the Huffington Post’s online college section entitled “A Big Problem in How Campus Police Handle Sexual Assault Cases,” details the sense of carelessness, disregard and inefficiency of campus police in handling these situations.

The article also explains the lack of follow-up between victims of sexual assault crimes who file the reports and the officers who review them. Such negligence reveals that campus security forces and university administration as a whole must commit to better protecting their students and meeting their needs.

The Huffington Post reports that Amanda Tripp, a student at the University of Indianapolis, reported to her campus police at the end of 2012 a sexual assault crime that was committed against her by an acquaintance.

After taking “several weeks of speaking with a therapist before she felt comfortable reporting it,” Tripp’s courageous stance was met with dead-end results. After finally obtaining a time-stamped copy of the “rape report” months later in January, Tripp discovered that campus police determined “a crime did not occur” within 30 minutes of her filing the report and leaving the offices.

Tripp would eventually have to file another report. After going back and forth with campus officers and the university’s judicial system, her accused assailant “was cited on a first-time alcohol violation.”

Regrettably, similar instances have also occurred across the nation at places like the University of Southern California. The Huffington Post cites that a student at USC, Ari Mostov, was met with the same disappointment and shock when her campus police met her sexual assault case with so much resistance to action.

“I feel like I was denied justice,” Mostov said when describing her experience.

Such recent instances are shameful reminders that the culture embedded at places of higher education still has a long way to go in fostering environments that are intolerant of sexual assault and rape happening on their campuses and taking the concern of victims seriously.

Campus authorities belittle the survivors of sexual assault cases by not being proactive in bringing them justice. It is sickening to think that a student who has already experienced so much has to then convince the force meant to protect them that they were truly harmed and hurt.

The regular occurrence of these instances on college campuses indicates that this is now a negative phenomenon that requires immediate attention.

As college students, we devote a countless amount of hours and dedication to doing great work for and at our university. It is up to the university to meet our needs and protect us when it matters most.

Amanda Tripp may have said it best when she described the feeling and attitude she now has toward her school after what she has gone through. “I love my school…but they failed me when it mattered most.”

Nina Rodgers is a sophomore sociology major. Her column appears weekly. She can be reached at nmrodger@syr.edu.

Published on November 12, 2013 at 1:51 am