Unfortunately, it seems that the subject of rape and sexual misconduct has been a popular topic in the news lately. With the on going controversy of Brock Turner sparking attention on the issue, it has caused social media to explode with different stories surrounding the general issue of rape. I say this in an even sadder manner, but the issue of sexual assaults has been all too popular on my school’s campus, West Chester University, as well. It is a shame when this is a subject that needs to keep being discussed because it keeps reoccurring. The university is beginning to take action in probably not the best manner, so now students are acting out and responding as well.
On Thursday September 7th, my school’s statue of our mascot, the Ram, was taped over with papers that had the phrase, “This is not the answer. Alcohol does not cause rape.” This phrase was written in response to an email that was sent to all students from the school’s interim president. Simply, this email stated that the University’s public safety would be taking more drastic measures to try and prevent the abundance of sexual misconduct that occurs on campus. Sounds like a good idea right? Well the drastic measures the school was referring too included begin aware of substance abuse, aka drinking on campus. Therefore the phrase above was made and personally, I could not agree with it more.
Rape is a tragedy and so unfortunate that some fall victim to the crime. The number of rapes that happen per year is also rising and the most seem to be happening on college campuses. Scary right? The place where we are supposed to have the best four years of our lives and yet we cannot feel totally safe. However, this is not due solely to the fact that college students consume alcohol. It is true that enough alcohol can make people act unlike themselves and make them do things that are out of character. But when it comes to it, using alcohol as an excuse for a rape is inexcusable and not a valid argument. What causes rape is the people who commit the crime, plain and simple.
Now here comes the hardest part, the solution. The president sent out another message clarifying that he was not blaming alcohol consumption for rape and they were not going to go to such drastic measures as enforcing a cop to stand on every corner trying to catch us drinking. However, I do have to comment that if maybe the school cared as much about sexual assaults on campus as they do alcohol consumption, then maybe the numbers would be lowered by now. I think our focus on issues needs to be shifted more towards sexual assaults considering that is agreeably the most important issue.
Working towards a solution together is what we need, but it is never going to happen if people feel unsafe due to not only sexual assaults, but feel they cannot leave a bad situation after drinking due to strict enforcement and constant fear of being caught by police. Personally, I do not know what the exact solution is. I can only hope that awareness of this serious and awful issue will be raised on all campuses across the country. While they will probably never stop happening all together, if the numbers could drop significantly, it would be a step in the right direction.
