Problems, solutions & the future: Why Penn State students are rising up against sexual violence

Centre Daily Times - 10/10/2021

Oct. 10—Most times Penn State sophomore Sonika Kohli readies herself for a night out, the fear of becoming a sexual assault victim settles into the back of her mind.

She knows the statistics: More than 1 in 4 undergraduate women here have either been victims of sexual assault or attempted sexual assault. She's listened to stories from friends who have been assaulted, familiarized herself with resources and organized petitions. And, although sexual assault is not something she actively lives in fear of, she — like a growing number of Penn State students — has had enough.

"Every time my roommate or I leave at night, we're like, 'Oh, do you want me to walk with you?' It's so much energy to think about every time you leave you dorm room to get a soda or something," said Kohli, chair of the Schreyer Gender Equity Coalition. "In any other situation, if someone were to say, 'Every time I leave my door, I think about getting robbed,' that would be absurd. But, for this issue, it's normalized."

A heightened sense of awareness regarding sexual assault has pervaded the University Park campus — and students want the university to do more. Many point to the seemingly nonstop phone alerts from the university, the "timely warnings" that indicate a sex offense has occurred on campus, as reason for concern.

After all, there have been 14 such warnings across various campus locations since August — twice as many compared to this time last year — including five in a four-day span in mid-September. And students have reacted: One group organized a march through campus last Friday to demand change, like banning all fraternities, and some students have highlighted troubling numbers from University Park's 2018 sexual misconduct survey that the university released just last month.

For their part, university officials have tried to empathize with students while, at the same time, adding young adults tend to want change and want change now. And progress doesn't always work that way, they intimated.

"The university administration understands this impatience and shares it," Damon Sims, vice president for Student Affairs, wrote in a recent blog post. "Even as we acknowledge progress made in the form of better and broader administrative structures and programs designed to effectively address these issues, we share frustration that sexual misconduct persists."

Added Kohli: "It's just always the university saying , 'Yeah, we totally agree' — and then not doing anything about it. So, yeah, it's definitely frustrating."

What's the (national) problem?

More than 100 Penn State students gathered at the Allen Street gates last Friday, armed with signs and megaphones to remind those on the bustling sidewalks downtown that sexual violence remains an important issue on campus.

"This school's not going to do anything unless we demand they do something!" one organizer, from the group Students Against Sexist Violence (SASV), shouted into the megaphone.

Sexual violence isn't a Penn State issue; it's a national issue. So far this semester, similar protests have already been held at Big Ten peers such as Iowa, Michigan, Nebraska and Northwestern. Earlier this month, at Indiana, all 22 sororities even canceled Oct. 2 events with fraternities due to an increase in sexual assault reports.

Sexual violence is notoriously difficult to track as, nationally, only about 1 in 5 college-aged women report to law enforcement. It's hard to pinpoint whether assaults are truly on the rise, but experts agree of the increased risk during the "red zone," or between the start of the semester and Thanksgiving break, when half of the year's campus assaults typically occur. Because of curtailed nightlife last year due to COVID-19 restrictions, some advocates have also referred to this semester as a "double red zone."

At Penn State, despite the rise of "timely warnings," University Park might even be an outlier in that sexual assaults do not appear to be significantly increasing. According to university officials, in the first six weeks of this semester, there have been 20 such instances — compared to 20 in the first six weeks of the 2019 fall semester and 15 in the 2018 fall semester. In fact, when it comes to overall totals, this year is on track to see fewer reported rapes and assaults than the last two pre-COVID years.

Still, whether sexual assault cases are increasing or stabilizing, few disagree this remains a serious issue that needs further attention. Based on the recently released 2018 Sexual Misconduct Climate Survey, nearly 3 in 10 female Penn State undergrads do not feel safe on campus from sexual violence and 27.1% of polled female undergrads said they were victims of at least one instance of completed or attempted sexual assault.

"One in three don't trust Penn State to protect their safety. That's bad," said Penn State senior Nora Van Horn, vice chair for the the Schreyer Gender Equity Coalition, which advocated for a year for the release of the survey results, which were delayed due to the pandemic.

Among other key findings in the University Park survey:

— Few women who experience sexual misconduct talk to police or university officials. In 2018, 87.3% of female undergrads who experienced sexual misconduct confided in a close friend other than a roommate. That number nosedived when it came to officials. Local police? 1.9%, a decrease from 2015's 2.4%. On-campus counselor or therapist? 9.1%, a decrease from 2015's 9.7%. Office of Student Conduct? 2.1%, compared to 2015's 3.2%.

— The top reason women don't report sexual misconduct is because they believe it would cause more trouble than it's worth. In 2018, the number of female undergrads who said that's why they didn't report was 73.6%, an increase from 2015's 69.1%.

— Feelings of safety increased. In 2015, 61.6% of female undergrads said they felt safe from sexual violence on campus and 63.2% said they felt safe from stalking. In 2018, those numbers increased to 71.8% and 73.8%, respectively.

— Trust in the university decreased. In seven poll questions that measured trust in Penn State, all saw decreases between the two polls. In 2015, for example, 72.8% of female undergrads said they believed PSU would take a report of sexual misconduct seriously. In 2018, that fell to 62.9%.

— The main reason students don't intervene when sexual misconduct is occurring is because they don't know when the incident rises to the level of needing intervention. That was the top reason for both men and women, grad and undergrad. Some 68.7% of undergrads in 2018 said that's why they didn't intervene, compared to 67% in 2015.

What's the solution?

Jim Willshier, chief public affairs officer for the Pennsylvania Coalition Against Rape, acknowledged there was no easy answer here. But he said solutions could essentially be broken down to three areas — prevention/intervention, perpetrator accountability and survivor support.

The first two go hand-in-hand. If a campus collectively finds "locker room talk" unacceptable then that community should speak up when that talk comes up, Willshier said. If they chide the speaker, telling him or her that's not right, that speaker is being held accountable — and is less likely to do it again. When it comes to support, that simply means understanding every sexual assault survivor is different — and some find it cathartic to tell police while others find it much too traumatic to relive over and over.

When asked specifically about recommendations for Penn State, Willshier — a PSU grad — quickly deferred to the person he felt was most qualified to answer: Anne Ard, executive director of Centre Safe, a local organization that seeks to empower survivors of sexual assault.

And Ard had no shortage of suggestions.

Her first suggestion — improving the bystander intervention program — overlapped with a concern shared by Penn State students Kohli and Van Horn, who characterized the current program as an afterthought. The program usually comes as part of freshman orientation as a one-time training session.

"Most of us have the idea that if we teach somebody, if we can have somebody go through one training class, that they're going to get it," Ard said. "The reality is that bystander intervention is a skill and, like any skill, that has to be practiced. So part of what I would encourage the university to do is think about, 'How do we teach people?' This is not a one-shot workshop.

"If you learn this in freshman orientation, then by the time you're a junior and in a fraternity party or house party, are you going to be able to reach back into your brain and pull out, 'Oh, I should be intervening in this way'? Probably not."

Ard suggested a one-credit intervention class or a 10-minute required online training course as a condition of enrolling every academic year. She also echoed one of SASV's demands to support victims on their own terms by saying that, as soon as there is a report, that student should be provided their own advocate.

Centre Safe's executive director was quick to add that, while students' trust in the university may be decreasing, hers has only increased. Penn State can stand to improve its practices and policies, she said — but that goes for every university. "You have to be open to critique," she added. "You have to be open to feedback about the ways it's not working for people so that you can move forward to learn how it can work more effectively."

Penn State boasts numerous resources regarding sexual assault, such as offices that allow students to file reports online, in person or virtually; and a center that plans to hire a full-time survivor advocate. Other services, like Counseling and Psychological Services, are available for mental health.

The CDT requested, but was not granted, interviews with Sims and Title IX coordinator Chris Harris. A Penn State spokesperson instead referred the CDT to Sims' recent blog post.

"This problem will not be solved overnight no matter how determined we may be," Sims wrote in the recent blog post. "But the university administration remains committed to the hard work required through education, prevention and enforcement."

What comes next?

A "town hall" — which often involves screened questions — will be held on sexual misconduct later this fall, moderated by university President Eric Barron. Student focus groups will meet with university staff Wednesday to discuss the sexual misconduct climate survey, and a new survey is planned for the spring.

In the greater community, Centre Safe has teamed up with the SAFE Bar Network to offer bystander intervention training to bar employees. Champs Downtown, at 139 S. Allen St., is one of 16 bars across the nation that's listed as having already received training.

Penn State groups will also continue to meet, and the University Park Undergraduate Association — which passed a resolution last month asking for the 2018 survey results — will continue to follow the issue closely.

"It's not just on students to combat this issue," Van Horn said. "It's on all of us, particularly those who can impose policies that really make a difference in people's lives."

Resources

There are a number of local, state and national resources at the disposal of Penn State students and others in Centre County. Here is a list, much of which was compiled by the university:

On-campus

— Center for Sexual and Gender Diversity: 814-863-1248

— Commonwealth Campuses Sexual Assault Resources

— Counseling and Psychological Services (confidential): 814-863-0395

— Gender Equity Center (confidential): 814-863-2027

— Penn State Crisis Line: 877-229-6400

— Penn State Crisis Text Line: Text "LIONS" to 741741

— Penn State Hotline (anonymous reporting): 800-560-1637

— Penn State Police: 814-863-1111

— Safe Walk Program: 814-865-9255

— University Health Services (confidential non-emergency care): 814-863-0774

— UHS after-hours advice nurse (24 hours a day): 814-863-4463