It Ends Here
By Grace Carballo ‘17
Sexual assault is a widespread problem on college campuses across the country and unfortunately, USC is no exception by any means.
According to the 2015 survey by the Association of American Universities (AAU), among female college students, 23% said they experienced some form of unwanted sexual contact (ranging from kissing to rape, carried out by force or threat of force, or while they were incapacitated).
To address these issues, the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD), USC Relationship and Sexual Violence Prevention Services (RSVP), USC Undergraduate Student Government (USG) and Trojan Marketing Group collaborated to host the It Ends Here Run/Walk around campus last Sunday.
The goal of this event was to raise awareness and show solidarity with survivors. The 2.5K run/walk took place around campus, starting in Pardee Plaza, after LAPD officers spoke to the crowd. Volunteers painted participants faces and tied teal ribbons on their wrists during check in and there were signs available to personalize saying “Why I’m Running.”
The results of the AAU survey at USC, released in 2015, indicated that, among female undergraduates, 29.7 percent experienced assault since entering University of Southern California and 17.3 percent experienced this type of assault during the current school year.
Even one sexual assault at USC is one too many, but this data indicates something much more pervasive.
http://www.itendshere.org/#/org-pledge
(The graphic above is the It Ends Here Pledge that you can sign at the link above, as well.)
“It’s hard to draw any hard conclusions from a participation rate of 19 percent,” said Vice President for Student Affairs Ainsley Carry in a press briefing after the AAU survey results were released, (quoted in a Daily Trojan article linked below). “We will take the responses that we have and do the best job we can with the data in front of us.”
The AAU survey also measured campus climate surrounding sexual assault.
Students were asked if they believe that campus officials would conduct a fair investigation in the event of a report.
Only 32.4% of USC female undergraduate students surveyed and only 53% of female graduate students said that it is very or extremely likely that there would be a fair investigation.
It is difficult to measure the prevalence of sexual assault on college campuses because many victims do not report the incidents, for a variety of reasons analyzed in the AAU survey, as well:
The survey also found that the prevalence of sexual assault varies greatly by gender:
Evidently, the problem of sexual assault is something we at USC need to address and prevent on our own campus. The It Ends Here Run sought to contribute to that process. Though it was a small event, it was a step in the right direction. We as a Trojan Family still have a long way to go.
If you or someone you know is the victim of sexual assault, there are resources available to you: http://sarc.usc.edu/resources/
For further reading, look into the following:
The Daily Trojan wrote an article after the release of the campus climate survey last year.
Nathaniel Hass, a law student at USC Gould, published (in Nov 2015) a close analysis of the problem, specifically looking at fraternities in a piece called The Cost of Sexual Assault at USC.
President Obama created this Task Force to Protect Students From Sexual Assault.
And, of course, the results of the AAU Campus Climate Survey at USC, some of which are included in this post, are worth a closer read.
As always,
Fight injustice on (don’t be a bystander!),
Grace Carballo ‘17
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