Sexual assault: Educating students in awareness
Speakers discussed with Faculty Senate the ways in which Eastern works to keep the number of sexual assault cases low on campus.
According to the Centers for Disease Control, 20 percent of college women and 4 percent of college men in the U.S. have experienced rape or sexual assault before or during college, said Jeannie Ludlow, women’s studies coordinator, at Tuesday’s Faculty Senate meeting.
According to these statistics, that could mean 175 men and 1,180 women from Eastern may have experienced some sort of sexual assault, she said. However, these numbers are inaccurate because of low report rates.
“Only one in 25 women report rape,” Ludlow said. “Rape has the lowest reported rate in the U.S.”
The biggest problem with reporting is with acquaintance rape, she said. People might not report this kind of rape because the victims might blame themselves for the rape or they may not want to tell on the person who assaulted them.
“People may not be sure they were raped,” Ludlow said.
This could lead the victim to not seek counseling for many years in this case, she said.
Eastern continues to educate students on sexual assault awareness to reduce sexual assault on campus.
Sandy Cox, director of the Counseling Center, said the center is working with new freshman to educate them about sexual assault.
At the beginning of the school year, counselors provide safety programs for students concerning things such as alcohol and sexual assault awareness.
The education includes what to do if a situation arises.
“We want them to know this is what could happen,” Cox said.
The center teaches students how to “harden the target” by not giving in to the peer pressure college may bring, she said.
The Counseling Center has also started talking to parents about sexual assault during parent orientation.
“It’s nice to get parents to talk about these things,” Cox said.
The center also talks with the Greek community and athletics because these groups can be more susceptible to peer pressure.
Eastern also educates students using AlcoholEdu. All incoming students are required to take the sexual assault module within AlcoholEdu.
With these programs, Eastern has seen a reduction in the amount of assaults reported.
Dan Nadler, vice president for student affairs, said whether or not this reduction is for lack of reporting or because of the educational programs, he is unsure.
“We are working just as hard as if we had a major problem,” Nadler said.
The next Faculty Senate meeting is in Room 4440 of Booth Library on Oct. 20.
Courtney Bruner can be reached at 581-7492 or cbbruner@eiu.edu.
