Colleges must double down on sexual assault prevention | Opinion

Kristin Shrimplin
·2 min read
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I didn't think about sexual assault when I left for my first year in college. I thought about my best friend, who was going to school with me, and how our experiences were mapped to each other. We were both ready to start our journey toward the rest of our lives.

However, my best friend and I did not have similar experiences as first-year college students. I was stopped dead in my tracks in my first six weeks because of a sexual assault. The details aren't the point. The fact that it happens so often to first-year students, especially young women, at colleges is the point.

This Back to School season, from August orientation to Thanksgiving, is called "The Red Zone." It's called that to identify a time wherein more than 50% of college sexual assaults occur. One in four women and 1 in 16 men are sexually assaulted in college. Ninety percent go unreported.

As our region invests in equity and education, we must understand that equity is incomplete if we don't understand how sexual violence disrupts us. The research is clear, according to the American Psychological Association, those who are Black, queer, or live with a disability are at higher risk of being assaulted on campus. Survivors of sexual assault suffer academically and are more likely to drop out.

We cannot stand for the Red Zone on our campuses. We must ask ourselves and our universities what investments we will make in prevention.

We can’t afford to keep reading stories of sexual assault on our campuses. We didn't invest in our children's education so young women could research the best taser brand. We can show up for using safe, evidence-based research for our young people. Women Helping Women will continue our prevention partnerships on local campuses. We have an office at the University of Cincinnati and Miami University in Oxford to provide confidential survivor services and prevention support to students and faculty. We partner with Xavier University, Cincinnati State Technical and Community College, Mount St. Joseph University and Northern Kentucky University. As the region grows, campuses are having record numbers of student enrollment. To meet the need, we must double down on prevention.

Suggested action for campuses includes:

  • Engrain prevention messaging in the first-year experience. Programming should be consistent and campus-wide.

  • Invest in diverse champions for prevention.

  • Institute multi-year university evaluation of prevention programming, policies and practice.

  • Integrate bystander intervention training in all leadership spaces.

  • Sustain partnerships with the county’s intervention service to amplify prevention and confidentially support survivors.

Prevention is an investment, but it is our duty to give our students a chance to learn and thrive.

Kristin Shrimplin is the president and CEO of Women Helping Women of SW Ohio, a social justice agency with a mission to prevent gender-based violence and empower all survivors. Women Helping Women is in its 50th year of supporting survivors and educating the region about prevention.

Kristin Shrimplin
Kristin Shrimplin

This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Colleges must invest more in sexual assault prevention