Number of sexual assault reports increased in last year

Throughout the first month of the semester, from Aug. 27 through Sept. 28, there were six sexual assaults reported to the Miami University Police Department (MUPD) and the Oxford Police Department (OPD). During the same time period in 2017, only four cases were reported to MUPD and OPD.

Not only that, but this past weekend, on Saturday, Sept. 29, a female Miami student reported the seventh sexual assault of the fall semester to an OPD officer near the scene.

"We live in a time where you think you can just tell your friend, 'text me when you get home,'" Associated Student Government (ASG) president Meghan Murtagh said. "We rely on technology too much, we need to make sure we get our friends home. Texting them is not the same thing."

Murtagh is planning to meet with senior Justin Goshorn from Men Against Rape and Sexual Assault (MARS) and senior Julia Koenig from Feminists Working On Revolutionary Democracy (F-WORD) on Wednesday to discuss the next steps ASG and other student organizations can take to change Miami's culture.

"Personally, I'm fed up," Murtagh said. "We need to be holding each other accountable...what actions are being taken?"

Whether or not ASG passes legislation to increase lighting on campus or address the safety concerns the university's One Door policy created last February, Murtagh hopes the university will take the initiative to fix these issues.

On an administrative level, Miami is focused on increasing student messaging across all four years and targeting student organizations on campus outside of F-WORD and HAWKS Peer Educators.

"I don't think it's a larger number of incidents happening at Miami," vice president for student affairs, Jayne Brownell said. "I think we're doing a better job of getting students to know how to report. Our survey numbers aren't changing, but reports are, and there are fewer people suffering in silence."

At Ohio University, students there have reported 15 sexual assault-related incidents to Ohio University Police Department (OUPD) and the Athens Police Department (APD) combined since Thursday, Sept. 27, OU junior Ellen Wagner said.

Wagner has covered the increasing number of reports as the news editor for The Post, OU's college newspaper, and wrote about the various ways in which students at OU are are trying to change the campus culture.

"Only four of the reports were reported to OUPD, which were sent to [the student body] as crime alerts," Wagner said. "The other 11 were reported to APD, but I think some of those initial reports have encouraged other people to come forward."

At OU, fraternities have replaced originally demeaning and/or offensive sheet signs on frat houses with messages of solidarity, like, "Consent is Sexy, Mandatory." Additionally, OU's Greek life and Student Senate held a rally and marched together, advocating for change, Wagner said.

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Miami's Interfraternity Council (IFC) president, Lorenzo Guidi, and Panhellenic Association president, Emily Wolfzorn are focusing on sexual assault prevention, rather than addressing things after the fact.

"We are partnering with the It's On Us campaign to put on an awareness event, similar to what we have seen at Ohio University and other schools with the banners on the front of fraternity houses," Guidi and Wolfzorn wrote in an email to The Student. "During It's On Us week, we will be sponsoring a screening of The Hunting Ground, and a discussion about the prevalence of sexual assault on campus and what steps can be taken to address the issue."

"I want reports to continue to go up," Murtagh said. "But I'm tired of the lack of response...it's not okay for people to assault one another, period."

@cadoyle_18

doyleca3@miamioh.edu