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The Many Sides of Sexual Assault on College Campuses

By in News

By Andrew Greenway in collaboration with Roberta English’s Journalism 122 Class, 9/6/19

In recent years, many social movements have backed the rights of sexual assault victims and survivors of abuse. The most prominent during its time, the #MeToo Movement was especially powerful when it helped bring to light sexual misconduct on social media in industries and fields where these things may have been commonplace or an uncomfortable side effect of the differences in social standing between victim and perpetrator. Today, America moves towards a country more aware, where every victim has a voice and many local organizations aim to be a safe harbor for victims to recover.

However, abuses and misconduct of a sexual nature remain an issue at the forefront of many public figures’ mind. The college campus has been an environment of special interest for advocates, survivors, and students alike who want colleges and universities to make student victim safety a priority.

In this article, four student journalists will explore the public consensus regarding a recent case of sexual misconduct on college campuses. Interviewing students and staff alike, they hope to put a mirror up to Illinois Central College and ask us to consider if there’s more we can do to be a safe haven for our most vulnerable students.

Alyssa Mueller

In a lot of colleges across the United States, there are problems where students are sexually assaulted while attending college and recently, a girl who was sexually assaulted at Stanford University who has remained anonymous for over 3 years has now been publicly named.

Her name is Chanel Miller. She was sexually assaulted on-campus at Stanford in 2016.

ICC has stated that ‘’Illinois Central College will not tolerate acts of sexual assault, dating & domestic violence, or stalking in any form, including rape, on its campus.’’ Learning this, I asked other ICC students how serious they thought colleges were when their students come forward and admit that they were assaulted.

When asked about how safe she felt here, student Makenna B. replied, “ I feel comfortable here; I think it’s a pretty safe environment, because its a smaller community so there’s not as many issues like that happening here because there are a lot of teachers and counseling around.”

“The smaller the college, the less issues there are on that [sexual assault,]” Makenna asserted when asked why she thought that Illinois Central College is safer than other schools.

Administrator Rodney “RC” San Jose has worked at multiple colleges in his career and has seen stories like Miller’s that in the news. “Colleges need to make sure they’re promoting that if anything happens you can come confidentially and report it to the school because it should be reported.”

Although many colleges and universities have these policies in place, not many promote them. When asked what he thought colleges could do to make sure that their students knew what their policy was, RC answered that social media could be a medium to help people talk to others.

“Definitely through social media. I think any means by the school’s social media, rather it be YouTube or Instagram because many people think they need to go straight to the police but get scared. They always need to speak to someone in a counseling setting at the college.”

When asked how he would handle if a student from ICC admitted to him that they were assaulted, RC had this to say. “I would make sure they know they’re heard but I would also make sure that they go to a higher authority at [the] college rather I go for them and keep it anonymous. Or go with them to tell them I just would need to make sure they’re talking to someone of higher authority about the situation.”

Kamare Edwards

In light of Chanet Miller, originally known as Emily Doe in the People v. Turner case, finally speaking out on the case and giving her own personal statements on both the case and the hiding of her identity, students at Illinois Central College were interviewed on how they feel the case affects them and how safe they truly feel on campus.

20-year old Melissa Grant, although unaware of the victim’s name, was rather well-informed on the matter and found it a little strange. “No, I don’t recall [Miller’s name]. I don’t think they ever actually used her name. She was always just the ‘unconscious girl’ or the victim.”

With the knowledge that such an act occurred on a college campus, Melissa, being a Chicago native, was asked if she herself felt safe here on Illinois Central College’s campus.

Her reply helped shed light on her unique perspective, “Well, I’m from Chicago and a lot of people might think that stuff like this is common there but it really isn’t. This is my second year here and I feel about as safe now as I did when I first came here.” She goes on to share her thoughts on living in Central Illinois, “Peoria doesn’t seem like the kind of place that gets that kind of crime, so I don’t expect something like that to happen here.” Melissa finished her statement saying, “I’m not much of a party girl, so I don’t feel myself having any trouble with this,” but if she were ever to witness something similar she would report it “in a heartbeat.”

On the other end of the spectrum, Donovan Gellar had not heard or read anything regarding the 2016 case but did note the name seemed familiar.

When asked if he felt safe at ICC, he laughed. “Well, yeah. Stuff like that doesn’t really happen around here, so I’m not really worried.” He then added, jokingly, “I’m a big [black] dude, so nobody’s really trying to flex.”

Donovan asserted himself even asked if he felt anybody he knew on-campus or otherwise would be capable of doing something similar. “No, sir. I’ve known most of my friends since I was a kid and I know for a fact that our parents raised us right. So no I don’t know anybody that would take advantage of somebody who happened to be drunk,” the light-hearted 24-year old stated that he would report anything of the sort immediately if he were to witness it, ending his interview condemning the act, “that stuff isn’t right.”

Andrew Kersh

Chanel Miller is releasing a book detailing the events of her sexual assault by her fellow Stanford University student Brock Turner. With the release of Know My Name (Miller’s book) and Turner receiving a minimal sentence for his actions, there continues to be an ongoing debate on sexual abuse, misconduct, and how it should be punished. Chanel’s story remains an important piece of discussion that continues to circulate and be discussed at length in the country.

As a college, sexual assault is one of the many problems ICC is concerned with. Several students say there is “no definite problem” and while they are aware of sexual assault as an issue, few believe ICC has many, if any, problems involving sexual misconduct.

However, one student mentioned hearing of a recent event at ISU involving social network stalking although they believe ICC didn’t suffer this problem due to the number of students that commute or don’t stay on-campus.

When this student was asked about the Chanel Miller case, the student theorized that Turner’s light punishment may have stemmed from his involvement in the school’s sports program, stating that athletes are let off easier. However, this remains unconfirmed.

Dane Poe

Sexual assault is becoming a growing problem in the college atmosphere.

In 2015, Stanford student Channel Miller was sexually assaulted by Stanford swimming champion Brock Turner outside of a fraternity party. Brock Turner could’ve gotten 14 years in federal prison but instead served three months in jail, spurring outrage at the Judge’s decision.

More victims are coming out about their case with the rise of awareness around the topic. Thus, asking both a male student and a female student if and how safe they feel at Illinois Central College. 

“I feel like [Turner] being an athlete had something to do with it,” asserted Victor when told about Turner’s brief stint in jail compared to how long Turner could’ve been imprisoned. Fellow student Paige was more critical of the system itself, “The legal system downed the system. [Turner] got off a lot easier than he should’ve.”

When asked if either of them felt protected on campus, Victor and Paige both regarded Illinois Central College as a safe place, albeit for different reasons.

“I feel safe. I don’t think I need to be protected because I don’t feel like there is a threat,” answered Victor.

“I feel safe because there are friendly faculty members that would help out,” said Paige.

Both were then asked if there was anything they thought ICC could do to help prevent sexual assault, there was an agreement that raising awareness and education is the key. “Educating students and promoting. Make sure that students know what to do and what resources and that there’s someone there for them,” affirmed Paige.

As long as ICC continues to promote awareness and help students by making resources available, ICC will remain a place that both males and females feel safe.

(Editor’s Note: As of December 17th, 2019, all bylines will include credits and attribution to header images with links to their original sources and all non-native images will be sourced in their captions. Following multiple instances of copyright holders reaching out to us with concern on the use of their materials, we will be moving copyright info from our metadata to our captions where they are more visible.
Flickr, original source at Flickr Commons.)

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