Updated: Nov. 4 at 12:30 p.m. EST
With a new group of freshmen and transfer students and the return of other student classes, many universities, including Temple, report a large number of sexual assaults during the fall semester — a time period known as the “Red Zone.”
More than 50% of sexual assaults at colleges occur in the “Red Zone,” according to the Center for Women and Families. Temple also sees a large number of concerns brought to their office during the time period, Megan Patrick, Temple’s Title IX coordinator, told The Temple News.
In an effort to mitigate those numbers, multiple departments across Temple are working together to reduce the chance of sexual assault on campus for all students.
The Temple Police Department, Title IX office, risk reduction and advocacy coordinator Donna Gray and the Philadelphia Police Department’s Special Victims Unit are all working together this semester to investigate and solve cases of sexual assault at on campus.
“Our victim advocate, and other people in Public Safety, try to get the message out about how not to be a victim and different things,” said Thomas Macartney, the sergeant of investigations for TUPD. “Donna [Gray] would work with the different groups, and whether it be fraternities, sororities, whatever the student groups where she works to get that messaging out.”
The weather is also typically warmer in the first few months of the fall semester, and new students want to explore the “college experience.” Freshmen often go to off-campus parties and try things like drugs or alcohol, which they might not be familiar with. More than 65% of women victims said that their perpetrator consumed alcohol prior to their sexual assault, according to a 2019 survey by the Association of American Universities.
Macartney said that TUPD helps with PPD’s sexual assault investigations instead of leading their own work. TUPD creates the same report in their own system that mirrors the PPD’s work, and TUPD will then internally notify the Title IX office as well as Gray to help with victim advocacy. Gray hosts workshops or meetings to help students be aware of the sexual assault risks.
“I think [resource] preparation starts before people come, quite honestly – looking at what have been some trends in terms of past experiences and how we build upon those,” Gray said. “We’ve had a lot of conversations along the lines of what’s been the impact of COVID in terms of people having basic communication with each other.”
At the beginning of the year, the Institutional Diversity, Equity, Advocacy and Leadership team works to provide useful information and resources to students. Title IX, under IDEAL’s leadership, can offer resources at events like TempleFest and orientation, where orientation leaders perform informative skits and IDEAL discusses resources with incoming freshmen.
“I think there’s a good collaboration amongst Student Affairs, Title IX and PPD,” said Megan Patrick, the Title IX coordinator. “A lot of it is dependent on offering options to the student, and then the student deciding what they want to do. If we’re made aware of an issue or incident, we provide the Wellness Resource Center, Tuttleman and then academic help and assistance, which might come from ourselves.”
Women aged 18-24 enrolled in college are at an elevated risk of sexual violence — more than three times the average number, according to the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network. Only 20% of female student victims report to a law enforcement agency about sexual violence. Common reasons against reporting include feeling that it was a personal matter or that they had a fear of retaliation.
The college sexual violence perception is frequently conflated with Greek life and sororities. Both male and female Greek-affiliated students were sexually harassed at a higher rate compared to non-Greek life peers, according to a 2021 study by the University of Oregon.
“I think a lot of people have a very negative view of fraternities, and I think that just dismissing them and begging for them to get booted off campus is not going to prevent sexual assault,” said Isabelle Bernard, a senior psychology major and the director of Youth Outreach and Engagement for Temple Student Government. “What’s going to prevent sexual assault is for people to really understand how their actions and the culture can make sexual assault more prevalent.”
Title IX gives students the options and materials from Wellness Resource Center and Tuttleman Counseling Services, as well as communicating with the risk advocacy coordinator and possibly seeking a no-contact order or some other remediation to help the student.
“Some students may never respond, but we feel heightened enough that we will keep outreaching to them,” Patrick said. “We might send a few follow up emails to just remind them who we are, what we are, why we care and see how we can assist. It really depends. We want to meet students where they’re at.”
Nurbanu Sahin contributed reporting.
Be the first to comment