She sits on the edge of the bed, wrapped in a comforter stained in different spots red. He’s passed out; she sits still to be sure not to wake him. She wants to get up and leave, but is too sore to even move. “What happened last night,” she asks herself. She tries to piece together the night filled with too much alcohol and not enough thinking. She ponders what she did wrong. 

They had biology together, he had bought her drinks, he was nice and friendly, but this end result said otherwise. 

An all too familiar situation seen on college campuses, rape and sexual assault has been on the rise. According to a 2007 Campus Sexual Assault case study done by the National Institute of Justice in Washington, D.C., 1 in 5 women has been sexually assaulted while in college. 

Those statistics still exist today and are ever-increasing. According to the National Sexual Violence Resource Center, “a vast majority of people who are sexually assaulted know their attacker, and often have a relationship with them.” 

On college campuses, the question as to whether enough education is being provided for students on preventing these crimes has been lingering. 

“Currently 85 colleges and universities are being investigated by the Office of Civil Rights, on crimes like sexual violence,” says Dean of Students Sue Heimann. “Four of those schools are in Ohio which include, Notre Dame, Cedarville, The Ohio State, and Xaivier.” 

Sexual violence can occur on any campus whether they be public, private, religiously affiliated or a community college. 

Because it can occur everywhere, it is important that students are educated on the right procedures of not only preventing sexual violence, but handing it if it is to occur.

“In Lifetime Wellness we educate students through our social dimension of wellness discussions,” says Laura Kruger. 

Kruger serves a Professional Instructor of Health Sciences and Coordinator of Lifetime Wellness.

Kruger outlines some steps as to what a student should do if they find his or herself in an uncomfortable situation. 

This includes leaving the environment for safety immediately, understanding that what happened is not your fault, preserving all evidence, reporting the incident immediately, seek medical care, and seek healing from trusted individuals and professionals.

Unfortunately, many individuals are often to afraid or too shaken up to report crimes, a scenario in which many universities are reconstructing policies to combat.

In September of 2014, the state of California signed a bill into law that makes the state the first in the nation to have a clear definition of when people agree to sex. 

The law goes further than the common “no means no” but defining it as a “yes means yes” standard. 

The law aims to clear issues in sexual assault cases where ambiguity lies.

“I think the purpose of the legislation is to reinforce the importance of both individuals “enthusiastically” consenting in sexual activity during the entire sexual experience- not just at the beginning,” says Kruger. 

“I don’t think it discredits college student’s ability to have healthy sexual relations, but rather promote the need for a firm, clear and mutual consent.” 

By creating a situation in which the act of consent is evident, individuals can hope to create a sexual experience that does not perpetrate sexual violence.

In addition to better the investigation process of handling rape cases, the California law requires colleges that receive state funding to have policies covering more than a dozen situations that can arise in sexual assault or domestic violence cases, from protecting privacy to training campus officials and providing counseling for victims.

“The question we should be asking is how we are supporting victims,” says Heimann. “We provide support medical, counseling, reporting to police, taking them to police, having the police come here, and also affirming their right to not involve police.”

Aside from what they are taught in Lifetime Wellness, AU students will soon begin to see more sexual education programming provided. 

Sue Heimann, along with other faculty, staff, and students, have been working diligently on updating Ashland University’s policy on sexual violence through the guidelines and suggestions of the Violence Against Women Act, the Office of Civil Rights, and NotAlone.gov, which includes federal statistics of sexual violence.

All of these acts and statistics come from Title IX Amendment. This act requires that Cleary Act has statistics on sexual violence included. The Cleary act has crime reporting for every university and college made public.

Through these policy edits, the university can determine how you go through a process of providing help for the student without making them re-live that experience. Heimann says that it must be done “with great care and sensitivity.”

The Ohio State Alliance to End Sexual Violence is a state entity that works with county crisis centers, shelters, etc.to educate and train universities on types of programming and as well as steps in dealing with cases of sexual violence. 

“Ashland University is 1 of 2 universities in the state that when we do the programming, we’re basing it on assessment.”

Sue Heimann, who acts as the Universitiy’s Title IX coordinator, will be interviewing members of campus to see where our greatest needs are for programming on sexual violence.

Heimann further explained that Title IX training is required for new students and new employees. So far, it has been done with the freshman and Resident Assistants. In January of 2015, more training as well as educational programming will occur once data has been collected.  

The university will then work with Ashland’s local rape crisis center Safe Haven, and experts from Ohio Alliance to End Sexual Violence.

“It’s really great information,” says Heimann, “I am very pleased that we are providing this structure, for a decade there has been no national structure.”