As a young female student, I am used to being told ways to better protect and prepare myself for the seeming inevitable assault of a criminal, stranger, or friend. But although I may be used to this zealous counsel of others, I am continually put off by the comments. I find the implications behind the “don’t wear anything provocative”, the “stay out of bad neighborhoods”, and the “carry some mace/Taser/weapon for your protection” to be victim-blaming and unhelpful.
http://www.ashytojazzy.com/thewritersblock/2013/11/30/sports-stars-rape-victim-blaming
The hard fact of life is that criminals exist, and they exist everywhere. Good/bad neighborhoods no matter what you wear, or when you are out, there may be dangerous people. Louisville- being the largest city in the state- is no stranger to high rates of crime. We even faced a widespread rumor of a “purge” occurring, which derived from a popular horror film that depicted rampant and unchecked crime.
Thankfully, the University of Louisville is taking a stand-up approach to reducing the incidents of crime on and near campus, an approach that doesn’t involve lecturing students on how they have to look out for themselves.
Louisville’s campus police depart hired eight more security and police officers according to an official notice on September 9th. This is complimented by the expansion of the zoning for our police escort services. I still assert that a crime-free utopia will forever be an unreal expectation, yet this movement by my school makes me proud to be a cardinal.
It would be far too easy for UofL to keep sending out lists of “ways to stay safe on campus”, therefore I am appreciative of the acknowledgement and action we received. The most appropriate response to rise in crime is for the institution to provide as much safety resources as possible, and only then proceed to give non-blaming advice. UofL did a spectacular job on this end, especially in comparison to rise in recent reports of other schools’ less-than-adequate job of handling campus violence & sexual assault.
See below for news coverage on national government attention to sexual assault on campus:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ClLx_BwIt-c
Let’s hope that the only time we will need more campus police around is the next time we get slightly too hyped about another national championship win.
UofL after the 2013 NCAA Basketball Win
austencoles 