After Being Sexually Assaulted Within 24 Hours Of Pledging A Fraternity, A UCSD Student Has Formed A Coalition To Push For Broader Change
SAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA — A UCSD student who was sexually assaulted after pledging a fraternity has started a Care2 petition asking UCSD leadership to implement a more efficient sexual assault tracking system that publically pins the number of assaults to specific fraternities and sororities. The Care2 petition has gathered over 34,000 signatures.
VIEW THE CARE2 PETITION HERE: http://www.care2.com/go/z/UCSD
Jake Henry, a third year Political Science major at UCSD, started a Care2 petition after his sexual assault allegations were ignored. He feels that sexual assaults taking place at off-campus Greek life parties are drastically underreported in the annual Clery Report published by UCSD Campus Security.
“To fix this issue, we need all Greek life organizations to compile a public report of sexual assault statistics because it would encourage them to implement solutions to lower their crime rates to, at the very least, preserve their reputations,” Henry writes in his Care2 petition. “Sororities and fraternities need an incentive to lower sexual assault within their organizations, and public data provides a very public incentive.”
The annual Clery Report only tracks and reports assaults that are reported to on-campus police. There are currently no rules in the UCSD Interfraternity Council ByLaws requiring campus Fraternities or Sororities to self-report or report incidents of sexual assault to on-campus police.
“The rules that govern UC San Diego’s Greek life are rigged in favor of those who commit sexual assault,” Henry writes in his Care2 petition. “Currently, fraternities and sororities are allowed to keep secret the number of assaults that are perpetrated on their watch. There’s no accountability, and we need this to change before more lives are destroyed.”
According to the National Sexual Violence Resource Center, 20% to 25% of college women and 15% of college men are victims of forced sex during their time in college and more than 90% of sexual assault victims on college campuses do not report the assault.
Henry has started a coalition of students called No Longer Silent, penned an op-ed in the student newspaper The Triton, sent a letter to campus Greek Life advisors, and called on the student government to act during a recent meeting.
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