By
Laura Winsky
The results are in from a federally funded research that took place on college campuses during the 1996-1997 academic year.
Here are the two startling facts:
Nearly 2 percent of all US college women were victims of rape during the year.
Thirteen percent of all U.S. college women were stalked.
With Take Back the Night coming up Friday, these figures make even clearer the work that needs to be done to end violence against women. Friday's event will be honored with a march beginning on the UA Mall stage.
When you shove these figures into, say, a population of 33,000 here at the UA, one arrives at a high number of women in danger - more specifically, 60 rape victims and more than 3,500 women dealing with stalkers.
It's not easy to swallow this. One night early this semester, the UA experienced a brief power outage. I was crossing East Second Street toward the Harvill building when the street was suddenly immersed in darkness. A group of females in front of me froze. A few seconds later, the lights were up, but the fear, and perhaps relief, in the women's eyes was still very much apparent.
It seems that being a female college student comes with specific responsibilities. During Arizona ambassador tours, when prospective students make their way through hazards and construction sites, the guide often points out that females should never walk alone on campus at night.
It's sound advice.
But it gets tiring. Women fight for equality in the workforce, in politics, and in the eyes of the government every day.
It's so disheartening that we can't find it on our own streets.
The fear seems to be a part of female existence. As children, boys and girls alike, we are warned about looking both ways before we cross the street. We shouldn't talk to strangers. We shouldn't accept strange candy. But at some point, the boys are taken off to a different room during learning time. Who knows what they learn there. But this I know: the girls are then bombarded with safety tips - the buddy system, never walk alone at night, self defense techniques, when to yell loudly. And on and on and on.
It sounds like I'm angry at society for instilling fear in all females at an early age. I'm not. I'm enraged that society needs to instill fear in all females at an early age. Without the fear and safety skills, more consequences such as those from the UA stalker might occur.
Don't remember the UA stalker? Most people probably don't anymore, but just last year during the fall semester, two men, posing as one, stalked and assaulted several UA women during the course of a few weeks. The men targeted women as they were trying to enter their residence halls. Sometimes the women were alone, but frighteningly enough, some of them were in groups of two.
The buddy system wasn't really handy that time.
The Wildcat (I was only a reader then) covered the story on the front page for days at a time. The hall directors of the dorms worked fast and furiously to aid the attacked women, but after the men were caught, the story died away.
What has the UA done to ease these statistics, to change the environment for female students?
At a program this spring, the Oasis Center announced the dean of students office had officially changed the offenses in the student handbook to include assault.
I raised my hand. "It wasn't an offense before?"
"No. Not one that the UA acknowledges."
The ASUA Escort Service needs extended hours and more funding for more vehicles, the Oasis Center needs more funding for publicity and everyone needs to be aware of the Blue Light Emergency phones on campus.
And everyone needs to use Friday night as a way to get angry about violence against women and to do something about it.
It's time to take back the night.
