Being a university student can be quite a chaotic time in a person’s life. The decision to become a student and commit three to four years of your life to achieving a degree in higher education is one that carries a lot of weight. Some students move miles from their home towns and their families in pursuit of knowledge, while others live close by and must commute back and forth from home to campus. The sheer volume of study required to maintain good grades can put students under stress. Trying to figure out a work/university schedule is quite literally one of the most stressful processes in the calendar year. It isn’t all stress and anxiety, though! Some students are lucky enough that they can opt to study remotely. It sounds like the dream because it is. For those that attend university on campus for their classes, there is one sage piece of advice that is often overlooked or brushed under the carpet. That advice is this: when it comes to safety on campus, you can build fences instead of walls around yourself.
One in four women will be sexually assaulted while at university. It is not an assumption, or an inflated statistic designed to scare potential students before they have stepped foot on campus. It is a straight-up fact. In fact, the one in four statistic accounts only for survey participants – meaning that the scope of potential victims of sexual assault at universities is substantially larger than the statistic (as it is with most scenarios). There is no sense in denying that it is a terrifying and, frankly, shocking reality. With such a shocking statistic, sexual assault on university and college campuses is a hot topic of debate. It has been for years and victims should not hesitate in looking into a liability injury lawyer to represent them.
Students continuously find themselves in the throes of feeling like they must choose between guarding their own safety and making friends. This is not true, do not let this hinder your perception of what your college years can be like. It is not a matter of choosing between the two, but rather being cautious while simultaneously enjoying the college experience. University is hard enough without constantly stressing and putting more pressure on yourself, so do not go ahead and build the walls around yourself so high and so concrete that no one can ever get in and get to know you. Instead, build fences that you can glimpse through and get to know someone at a distance that feels comfortable for you, before letting them in the gate. This is where the foundation is built for the self-preservation that is so deeply ingrained in all students (all people, as a matter of fact).
Universities and colleges are, unfortunately, widely regarded as being home to a rape epidemic. In your time as a student, it is an unfortunate reality that you or someone you know will be affected by sexual assault during your time on campus or at campus-related events, such as faculty balls, mixers, campus parties, and sorority and fraternity rushes. While this reality is no doubt horrifying, it can affect students so much so that they completely shut off, throwing the rest of the world out of their focus. This is when the walls are constructed, when the foundation becomes the concrete safety measure that keeps any and all people at arm’s length (sometimes even further).
The consequences of a sexual assault can be incredibly harrowing on a victim. If you, or anyone you know becomes a victim of sexual assault in any capacity, the most crucial thing is to do what you feel you must do for your own well being – even if that means putting the perpetrator in the firing line. Even if that person is someone you are friends with – your safety trumps the character preservation of the person that put you in danger knowingly. Remember this, especially when your thought process carries you down the line of, ‘I could ruin their life’. Their actions will be the thing that ruins their life. All you are doing is making their actions known – and they should be known.
You will likely want to add layers onto the wall the more that you hear about cases of sexual assault around you. There is a key difference between being cautious and being over-protective. Be cautious. Go to parties, but only with friends that you truly trust and only in situations where you feel entirely comfortable. Go out of your way to make friends at mixers and faculty balls, but do so knowing you have a safe, reliable way home at the end of the evening. Have your phone fully charged – even take a portable charging station with you in your bag – when you go out, so that in the chance that something does happen, you are not left with a phone with a flat battery and the need for medical or mental aid after the fact. There is absolutely nothing wrong with being prepared. Just don’t let it scare you even more. Do not let the ‘if’ stop you from enjoying the ‘now’. The years spent as a university student often are among the highlights of a past-student’s life – actually enjoy them!
The statistics and first-hand accounts of countless victims of sexual assault on university grounds and at the hands of university students speak for themselves. With the facts laid out unmistakably clear, it is easy for prospective and existing students (and former students, for that matter) as well as the public to be overcome with fear at the possibility of their safety being compromised while at university. Those that do decide to study sometimes go into the experience having built towering walls up around themselves to protect themselves, ultimately taking away from their overall experience while in college.
There is a very big difference between being cautiously optimistic and being overbearingly self-preserving. There is no question that you should be aware of your surroundings and cautious in given scenarios, but do not build walls around yourself to keep yourself safe…build fences that do not necessarily keep people from getting close at all, but that keep them at a comfortable distance until you decide to open the gate. Your college years are supposed to be the best of your life, and they will be…you just need to find the balance you are most comfortable with. The rest will fall into place.