2008 Woodie Awards
ECPD receives fourth sexual assault report in 3 years
Darren Josey
Issue date: 10/13/05 Section: News
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Recent events have caused Emerson students to become increasingly aware of the prevalence of crime around campus. The Boston Police Department has cracked down on area drug use and prostitution, two women were raped after taking cabs from Faneuil Hall and two men were killed in a shooting behind the Little Building.
The rash of violence, however, is not limited to the streets of Boston. On Sept. 20, the Emerson College Police Department (ECPD) received report of a sexual assault on campus. It was the fourth report of a sexual assault involving an Emerson student that the ECPD has received in three years.
In accordance with ECPD procedure, the victim's name and the exact location of the crime have been withheld.
Although at least one sexual assault has been reported to the ECPD every year since 2002, some Emerson freshmen are not concerned.
Freshmen Little Building roommates Alexis Schuette, a theatre studies major, and Erica Templeman, a communication studies major, said they feel safe in Emerson's dorms.
"Everybody on our floor is really nice," Templeman said. "I don't feel threatened by anyone on our floor. In fact, they are [the] type of people I'd go to if I had any problems."
Jane Powers, director of the Center for Health and Wellness, said in an e-mail interview that it is important for students to be aware that sexual assault is far from uncommon on college campuses.
Powers said one in four college women are assaulted during their college years and that freshmen college women run the greatest risk in the first two weeks of their college experience. Powers said 60 to 80 percent of sexual assaults are committed by someone the victim knows.
"It has taken years and we still have a long road ahead to change perceptions of who is most likely to be sexually assaulted and the best ways of preventing it without appearing to 'blame the victim,'" Powers said. "The perpetrator of the assault bears full responsibility for his/her actions."
The rash of violence, however, is not limited to the streets of Boston. On Sept. 20, the Emerson College Police Department (ECPD) received report of a sexual assault on campus. It was the fourth report of a sexual assault involving an Emerson student that the ECPD has received in three years.
In accordance with ECPD procedure, the victim's name and the exact location of the crime have been withheld.
Although at least one sexual assault has been reported to the ECPD every year since 2002, some Emerson freshmen are not concerned.
Freshmen Little Building roommates Alexis Schuette, a theatre studies major, and Erica Templeman, a communication studies major, said they feel safe in Emerson's dorms.
"Everybody on our floor is really nice," Templeman said. "I don't feel threatened by anyone on our floor. In fact, they are [the] type of people I'd go to if I had any problems."
Jane Powers, director of the Center for Health and Wellness, said in an e-mail interview that it is important for students to be aware that sexual assault is far from uncommon on college campuses.
Powers said one in four college women are assaulted during their college years and that freshmen college women run the greatest risk in the first two weeks of their college experience. Powers said 60 to 80 percent of sexual assaults are committed by someone the victim knows.
"It has taken years and we still have a long road ahead to change perceptions of who is most likely to be sexually assaulted and the best ways of preventing it without appearing to 'blame the victim,'" Powers said. "The perpetrator of the assault bears full responsibility for his/her actions."