Recent Tufts University Police Department (TUPD) emails regarding sexual assaults in the area may have indicated a need for Jumbos to take extra caution when venturing off campus.For leaders in the Greek community at Tufts, safety on campus - even in the seeming security of a fraternity house - is just as important.
According to the U.S Department of Education, close to 9,000 sexual assaults have been reported on college campuses around United States in the last three years. In the wake of these statistics, it makes sense that fraternity and sorority members alike across campus have headed toward raising awareness and money for anti?rape and anti?sexual assault programs.
"Fraternities nationwide tend to have a stigma associated with them as being the locations where sexual assaults occur," ATO President Matthew Sanda, a junior, said.
To combat the situation, fraternities and sororities at Tufts worked together in creating posters stating, "Not in our house," that have been placed throughout campus. ATO, a co?ed fraternity, has indicated the Boston Area Rape Crisis Center (BARCC) with a number of philanthropy projects.
"We want to eliminate the stigma of fraternities being locations for sexual assault, and that is why we actively support the BARCC with our philanthropic events," Sanda said.
Sororities also play a part in these efforts. The Panhellenic Council and the sorority Chi Omega (ChiO) helped organize Take Back the Night, a vigil meant to empower and support survivors, as well as raise awareness, of sexual assault.
"Every year we participate in the Boston Area Rape Crisis Center Walk and Take Back the Night - that is all we really do that is centered on this sort of work because that is not our main philanthropy project," ChiO President Audrey Wilson, a junior, said. "As sisters and as members of the Greek community, we want to make sure that we are doing our part to create a safer environment on campus for students and women."
On a national scale, anti?rape and anti?sexual assault efforts have risen to the spotlight.
With the passing of the Dear Colleague Letter by the U.S. Department of Education in April, new guidelines and regulations have been laid out regarding how schools and administrations across the country must handle sexual assaults and implement prevention programs. These changes have made schools more accountable for sexual crimes that occur on their campuses.
Tufts Violence Prevention Education Coordinator Elaine Theodore said Tufts is not immune to the issue.
"It is absolutely true that sexual crime happens here at Tufts, as it does on any school," Theodore said. "A college campus is a very vulnerable spot for sexual violence for a lot of reasons, and Tufts is no different than any other college campus."
Several factors contribute to this, according to Theodore.
"Students are away from home for the first time ... and may or may not have figured out their limitations regarding alcohol," she said.
Theodore added that the beginning of the year is especially troublesome. "[It's] a vulnerable time, specifically for first?year women. Especially with the normative 'hookup' culture, consent can get clouded," she said. "There's a lot of experimentation happening, and there aren't the same rules and regulations that students have at home. It is a challenging issue for students and administration to cope with."
Theodore believes that focusing on this heavily in different communities, including the Greek system, is a good start as they tend to take an impassioned approaches to the cause.
"People been working together on this campus to really look around and discern best practices and make specific action steps here at Tufts," Theodore said. "There is a lot happening. It is really a multi?tiered community effort."
