Bri Nitsberg | Student Life

Purple flags line Mudd Field to represent survivors for Sexual Assault Awareness Month.

Editor’s note: This article contains discussion of sexual violence and contains sensitive language regarding unwanted sexual contact. Resources and helplines can be found at the bottom of the piece.

To everyone who walked past the purple flags surrounding Mudd Field, pay attention. To everyone who thinks sexual violence awareness doesn’t apply to them, because they would never do something like that, pay attention. To everyone who thinks they don’t know anyone who’s been affected by sexual violence, so therefore it doesn’t matter, pay attention.

Everyone needs to stop staying silent and start recognizing the uncomfortable reality of sexual assault on this campus. On the morning of April 1, students went to class and were met with 2,505 purple flags bordering Mudd Field. Each flag was placed by the Sexual Assault and Rape Anonymous Hotline (S.A.R.A.H.), one for each undergraduate or graduate student who has experienced nonconsensual sexual contact since coming to campus. This effort is done every April 1 to commemorate the start of Sexual Assault Awareness Month.

Every day that week, hundreds of students, survivors, and perpetrators going about their days walked past these flags. What must go through the minds of sexual assault perpetrators when they see these flags? Do they think about the damage they caused; do they feel pity and regret over their actions? How do survivors feel walking past the flags, being both reminded of their trauma and comforted by the community it created?

These 2,505 flags represent the stories of 2,505 students who have survived experiences no one should have to face. These flags represent all stories, not just the ones society tells us to believe are important. Sexual assault doesn’t occur in only one way. All 2,505 students experienced some variation of “penetration or sexual touching involving physical force, inability to consent or stop what was happening, or attempted penetration by force,” although sexual assault is never limited to one definition. 

Each of these stories matter; it doesn’t make a difference if they match the typical sexual assault scenarios that are presented in educational programs from WashU. When these platforms center the conversation of sexual assault around only one story, which many times is defined as rape, it invalidates the thousands of stories and resulting trauma that are just as valid but may have looked different. Every story is a real story, and every story matters.

With 230 days in a full academic year, that would mean that almost 11 Washington University students are sexually assaulted every day. This magnitude of students should not have to suffer at the hands of sexual assault perpetrators. And too many people are silent about what is happening, preventing any possible change. 

It would be easy to place blame on the University and say that they aren’t doing enough to prevent or punish sexual violence. While I agree that Washington University’s administration is not as proactive as it should be, we cannot take the focus and responsibility off of the perpetrators. 

Whether you acknowledge it or not, your own peers — the people you eat with and study with — may be the ones sexually assaulting others. Society too often blames survivors, causing so much unnecessary guilt over something that no one should ever experience. Start placing the blame where it belongs. Perpetrators should not be coddled; they should not be understood or heard out. Whether they realize the full extent of what they are doing in the moment or not, they are not accidentally making mistakes. Mistakes are forgetting to submit a homework assignment, not causing irreversible damage and inconceivable pain to another person. 

Perpetrators need to be held accountable. When students watch others get caught for these actions and face little to no punishment — whether it be official or social — it is only encouraging more to act in these ways. If this administration and the Title IX process make it incredibly difficult to take official action against these people, we, as students, need to do what is necessary to ensure these individuals are held accountable for their actions. 

Look at the people you surround yourself with and make the adjustments that are necessary. Call out the harmful or problematic words and actions that need to be spoken about aloud. Surround yourself with people who support survivors, not those who turn someone into a survivor. Even if doing so is uncomfortable, your momentary discomfort could be what prevents one more person from adding a flag to the field next year. 

This is not something you just move on from. If so many survivors can’t move on from their experiences, why does it feel like the world has moved on from the issue? It’s not something that you think about when the flags surround Mudd Field and then forget about now that they are gone. Recognize each flag; notice each one and think of the person and story that is associated with it. Think of the pain they went through; think of the fear they have felt every day since. Think of the number of people who walk on this campus and see their assailants every day, because these dangers are coming from within. 

Be uncomfortable. Be angry. This is not just an abstract concept we commemorate with a month of the year dedicated to awareness; they are real stories and real people you interact with every single day.

The Sexual Assault and Rape Anonymous Helpline (S.A.R.A.H) provides confidential and anonymous support regarding sexual assault, sexual harassment, intimate partner and sexual violence, relationships, and mental and sexual health. It can be reached at 314-935-8080 24/7 during the fall and spring academic semesters.

There are counselors at the Relationship and Sexual Violence Prevention (RSVP) Center, located in Seigle Hall, Suite 435, available confidentially to any University student. The office can be reached at 314-935-3445 or by email at [email protected].

The National Sexual Assault Hotline can be reached at 1-800-656-4673 or via online chat here 24/7.