WashU must acknowledge its role in fostering an environment where grades and power dynamics can become weapons. The professors and administrators who contribute to and take advantage of this culture must be held accountable.

Low response rates to sexual misconduct surveys are in large part due to the societal stigmatization, invalidation, and normalization of sexual violence, especially on college campuses. The fact that WashU had the lowest response rate of all schools, however, points to additional issues specific to the University.

You are the one who went through it. You survived. And you are still surviving.

WashU released the results of a survey Monday morning detailing lower numbers of sexual assault and harassment on campus compared to statistics from five years ago. In the 2024 survey, the student response rate was 12.5%, down from 16.9% in 2019. Key findings, as reported by The Source, include the fact that 26.9% of undergraduate women surveyed reported experiencing sexual assault since entering WashU, compared to 35.1% in 2019. 

On Monday, Sept. 30, Dr. Debby Herbenick came to campus to discuss her research on sexual choking. Herbenick is an author, researcher, and professor of Human Sexuality and Sexual Health at Indiana University. The event was organized by the Relationship and Sexual Violence Prevention Center (RSVP) for Domestic Violence Awareness Month. Herbenick began her investigation on sexual choking four years ago when she noticed her students’ increased interest in learning about the topic. She noted that choking was not a prevalent kink 10 years ago, but its popularity has skyrocketed in the past decade. 

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.

Regardless of one’s political stance, sexual violence cannot be tolerated.

As spring rush begins, we must remember the stories shared in the summer of 2020 about the long-lasting existence of racism and sexual violence within Greek Life. 

First established in 2018, Title Mine comprises a group of students who began organizing in response to several relationship and sexual violence survivors’ op-eds.

When considering campus safety, we often exclude sexual assault from our definitions of violence, despite its prevalence on our campus.