The 2008 “Sexual Health Report Card” has been released, ranking U.S. colleges on 13 categories related to sexual health issues. The survey is sponsored by Trojan condoms and conducted by an independent research firm.

The categories included the students’ opinion of the college or university health center, hours of operation, appointments versus drop-in availability, a separate sexual awareness program, the availability of contraceptives (free or at cost) and HIV and STD testing, anonymous advice available via e-mail or a newspaper column, lecture and outreach programs, student peer groups, sexual assault programs, and website usability and functionality.

Stanford University was most improved, moving from 41st in 2007 to number one this year.

This story also highlights the fact that many of the schools at the bottom of the list are religiously-affiliated. There are obviously unique challenges with these types of colleges and universities, and I believe activists on these campuses and within the anti-violence movement should work to devise strategies that allow the messages to be heard in these environments. Having recently worked at a Catholic University, I know some progressive students doing very creative work on many controversial issues.

It’s that time of year again, the time of year when you get a mysterious message in your email announcing that your “Notification of the Disclosure of Campus Security Policy and Crime Statistics Act” or your “Campus Security Act Summary ” has arrived. Prior to working with SAFER, I fully admit that I deleted these unread. I felt fairly safe on campus and I generally assumed that my university was doing its best to keep me that way.

When my report arrived from Stanford this year, I read it cover to cover. (Or first PDF page to last PDF page – we need new idioms for the digital age here.) Like all institutions in a democracy, universities function best with the greatest level of public scrutiny, particularly scrutiny from the constituents who are most effected by their policies. Now that I know that a lot of universities don’t do many things that would create a safer campus and that there are many campuses where students feel so unsafe that they won’t even report a crime against them, I pay a lot more attention to what my university is doing.

Things I look for? What you care about most and what works at your school will of course depend on who you are and where you go, but there are some common things that you might want to see if your school does.

Number 1 thing: Go to the table with reported crimes and check to see how many forcible rapes were reported for each of the last 3 years. If the number is zero or even one or two, be very, very concerned. Research has consistently shown that having no rapes on a college campus in a given year is so statistically improbable in our culture at this point in time as to be up there with things like Bigfoot and the Loch Ness Monster. If your school is reporting no rapes, that means that (a) students at your school don’t trust your administration and so won’t report their rapes or (b) students did try to report and were actively discouraged by your administration from doing so. In either case, start talking to people about how scary that zero (or one or two) is.

Other things I looked for:

Who are the staff people that respond to sexual assault and do prevention programs? Are there such staff people? How many of them?

What kind of sexual assault prevention programs are offered – only the kind that tell women not to walk alone at night or are their programs directed at discouraging people from forcing someone to have sex?

Does the announcement tell you who to contact and what to do if you are sexually assaulted?

Do the crime statistics include a separate list of rapes or sexual assaults that were reported anonymously or confidentially? That’s a good sign, because it means your school has those options available, and it can also provide information on what’s actually happening on your campus.

Are there blue light call boxes on campus?

Are self-defense classes offered?

So for me, I’m medium happy with Stanford’s reporting rate (26 students reported their assaults to campus security or to confidential counseling services, a number that is certainly smaller than the real number but still means that a meaningful percentage of those assaulted are coming forward. And they’ve seen an upward trend in the last three years, which suggests better outreach to students and growing trust, and that’s very important.) and pretty happy with their services (on campus rape crisis program, sexual assault prevention programs, a standing advisory board on improving sexual assault prevention and services, etc.) How does your school look?

P.S. If you deleted your report from your email, like I used to do, just go to your campus security department’s webpage. They are required by law to make this report available at all times to students and so all of them should have it posted on their website.

The following letter was forwarded to me by a fellow student, and I then asked the author if I could share it on our blog. Thanks to Kendra Tappin, Stanford University, for asking others to join her in taking a stand to combat sexual violence against black women. She reports that a small group is gathering this summer to begin a conversation about what they can do at Stanford and in their community. Please honor Kendra’s request and forward her letter on to at least one person you know, and start a conversation with them about what you can do.

Dear Friends,

On Wednesday, June 25 a 20-year-old black woman was raped and robbed in her apartment in Philadelphia. A man forced himself into her apartment and once he was inside he called up two of his friends. After four hours the three men left. The victim was left to walk a mile alone to the closest police station where she reported the crime. The woman’s next-door neighbor has said that she saw the initial intrusion and heard the screaming but that she went to bed and did nothing. Other neighbors reported that they also heard the woman’s screams but that they did nothing.

Twenty-four hours before this incident a 48 year-old woman was raped just a few blocks away. She was lying in her bed when an unknown man intruded into her home. He raped her and he stabbed her in her neck. Police say that they do not believe the two crimes are related or that any of the same men are involved.

I have been silent on this issue, but this morning I woke to a note from a friend who reminded me of the powerful ways in which our silence condemns us.

I am writing you this letter because I know we must do the telling even if we feel afraid, anxious or alone. I am writing this letter to urge you to take up this issue as though you or your family member were the victim, and because I am troubled.

I am troubled because there seems to be an epidemic of violence, sexual violence, against black women. I am troubled because this country’s history is replete with instances of violence against black women, denigration of black women, sexual violation of black women and then turning a blind eye those crimes. Presently I am reminded of:

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Despite all the hoopla about how campus activism is dead, we at SAFER know it is alive and well since we talk to student activists all the time. Today I wanted to share the insights of one such activist.

Vera Eidelman is part of the Stanford Theater Activist Mobilization Project (STAMP), a student organization that brings theater and activism together on campus. I spoke to Vera about STAMP’s most recent project, a series of guerrilla theater performances to draw attention to the mass murders of women in Juarez, Mexico. In a med school class and an international development class (a third performance didn’t work because of the classroom’s acoustics), phones rang and were answered by STAMP performers. The performers acted out their grief on learning that a sister had disappeared in Juarez, drawing their classmates into the fear created in the city by more than 400 unsolved disappearances. After the class, STAMP followed up with information for the students on how to get involved in ending the violence in Juarez. The performances were covered in the Stanford Daily, see here for the article.

STAMP is a relatively new group, and this was their first experiment with guerrilla theater, although they have done several stage productions already. Vera says the group was pleased with the project and plans to do more guerrilla theater in the future. One of the challenges they faced was a lack of clear models for on-campus guerrilla theater, and Vera invites other students who want to talk about how to do guerrilla theater on their campuses to contact her at veide [at] stanford [dot] edu.

What drew STAMP to the situation in Juarez and why did you feel that it was important that Stanford students learn about the issue?

We conducted the guerrilla theater during Stanford’s International Women’s Week (an extension of March 8, International Women’s Day) in collaboration with MEChA, the University’s umbrella Chicano/Latino community organization. MEChA had asked for STAMP’s involvement in planning an action for the week, and we began to brainstorm possible issues to take on. Juarez struck us as a perfect combination of the women’s and Latino issues about which we hoped to raise awareness. It also lent itself in an inspiring, exciting way to guerrilla tactics.

How did the other students react? Do you feel like you succeeded in raising awareness about Juarez?

Reactions varies by class and performance, but in each situation people absolutely paid attention. Responses ranged from concern to disbelief to frustration at the class interruption. Following the second performance, several students followed the actress out of the classroom to help while the first performance inspired a lot of questions and curiosity.

I do feel that we succeeded in raising awareness, first by inspiring surprise, concern, and even confusion, and then by addressing those feelings with our e-mail and campus newspaper campaigns. The e-mails inspired further dialogue.
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Given our Brooklyn home base, I’ve noticed we tend to have a definite East Coast bias when it comes to publicizing upcoming events. In the spirit of doing better, some awesome sounding upcoming West Coast happenings. If you have an event you’d like to publicize, you can contact us here.

March 13: The Forgotten Front Line: The Effects of War on Women
5:30-7:00pm, Encina Hall, Bechtel Conference Center, Stanford University
The Program on Global Justice at the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies presents an informative panel discussion with speakers from the International Rescue Committee talking about two issues critical to refugee women’s health: emergency obstetric care and gender based violence.

March 18: Beyond Sisterhood in Rape: Rethinking Feminist Theories and Strategies of War, Peace, and Sexual Violence 4:00-5:30 pm, 370 Dwinelle Hall – Level F, University of California at Berkeley
Talk by Dubravka Zarkov, Associate Professor, Institute of Social Studies, The Hague, Netherlands

April 10 & 11: “He Loves Me, He Loves Me Not: Men’s Role in Ending Violence Against Women”
A Northwest regional conference on the role of men in ending violence hosted by Men Against Violence at Pacific Lutheran University

April 18: Trafficking of Women in Post-Communist Europe
This international conference will examine the trafficking of women for sexual exploitation, and will bring together scholars, policy experts, government officials and NGO analysts to discuss the issue from the economic, legal and human rights perspectives.

May 28 to 30: CALCASA 2008 Leadership Conference
Sacramento, CA