Safety Alerts at Tufts University

While college campuses are often seen as some sort of safe tybubble, they unfortunately get that barrier broken when certain crimes occur. Tufts is no exception. There have been many events that the school would not hesitate to cause the use of the announcements@tufts.edu email address and notify the entire community. Emails would not only be about crimes, but even attempted crimes. For example, in an email sent April 10th, 2009:

Another incident was reported at approximately 4:00am by a resident at 14 Sawyer Ave. The resident reported that a male placed a ladder on the fire escape and she believed that he was attempting to gain access to the house, but the windows were secure. Tufts Police and Somerville Police responded immediately and searched the area. No suspects were located. The resident gave the following description of the suspect;

A short white male, stocky build with olive skin, thick eyebrows, dark short buzzed hair, wearing a grey sweatshirt with no hood, maybe cargo pants.

Now I am in no way saying that alerts like these are unnecessary. I think it is great that Tufts is sharing these incidents with the greater community. Tufts even was quick to send out a message the following day about an alleged bias incident that occurred on April 9th, 2009.

To Members of the AS&E Community:

The Office of the Dean of Students is currently investigating reports of an incident that took place early yesterday morning, Thursday, April 9, 2009, in one of the residence halls, apparently involving a physical altercation and racial epithets among students. Many differing accounts of this incident are circulating within the university community. While we cannot comment on an incident that is currently under active investigation, we want the community to know that we take seriously our responsibility to pursue this incident and to ensure a safe and supportive environment on campus for all our students. We will report on the investigation when we are able to do so. While the investigative process goes forward, we and our colleagues in the administration are also reaching out to community members who have been affected by what they have experienced or heard about.

Bruce Reitman
Dean of Students

This was great. Reitman even sent out a follow up email weeks later (on the 27th) to tell the entire community about the resolution of the incident.

However, my question is why there isn’t as much concern about sexual assaults as there is for attempted robberies and alleged bias incidents? Why can’t be sexual assaults also be investigated by the Dean of Students Office (asking the victim to come into the office ot be asked for the millionth time if she really was raped doesn’t count)? Why can’t the greater community be notified of reported sexual assaults? I think a sexual assault is something that affects the community just as much and poses at LEAST as great a safety risk as a robbery.

I’ve taken classes at other universities and they posted in their daily newspaper about ALL reported crimes. They would include a simple sentence like “Alleged sexual assault by another student in Smith Hall.” THAT’S ALL. And you know what? That’s a lot better than what Tufts is doing right now. By ignoring the issue of sexual assault and treating it like it’s something that should be kept secretive and HIDDEN just adds to a survivor’s shame. Isn’t there enough survivor-shaming in society?

It is actually required by the Jeanne Clery Act for a university to notify the school in a timely manner about crimes covered under this act, which include sexual assault. I think we students have a right to know that another student was assaulted on our campus. If the university acts like rape is not something that should be swept under the rug, perhaps survivors will be able to step forward with more ease.

More information about the Act can be found here.

I think that one of the many steps that Tufts needs to take to create a community that treats survivors well is to stop acting like rape should be a dirty secret. By creating dialogue and educating students and other community members about rape culture and how it can be stopped, we could all act together to make a place where rapists are held accountable and survivors are supported. Sending out an alert shows that the school believes that rape is a serious thing and that having a rapist on campus is dangerous.  I believe following the guidelines of the Clery Act (telling everyone about assaults) would not only put Tufts in compliance of this law, but would help create a better campus environment.