Freshmen arrived on campus a week and a half ago, nervous and excited to meet new people and have typical college experiences.

This weekend, sexual assault could jump off the prevention pamphlets and posters around campus and insert itself into their Friday or Saturday night.

Amid the pumping, sliding pressure of bodies on a dance floor, they could meet their perpetrators. The warm hands sliding across intimate parts of someone’s body while pressed against a cool, damp wall may not take the hint when pushed away. The charismatic people freshmen met earlier may invite themselves into their dorm and not listen to “not tonight” or “wait, I’ve never gone this far.”

For freshmen, this weekend and the rest of the semester is a red zone. It’s a time when they’re overstepping their own boundaries, meeting new people, trying new things and learning how to hold their liquor.

It’s also the time they will be most likely to be victims of sexual assault. Freshmen will be assaulted in the most intimate way with another person taking advantage of their most personal and valued property: their body.

Red zone and Alcohol

“We know that when students come to campus, they’re an especially vulnerable population,” said Natasha Oren, employee at Assault Care Center Extending Shelter and Support who works with university officials to combat and treat sexual assault. “Sexual assault perpetrators look for vulnerable populations, so they often target the new people who don’t necessarily know the ropes. They’ve never really had to think about sexual assault.”

Freshmen are thrust into new situations they have never had to endure before, Oren said. Paired with new surroundings and friends, they are an especially easy target.

A 2008 Journal of American College Health study found that the red zone did exist and that first year students “were generally at a higher risk for unwanted sexual experiences than were second years.”

Furthermore, “college students are the most vulnerable to rape during the first few weeks of the freshman and sophomore years,” a 2003 report from the Department of Justice found.

“I know going into the start of the year that it’s probably going to get busy for awhile,” Oren said.

This increase could be for a variety of factors, Oren said. It could be that some students had been sexually assaulted before and have escaped their perpetrator since coming to Iowa State. It could also be due to the population increase in Ames.

However, both studies and statistics of sexual assault reported at Iowa State show that reports do not necessarily appear in the first week but rather later in the semester because students must rip through the barrier of perceived shame and unnecessary embarrassment that accompanies sexual assault in order to feel safe enough to report what happened to them.

More importantly for freshmen to realize before they gear up for the first weekend and first tailgate of the year, the DOJ report shows that “alcohol appears to play a large role in acquaintance rape, although it is not the cause.

“Alcohol and drug use increases the risk that men and women will misinterpret messages between them,” the report states. In addition, some may use alcohol as an excuse to act out and justify behavior.

“I think it’s more common with alcohol because when people are inebriated, they do things that they wouldn’t do sober,” said junior Josh Tuggle when asked if alcohol plays a role in sexual assault.

The DOJ report also states that potential victims, if already under the influence, may not notice an acquaintance’s attempts to keep a steady flow of alcohol going. The question of “you’re still nursing that same drink?” could easily coerce them into drinking more. 

Freshmen Kaeli Sedlak and Zach Cooper both named the “party scene” as a breeding ground for sexual assault.

Many freshmen scroll through the AlocholEdu videos while staring at the TV in the background. They know alcohol can be a risky behavior and lead to decreased cognitive abilities, which can often lead to sexual assault.

However, they may not be aware that alcohol use should not be an excuse to blame a victim of sexual assault.

“It seems like we’re blaming them for trying alcohol and trying partying, and really this is their time to explore and this is the time to safely figure out what they want to do,” Oren said. “While binge drinking isn’t a safe decision for alcohol reasons, it shouldn’t mean somebody’s going to perpetrate on you.”

Oren said another reason freshmen may be vulnerable is that they may not think they have a reason to resist unwanted sexual advances.

“If they think this is what college is, this is just your role in the cycle, and you don’t know that in all actuality most Iowa State students get consent, and most wouldn’t abuse somebody, you don’t know to cry for help,” Oren said.

Oren said it’s important for students to talk about sexual assault and create a culture that if you are a perpetrator and do not get clear consent, “we don’t want you here.”

How to avoid sexual assault and help victims

One in four women are sexually assaulted, according to national statistics. Freshman women, that means that you could walk into your dorm bathroom at any given moment and chances are one of the women in the room has been sexually assaulted.

One in 33 men — who are most often assaulted by other men — have experienced sexual assault, which Oren said isn’t an entirely accurate depiction because men often feel more shame in reporting sexual assault.

For freshman men, one of the men on your dorm floor or fraternity has likely experienced sexual assault by a man or woman.

The rape myths pounded into students by protective parents put freshmen at an even greater risk for becoming victims, Oren said.

These myths include the idea that rapists jump out from behind bushes and attack women or that women should always have a man walk them home. Oren said 90 percent of victims are assaulted by acquaintances and an acquaintance may use that trust to take advantage.

Another myth is that men cannot be assaulted, Oren said.

“A lot of incoming freshmen or transfer [men], probably a lot of them aren’t aware it can happen to anybody,” Oren said. “If they’re believing all these rape myths that sexual assault victims only [are women who] look a certain way or it’s because a stranger jumped out, they believe they’re safe if they’re avoiding those things.”

Since men and women are not safe with the ones they believe they can trust, bystander intervention is the key.

Lauri Dusselier, Prevention Services manager, helps organize bystander intervention presentations for community advisers and professors. Any CA, residence hall director, club, organization or professor on campus can request a presentation.

Dusselier said they had done seven bystander interventions around campus last year. Dusselier said they always have regular CAs, professors, sororities and fraternities that request the presentations. Students will roleplay in different situations to see how best they can recognize and intervene during a potential sexual assault.

“It helps people recognize when someone is trying to take advantage of someone else, whether it’s body language or things that they hear someone saying.”

The typical freshmen may not be feeling bold enough to swiftly regurgitate, defecate or urinate—as instructed on the harassment awareness video following AlocholEdu—to get out of a dangerous situation. That is what makes bystander awareness essential.

“When you’re a potential victim, it’s a little hard to put up those walls or help yourself because you might be frozen, but your friend can ask you to go to the bathroom with them,” Dusselier said. “The group of people who sees you looking uncomfortable can distract the person being aggressive.”

But do the other ISU students who have not been involved in bystander intervention programs know how to recognize the signs? Can they recognize the tipping point from overly-interested and affectionate behavior to aggressive and unwanted?

“When they don’t listen to what you’re saying, if you’re telling them to back off and they’re not,” Kalin Webskowski, sophomore in pre-dietetics, said of possible warning signs. “If there are people around try to get their attention.”

The most important thing to remember, Dusselier said, is not to gloss over the situation and dismiss a person’s uncomfortable body language. Bystanders must feel empowered enough to step in.

“If an individual feels uncomfortable with what they’re seeing, most people around them are uncomfortable as well. Frequently an individual might not say something because no one else around them is saying anything and seems to be okay with it,” Dusselier said. “Most people would want someone to speak up.”

As for tips for bystanders, any intervention is beneficial.

“They can just call 911 and ask for the police to come and intervene, and that’s much better than having someone experience sexual assault,” Dusselier said. “No matter what embarrassment it might cause, it’s much better to prevent someone from getting sexually assaulted.”