Over the past 10 years, Iowa State had an increase in sexual assaults reported on campus.

Sexual assault includes forcible rape, forcible sodomy, sexual assault with an object, forcible fondling, incest, statutory rape or any other sexual contact without consent.

According to the Iowa State Safety Report, in 2007, there were 4 reported sexual assaults reported to the ISU Police Department. In 2017, there have been 13 reported sexual assaults so far, with no arrests made. Since 2013, there have been no fewer than 12 sexual assaults reported annually.

In the past ten years at Iowa State, there have been 103 reported sexual assaults on campus, with 15 arrests made. According to the Iowa State Safety report, the firsts arrests in the past 10 years didn’t occur until 2013, when two arrests were made.

“Start By Believing” is an international campaign that aims to transform community response to sexual assault. In 2014, ISU Police officer and community outreach specialist Anthony Greiter brought “Start By Believing” to Iowa State.

“Start By Believing” refers to the first thing bystanders should do when a victim lets them know about their assault. The first thing they should do is believe them instead of doubting; thus “Start By Believing.”

Greiter said, “We need everyone to start by believing, so that victims of sexual assault get to the resources they need, and get the help they need.”

What are these “resources”? Who can access them?

One resource for sexual assault on campus is Story County Sexual Assault Response Team (S.A.R.T.).

The team is made up of professionals specializing in sexual assault from multiple agencies: ISU Police, Ames Police Department, Story County Sheriff’s Office, Nevada Police Department, Huxley Police Department, Story City Police Department, ACCESS (Assault Care Center Extending Shelter and Support), Mary Greeley Medical Center, Thielen Student Health Center, Story County Medical Center and Story County Attorney’s Office.

Other resources for victims and bystanders of sexual assault are the Iowa Coalition Against Sexual Assault, the Dean of Students Office and Student Counseling Services.

The ISU Police released another campaign in the fall of 2017 that promotes crime reporting and community trust for the police. “We Care; Please Tell Us” was first released to the public with a video by the ISU Police that encouraged victims of sexual assault to reach out to authorities.

 

If you’ve been the victim of sexual assault, we want to help. We care. Please tell us.

A post shared by Iowa State University Police (@isupd) on Aug 18, 2017 at 9:13am PDT 

Greiter said “We Care; Please Tell Us” was inspired by the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s “Tell Us” campaign, which encourages students to report sexual assault cases to law enforcement.