A recent sexual assault at York University was not made public knowledge until an anonymous tip informed the university’s student newspaper of the incident.
Though York said only “serious incidents” with “a risk of recurrence” are made public, all sexual assaults are serious.
Students have a right to know when and where sexual assaults happen on their campus, and under what circumstances these incidents occurred.
Part of the prevention of sexual assault is the recognition that all assaults, “serious” or otherwise, could be part of a larger pattern either on the campus, within the city, or across the province.
Assaults are only reported to the police if the victim presses charges, so it should be the responsibility of the university and their safety services to let students know about these incidents.
Universities should be held accountable. One method could be creating a database documenting patterns of sexual assaults on campuses, within cities, within provinces, and even across the country.
Having this information publicly available and updated frequently would force universities to address these issues in a forward-thinking manner, and would enable both the schools and their students to be aware of how and when assaults occur.
It’s time for universities to step up to the plate and realize that centralizing this information would mean solidarity and accountability for all schools involved.
The patterns of sexual assault should be public knowledge for the safety of students and the advancement of assault prevention policies that might actually make a difference.
