INDIANAPOLIS — A group of IUPUI students continue to push for changes to make all students feel safe on their campus and at other schools across Indiana.
ISAAC, which stands for Indiana Sexual Assault Awareness Campaign, started last fall at IUPUI after a sexual assault was reported to have happened in a stairwell of a dorm.
To prevent future attacks, students in the group say they're working to change the culture around things like sexual assault.
"Rape culture is real. It's a very concerning thing and universities throw it under the rug," Noah Thomas, one of the leaders of ISAAC, said. "We think that's a very irresponsible thing to let it happen and not do anything about it. We hope to change that at every single university we go to."
Thomas has led protests at IUPUI, asking the university to create a safer environment for all students.
Specifically, they want to see a few things:
- More education for students about sexual assault
- Automatic enrollment into IU-Notify, which is the university's emergency alert system
- Cameras in stairwells and other areas where students do not feel safe
"We're still fighting for these things because nothing has changed," Thomas said.
WRTV asked IUPUI about the changes for which the students they're asking. A spokesperson replied with the following statement.
We are making progress on these matters but specifically regarding the cameras in the stairwells that they were asking about, that is ongoing because of infrastructure that must be addressed to install those cameras. But we do hope to have that done soon. We have put new LED lights in the stairwells to improve lighting in the meantime. We have also increased patrols with IUPD and are continuing our partnership with the student leaders and their concerns.
Thomas isn't convinced better lighting will do anything to prevent a future attack. He hopes the cameras are installed soon.
"We want to make sure survivors know that we stand with them no matter where they're from, not just from IUPUI," Kaitlyn Dibble, another IUPUI and member of ISAAC.
Since their protests at IUPUI last fall, Dibble, Thomas, and other members/supporters of ISAAC have traveled to and led protests at Indiana University and Purdue University. Both colleges are dealing with their own reports of sexual assaults on campus.
"When we went to Purdue, a lot of people showed up. We had large numbers especially in the middle of January when it's really cold. We had a long march," Dibble said.
More schools are on their radar, including Hanover College.
Hanover College, a private university, has had to defend its handling of at least one reported sexual assault. In 2014, they were cleared by The U.S. Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights over allegations they retaliated against a report sexual assault victim.
The campus safety portion of their website provides a link to the student handbook where their policy regarding sex/gender harassment, discrimination and misconduct is laid out. The link to their current Clery Report isn't updated this time. It takes you to this broken link. WRTV sent a message to the university to ask when that will be updated.
The Jeanne Clery Act requires colleges and universities to report campus crime data, support victims of violence and publicly outline the policies and procedures they have put into place to improve campus safety. ISAAC will be at Hanover College, joining Me Too Hanover College on Feb. 18 for a peaceful protest. They have plans to go to Ball State University and Butler University as well in the coming months.
"We can do our best to protest for change all that we want but at the end of the day, we need to be here to support the people the movement is here for in the first place," Ashley Wilson, another student and member of ISAAC said.
While they want universities to step up, the students say it takes everyone to stop the normalization of sexual violence.
"If you hear your friend saying something that's harassment or on the street that's catcalling, we need to call people out and tell them it's not okay. It has to start with us," Dibble said.
Dibble, Thomas, and Wilson say they will continue pushing for change at all Indiana college campuses, hoping to make a difference for students now and those who come after them.
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