The work going into next week's "Take Back the Night" event proves that many Princeton students and staff members are anything but passive when it comes to confronting the issue of sexual assault on campus.
But the University's continued failure to guarantee that student victims of sexual assault have ready access to a "rape kit" — the specialized equipment and health services necessary for collecting physical evidence after an assault — shows a lesser degree of resolve.
We do not take lightly the cost of maintaining a rape kit capacity, which requires $30,000 of equipment and 24-hour availability of trained personnel. At an institution easily capable of affording this, however, the issue is not one of price but of principle, and the University is obliged to help students cope with both the threats and realities of sexual assault lurking on this campus. Students at all other Ivy League universities are within 10 minutes of a facility that performs rape kits.
To their credit, health officials are working to ensure that, in the near future, a sexual assault victim will no longer have to travel 40 minutes to a New Brunswick facility in order to give evidence.
The University earlier listed funding an on-campus rape kit among its "highest needs and priorities" on the 2004-2005 budget agenda; requests for a rape kit disappeared after it became clear that the University Medical Center at Princeton was pursuing certification in performing rape kits. Regardless of the University Medical Center's plans, however, the University should not rest easy until 24/7 student access to sexual-assault examinations within minutes of campus becomes a reality.
Princeton's officials know that while sexual assault is rarely reported here — fewer than one percent of students identified themselves as victims in a 2001 survey — national studies suggest only one in five rapes is reported. Understanding how difficult it is for victims to come forward in the traumatic wake of an assault, let alone initiate a rape investigation, the University must remove any obstacles it can. A 40-minute ride through Rt. 1 traffic is more than any sexual-assault victim should have to go through.
That one student in the past three years has gone to New Brunswick is not an indication rape kits are not needed. Rather, it is a sign that they are urgently needed. The University must do all it can to bring them closer to campus.
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