‘More awareness needed’ for new Cork college students over sexual violence

FOUNDER and director of the Sexual Violence Centre, Mary Crilly, has called for greater awareness on Cork college campuses of the dangers facing new students.

She described the first weeks of new students’ time in college as a “red zone” for rape and sexual assaults.

“Worldwide, universities have come up with the term ‘red zone’,” Ms Crilly said. “I would plaster the colleges, letting young women know that statistics and research show that during this period for freshers and the weeks after is a danger for them.

“This time, when they come in for the first few weeks — where it should be the best time in their lives, being free from family, going to parties, walking around college feeling like a grown-up — it’s a red zone for them because it’s a time where young people will be raped and assaulted.”

Ms Crilly cited US research showing that, statistically, more than 50% of campus sexual assaults occurred in the first three months of the first term in college.

A spokesperson for An Garda Síochána said the force will this month launch a back-to-college awareness campaign “relating to personal safety topics, sexual consent, antisocial behaviour, and other topics”.

They said gardaí work regularly with the Union of Students in Ireland and with higher and further education institutes.

Ms Crilly, who founded what was the Cork Rape Crisis Centre in 1983, and who was this year awarded by Cork City Council the freedom of the city, said more awareness needed to be raised about the dangers facing college students.

“I would put notices all around colleges, because sometimes when a rape or a sexual assault happens to a young woman, it could be somebody she knows, as is often said to me, someone from their parish,” she said. 

“It’s often somebody they know, somebody who they trust, somebody who they believe would never touch them, and then they feel they’re the only one this has happened to because everybody else seems to be having fun,” she said.

“We want you to know about it and we want people to call it out, and we want people to know that sexual violence is never, ever the victim’s fault,” Ms Crilly said.

RAISING AWARENESS

Responding to Ms Crilly’s comments, Kelda McManus, vice president at the Munster Technological University Students’ Union, said the union was in regular contact with Ms Crilly and An Garda Síochána and was working to raise awareness.

“We look to inform people on the signs and behaviours attached to [sexual assault and sexual harassment] and offer any support we can to victims who may be affected by this over the coming months,” Ms McManus said.

A spokesperson for University College Cork said the university had been to the fore in developing initiatives to tackle sexual violence at third level, with its Bystander Intervention programme recognised as a sector-leading educational initiative.

“The programme aims to address the issues of sexual harassment and violence by equipping students to develop an awareness of their capacity to speak up, to challenge unacceptable behaviour and to demand a better and more respectful student experience,” said the spokesperson.

“Meanwhile, the UCC Students’ Union and UCC operate the Student Community Support Group, in which groups of students offer pastoral care to their fellow students at night during peak times over the academic year. [It] operates in the neighbourhoods in the vicinity of UCC’s main campus, engages with fellow students and offers assistance and support where appropriate,” they said.

• The Sexual Violence Centre, Cork,
  5 Camden Quay is open from 9am
  to 5pm, Monday to Friday, and can
  be contacted at info@sexualviolence.ie, 1800 496 496, or text 087 153 3393.