Stony Brook is grappling with an increase in reported sexual assaults. To quote the Feb. 11, 2014 Statesman article, by Ashleigh Sherow, “…there were 17 forcible sexual offences in 2012 – five more than in 2011 and 10 more than in 2010.” Despite the large student body on campus, this number is unacceptable. With a population of roughly 16,000, that means .2 percent of students have reported a sexual assault, compared to New York State’s 304 reports for its 19.57 million people, resulting in .0016 percent of the population reporting sexual assaults.
I have not ever written a response to an article in the Statesman, even though I regularly read it. However after reading Alexandra Miller’s article, “RSP needs to pivot to providing safety to commuters,” I felt I had to respond. As a member of the Residential Safety Program for the past three years, I am well-versed in our policies and procedures as well as our function within the university at large.
Residential Safety Patrol (RSP) provides many students on campus with employment. However, considering its operations were created back in 1974, how effective and efficient can they be? A majority of the program's training consists of memorizing numerical codes and regurgitating archaic safety protocol methods. RSP should update their training manual and techniques to keep up with the current times and current safety issues. What particularly concerns me is that with such a large number of students working for the organization at such late hours, the organization does not take better measures to ensure their safety post-shift.
