After 10 years of working at rape crisis centers across the country, Kelly Anderson knows that when it comes to sexual assault incidents, one can never judge them just by the statistics.
"You can find colleges that say that they had no sexual assaults reported to them in a year, and if people don't think about them too hard, that sounds like a safe school," said Anderson, executive director of the Rape Crisis Center of Dane County. "However, the reality is that it's not that there weren't any rapes — there just weren't any safe services on campus for students to report the assaults."
For 33 years, the crisis center has worked to provide safe services for the University of Wisconsin campus and Madison community. By providing free and confidential counseling services, the center aims to create a large network of sexual assault prevention programs for the campus and surrounding community.
Sexual assaults are a wide spread concern for college campuses, and according to Anderson, a majority of sexual assaults involve young adults between the ages of 16-24.
A study done by the Dean of Student's Office and campus health services on incoming freshmen women showed one in three would be sexually assaulted during their time in college. Another study done in 1995, reported one in eight female undergrads are sexually assaulted during their time at Madison.
In more recent times, 43 sexual assaults involving students were reported in the Madison community in 2005. Of those 43, 19 occurred on university property, most in residential halls.
While this number may sound low, Anderson said nearly 90 percent of sexual assault cases go unreported.
But there are places for students to turn to. In providing counseling services for the university and community, the center looks to spread awareness that sexual violence is a primary concern no matter how safe the city may appear to be.
Additionally, Yolanda Garza, assistant dean of students, said the most important aspect of having the crisis center on campus is the fact that it is centrally located for students.
"Having valuable services for victims of sexual assault, such as counselors and preventative programs, present on campus makes it much more accessible for students," she said, adding it is "really critical" to have such accessibility.
With a staff of 10 members and 50 volunteers, many of which are UW students, the center offers a 24-hour crisis line to victims.
As an independent organization from the university, the center can also accompany victims of sexual violence through the prosecution process.
"Victims do not need to go through this alone," Anderson said. "Most often it is friends and roommates of the victim who hear about it, and we know that they don't know what to do, that's why there is a rape crisis center."
On campuses nation-wide, Anderson said also the most common sexual assault perpetrators are friends or acquaintances of the victim, which oftentimes makes it that much more difficult for the victim to report the incident.
Anderson said that any incident that has caused someone any type of anxiety, loss of sleep or stress can be considered sexual assault and asked people to give the RCC a call.
The Crisis Line number is (608) 251-RAPE (7273).
