According to Rainn.org, 80% of rape victims are under the age of 30 and two thirds of all rapes are committed by someone the victim knew. Another 50% of rapes occur within a mile of your home. There are 207,754 victims (rape or sexual assault) each year alone. One out of every six American women have been the victim of attempted or completed rape in their lifetime. One out of every six which means if you live in the dorms on campus and share a room, either you, or a girl in the dorm on either side of you will be that one in six.

With all those shocking statistics in mind, I’d like you to now take notice to how many sexual assault and rape articles there are in the Daily Collegian every week. How often we as students simply read about the few assaults that actually get reported is sickening. This should not be something we read about this often, or ever for that matter. Far too often do I read in the Collegian the location of the assault and think to myself, “I was there that night. That could have been me!”.

Penn State’s code of conduct states that the punishments do include the option of expulsion, but I think it’s disturbing that there is even an option that the criminal would receive anything less than that. I also believe the student population deserves to be updated with email notices when crimes like this occur. Knowledge is power, and the more the student population is aware of the dangers of rape and sexual assault, the better prepared we will be as a whole.

I am proposing a petition that can be found on Change.org titled “Penn State University Disciplinary Acts: Harsher punishments for rape/sexual assault crimes“. This petition will be used to gain the attention of the appropriate Penn State officials with hopes to increase punishments and awareness of this issue to students, faculty and staff on and off campus. Please join the movement and sign this petition and support the efforts to create a safer environment for all of our current students and future students to come.