An open letter to the University of Southern Indiana

We are asking administration and the campus community members to listen to survivors. While we have the federally regulated policies in place, students are still being left in the dark. It is time we shed light on this issue and come together to create a culture of safety on our campus.

Many of us come to this University full of hope and ambition. We spend most of our time sitting in lecture halls and studying in the library. USI is our home and when your home no longer feels like a safe place, it is nearly impossible to be successful there. The recourses currently on campus are not enough to meet the needs that victims of sexual violence need. Our academics, relationships, and mental health suffer immensely after sexual assault. We are left to grapple in the aftermath of one of the worst crimes a person can experience. This causes all that hope and ambition to be washed away and for this university to no longer feel like home.

While we understand that there are recourses in place to aid survivors, simply they are not enough. Survivors deserve support, advocacy, and justice. As a survivor of an assault on this campus, I can tell you firsthand that the repercussions victims face far exceed the level of support we are given. I am asking the administration to highly consider the proposal put before them this morning to bring a sexual assault advocacy center on campus. This will ensure survivors do not fall through the cracks and are given the recourses they deserve. The USI policy says “The University will make reasonable efforts to ensure that the parties to the Complaint are treated with respect, dignity, and sensitivity throughout the process.” Our request is more than reasonable. I have done the research. I have listened to countless survivors. I have done all that I can to fight for survivors. We need your help to end sexual violence. It’s on all of us.

It is true that Screagles Fly Together, but we cannot fly together if some of us have broken wings.

In solidarity to survivors,

Katelyn Vinci