Shortly after 8:30 Sunday night, the entire UF Student Body received a series of alerts from University Police, warning them of a battery that had just occurred on campus near McCarty Hall.
I remember getting UF Alerts during my freshman year and being mildly worried by them.
An armed robbery sounded scary, of course, but these incidents usually happened far from campus. I felt safe while on campus, tucked away in my dorm room.
Now, getting a UF Alert sends a jolt of fear down my spine — sharp and sickening.
Where on campus did the assault occur? How many lucky buildings away from me is an unlucky girl talking to the police? Am I safe where I am now? Am I secure?
In the past two weeks, four separate battery and attempted sexual assaults of female UF students were reported. Each time, the incidents have occurred on or extremely close to campus. And each time, I feel a renewed mixture of anxiety and anger.
The question "I’m scared to walk alone now; will you walk home with me?" no longer seems like a paranoid precaution.
Some assaults have occurred frighteningly early in the evening, and I feel suddenly limited and at risk even during the daylight hours.
Females at UF are scared, and with good reason. We run to buy convenient travel-size tubes of mace and pepper spray. We walk from class to class with our keys clutched like knives between our fingers.
When I mentioned my fears to a male acquaintance, I was met with polite confusion. He hadn’t paid attention to the alerts. He didn’t understand my outrage and horror.
I realized that as a privileged, white male, the issues of rape and sexual assault are hardly concerns for him.
In contrast, the fear of being a victim of one of these horrific acts is something I have been afraid of for my entire life.
By now, we’ve all heard the laundry list of precautions women must take before they leave their homes. Don’t walk alone at night. Don’t provoke men into attacking you. Don’t wear too short a skirt. Don’t respond negatively to street harassment. Don’t endanger yourself. Every girl has heard it before.
From drug-detecting nail polish to the email sent out with cheerfully suggested campus safety tips, I’ve been carefully informed of the "don’ts" of avoiding assault since I turned 12 years old.
My question is, what is being done to stop these horrible attacks from happening in the future? What is being done to catch the man (or men) who attacked these women? How serious is the investigation taking place? Finally, why is there more social pressure on a woman to protect herself than there is on a man to not attack in the first place?
The UF community — and American society in general —- needs to realize that it is far more important to stop someone from becoming a victim than to instruct women on avoiding assault after it has occurred. More needs to be done to stop these attacks of battery.
Women, especially college-age women, live in a culture of fear that I find despicable.
Considering that statistically, 1 in 4 of us will be sexually violated during our time at college, it is clear that this problem is getting out of control.
All people are supposed to have the right to be secure. We have the right to demand respect toward our bodies and our minds. We have the right to walk alone on campus at night and not live in constant fear of assault.
The most saddening thing about the UF Alerts popping up on my phone is that I know for every assault and battery reported, there are so many more that will never come to light. It’s time to bring an end to this dangerous pattern of sexual assault on college campuses. It’s time for a change.
Sally Greider is a UF English and public relations sophomore. Her columns appear on Tuesdays.
[A version of this story ran on page 7 on 9/9/2014 under the headline "Culture of fear: Just how many assaults will it take to start changing things?"]
