Sorority members put their dance skills to the test
Bryan Granger pitches Poly past Seattle
ARTS, pg. 4
SPORTS, pg. 8
Monday, February 25, 2013
Volume LXXVII, Number 71
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Rifle found in campus residence MUSTANG DAILY STAFF REPORT
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UNREPORTED
Studies show more than one in five women will experience a completed or attempted sexual assault during their college careers, yet sexual assaults remain one of the most underreported crimes in the nation. At Cal Poly though, several incidents during the past several years have led to an increased awareness of sexual assaults on campus. LAURA PEZZINI
lpezzini@mustangdaily.net
Campus police confiscated an unloaded rifle found in Sierra Madre Residence Hall on Tuesday night, according to University Police Department (UPD) Chief George Hughes. The gun, a 22-caliber rifle, was found after police received a tip that a student was keeping a firearm in the residence hall, Hughes said. According to Penalty Code 626.9(h), it is illegal for any individual to bring a firearm onto a school campus without a concealed weapons permit. UPD obtained permission from one of the room’s occupants to enter the premises, at which point they searched the room, he said. Police found the unloaded rifle, as well as ammunition, in the room. “The roommate did not know that the gun was there,” Hughes said. “The owner of the gun and resident of the room was not there. He was off campus, actually out of town at the time.” see RIFLE, pg. 2
Two consecutive sexual assaults were reported near Cal Poly’s campus earlier this month, but nearly three weeks’ worth of investigation into the incidents hasn’t garnered much new information on the culprits. The investigation for these assaults is ongoing, San Luis Obispo Police Department (SLOPD) investigative lieutenant John Bledsoe said. “We haven’t had any new information on any suspects as far as anyone providing any information, but the good news is that we haven’t had any other assaults either,” Bledsoe said. “We’re hoping that we can get some info from Crime Stoppers or any citizen, but at this point we’re kind of at a stalemate.” Though these two incidents can seem to indicate an uptick in the number of sexual assaults because of their publicity and timing, Cal Poly’s sexual assault resource, Safer and Gender Equity Center coordinator Christina Kaviani said this is not the case. “If reporting goes up, there’s a misconception that more people are being assaulted. But really, we’re giving people more information about how they can report it,” Kaviani said. “I tend to try and veer away from statistics because it’s not very accurate.”
few common threads in most incidents of sexual harassment seen by Safer. “It’s often someone associated within their friend group,” Kaviani said of a potential assaulter. “Then there’s a line where the consent is lost and there’s not clear communication.” Kaviani also cited alcohol as a common factor in many of the cases she sees. She said although alcohol cannot be blamed for causing sexual assault, it is often involved. “When someone drinks alcohol, you don’t know how incapacitated they are and you don’t know their cues,” Kaviani said. As far as on-campus sexual assaults go, University Police Department (UPD) Chief George Hughes said Cal Poly sees very few that are reported and confirmed by UPD. However, he also spoke to the inaccuracy of sexual assault statistics. “Unfortunately with this type of crime, it typically goes unreported for several reasons,” Hughes said. “The victim doesn’t want it to become public, sometimes the victim knows who the assailant is and doesn’t want that to become public, and there’s some blame that they sometimes put on themselves.”
Sexual assaults by the numbers
Raising awareness
Though Kaviani is hesitant to cite statistics as evidence of sexual assault increases — after all, less than 5 percent of sexual assaults are actually reported, she said — she can attest to the number of students who sought help from Safer: 17 during Fall 2012, and 45 total for the 2011-12 school year. Kaviani said the culture surrounding sexual assault at Cal Poly is similar to any other college campus, in that there are a
Hughes said safety on and around campus starts with education and awareness. “It all starts with those messages about how to take care of ourselves,” Hughes said. Kaviani said her goal for education on safety in regards to sexual assault would be to implement it into the coursework of Cal Poly’s classes. “I’ve been an advocate of having coursework for every student that dis-
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Change the Status Quo comes to Chumash JESSICA BURGER
jburger@mustangdaily.net
In the meantime, Safer and Associated Students, Inc. (ASI) are working together on a few upcoming campaigns. The two organizations will put on a
Approximately 250 people from across Cal Poly’s campus and the San Luis Obispo community showed up at Chumash Auditorium on Saturday for the annual Change the Status Quo conference, where attendees shared new ideas on current social issues and discussed a student’s role in shaping future society. Cal Poly alumna and keynote speaker Danny Kim began the conference with a motivational speech for attendees before sending them off to attend four rounds of workshops in 24 different topics. “Our greatest strengths are millimeters away from our greatest weaknesses,” Kim said. Kim provided an ongoing workshop throughout
see ASSAULTS, pg. 2
see STATUS QUO, pg. 2
MUSTANG DAILY FILE PHOTO
Cal Poly’s sexual assault resource Safer sponsors events such as the “Run to Remember” each fall, in which students run to raise awareness of sexual assaults and domestic abuse. cusses the repercussions of unhealthy sexual ideas,” Kaviani said. “I would love that every college student have really solid information given to them, not just one time over their college career but multiple times.”
ARTS, pg. 5 SLO Little Theatre’s ‘Watergate’ takes audiences back to ’70s
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