Demonstrators protest sexual assault on college campuses at the #YesAllWomen rally. Photo via Time.com.

We are taught at a young age the concept of crime and punishment — you do something wrong, you will get in some sort of trouble. In a perfect world, offenses would be found out and the perpetrators would be properly reprimanded.

However, as we are still in the workings of perfection, justice often is neglected or improperly placed. This is extremely problematic as those enforcing justice are seen with not as much credibility or security.

This unbalance is definitely seen on college campuses. Upon arrival on campus, you are told, ad nauseum, of the college’s policies for drinking, drugs and plagiarism — things that we’ve been lectured about since junior high.

Drinking is bad. Drugs are bad. Plagiarism is bad. Don’t do it, and you won’t have to worry. If you do, you’ll be punished. These few things are excessively emphasized when the issue of assault is only addressed with preventative measures for the victims.

As an English major who writes a lot of papers where I need to cite texts for arguments, I understand the necessity to place credit where it is due. As a 21 year old who enjoys going out sometimes, I understand the necessity for safety with substances. As a young female, I feel that telling me to stay in well lit areas and keep my keys in my hands because someone doesn’t understand the concept of acting like a decent human being is ludicrous.

As students, we have been under the protection of the school since our  elementary days, when teachers have a sort of parental authority — making and enforcing rules. This still carries into college, especially if you have residence on campus. These are set to establish a sense of order and maintain safety, which is all fine and good, except if those rules aren’t being enforced in a just way.

A student named Marie Reimers who attends Central Michigan University has written up a petition calling the university out on their unbalanced justice on campus.  After so many assaults on fellow students with little to no action done on their part, there are students being expelled from school because of plagiarism. Not only is this enabling such behavior, it diminishes the incident and victim’s feelings. In the petition, she writes that the minimum punishment for rape should be suspension with the opportunity to return to campus.

Assaults of any sort are tricky to handle, needing firstly to be reported — which they often are not because of fear of judgement, punishment (maybe they had been drinking), or fear of nothing would be done about the situation. With attacks occurring all over the country on campuses and many being treated like that at CMU, why should the victim’s hold faith in the university justice system? Our new rep from the local CVIC is a huge movement to helping with victims however it is an after the fact source.

If you were to go up to a group of students and say, “Hey, don’t assault someone” most, if not all, would look at you like you just said the sky was blue, roll their eyes, and probably respond with, “Duh?” I completely agree with such a reaction, but then why are there still attacks happening? With schools as our main source of security, why are students taking credit for someone else’s work (for a paper no one except the professor will read) taking more heat than assaulters?

More and more students like Reimers are stepping up, making their voices heard and taking action to remove attackers from campus to promote a safe place to live and learn for everyone, especially victims. These voices need to be seen and heard on every TV, radio, newspaper, social media, etc. Do not be afraid to stand up for yourself or for another. If there are going to be rules, make the rules staunch and balanced. Forgetting your work cited page is not the equivalent of taking away someone’s possessions or sense of self.

Steph Gartner is a staff writer for The Dakota Student. She can be reached at [email protected].