Sleepover For Sexual Assault Awareness Draws Oxy Students, Faculty and Parents

About 100 Occidental College students, faculty and parents participated in a sleepover Friday night to raise public awareness about sexual assaults on campus.

The event was held on the campus quad and came a day after three recent Oxy graduates and three students spoke at a media-studded news conference where they accused the college administration of not doing enough to address the issue of rape and sexual assault on campus.

The news conference was held hours after two Oxy professors—Politics Department Chair Caroline Heldman and Sociology Assistant Professor Danielle Dirks—filed an 81-page Title IX federal complaint with the Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights, alleging that Oxy be investigated for practicing sex discrimination against as many as 36 rape victims.

Click here for details about the news conference and the federal complaint.

“This has been a particularly rough semester for survivors on campus,” said Dirks. People have not been so supportive and we want the college to do more for survivors.”

The sleepover included a 10 p.m. Survivor’s Support Circle and will be followed by an educational training program on Saturday after breakfast. An attempt will also be made Saturday to hold an event in which alumni and students’ parents can ask questions regarding the federal complaint filed against the college.