Oxy Students Protest College's Alert System [Video]

Occidental College students held an on-campus protest on Friday, March 1 to demand that the school's administration take responsibility for failing to immediately alert them about the alleged rape of a student on Range View Avenue the previous weekend.

According to the Los Angeles Police Department, a female student was raped by an alleged assailant, who is also a student of the school, at a residence located on the 4900 block of Range View Avenue.

A blog post on the Oxy Sexual Assault Coalition's website reports that "[t]he Oxy Administration did not share this information with campus until local media reported about the incident."

In addition to Friday's protest, the Occidental Sexual Assault Coalition is also urging the school community to contact Oxy's president, dean and head of campus security and urge them implement the alert system.

From OSAC:

On Monday, 2/25/2013, the Oxy Administration was notified of a sexual assault that had occurred on Sunday, 2/24/2013. The Oxy Administration did not share this information with the campus until local media reported about the incident. At that time, Dean Avery sent an email declaring that the student rapist was determined not to constitute a continuous threat. The Oxy Sexual Assault Coalition (OSAC) has been advocating for a campus-wide emergency alert to be sent out when any student reports a sexual assault. While the administration agreed to our 12 demands, they did not follow through with the promise to execute #7: “Use Oxy’s Crime Alert System to Inform Campus of Reported Sexual Assaults.” Students are not safe unless there is an effective system that alerts the campus population to the continuous threat that is represented by a rapist. Rape is a crime.

To show that parents and Oxy alum agree with students and faculty on the severity of this issue, we want to institute an email/phone call campaign. The purpose of this email or phone call is to support the safety of Oxy students. Contact the dean, president, and campus safety to voice your concerns and let them know that this is unacceptable. Let them know that you have invested in them and its time for them to invest in the safety of our community.