2 rapes reported on Cal Poly’s campus last month. Here’s what the university has done
Trigger warning: This story contains content regarding sexual assault and violence.
Weeks after two rapes were reported on Cal Poly’s campus in San Luis Obispo, the university has beefed up some security measures.
The first rape occurred on Oct. 4 in the Design Village area north of Poly Canyon Road, while the second happened in an “unknown location” in the Poly Canyon Village Apartments on Oct. 10, according to notes sent by the university to students as required by the Jeanne Clery Act.
The suspects in both rapes have not yet been apprehended and university police are continuing to investigate, according to Cal Poly spokesman Matt Lazier.
Since the two rapes, Cal Poly has implemented new safety and security measures on campus. Students say the added measures are great, but only one part of the equation.
The rapes left some students on the campus shaken, scared and worried about their safety.
Cal Poly President Jeffrey Armstrong sent out campus-wide messages on Oct. 5 and 11 denouncing the incidents and telling students about resources available to them.
After that, some students said, university authorities have remained silent. Few of their professors or campus leaders have addressed the rapes, which made news headlines across the Central Coast, they said.
“It’s just so disturbing and heartbreaking. And I was just so angry that people have to live on our campus, a campus that I love, a school that I love so much, and we have to be scared of these things happening and not feeling safe,” said Grace Battles, a fourth-year Cal Poly business student.
“I think our school has incredible resources for survivors and safety measures,” Battles continued. “But I think the thing that I really had a problem with was the everyday culture of not speaking about things that are so awful that are happening.
“Obviously, our administration spoke on it, but just the everyday culture — if we don’t address it on that lower level like my professor did, then it’s not going to change and it’s just going to get normalized.”
Battles said she and another Cal Poly business student, Maggie Freadman, organized a campus event, Standing with Survivors, in late October after one of Battles’ professors spoke up about the rapes during class and addressed how the incidents could be traumatizing to the students.
“She took the end of class to say that ... ‘So many of us, just statistically speaking, will be affected by this in some way and it’s not okay. We’re here for you. You’re supported,’ ” Battles said. “It took two minutes to say that. And then I realized, of my four professors, she was the only one who did something like that.”
During the Standing with Survivors event, students and others spoke about their experiences with sexual assault, how they healed and how they now work to empower survivors.
Battles and Freadman said that hearing those stories was inspiring and empowering.
They said they hoped the event would show other students that, although sexual assault is prevalent on college campuses, it shouldn’t be ignored.
The organizers also encouraged students to reach out to on-campus resources such as Cal Poly Safer, which provides resources to survivors and education about sexual assault and violence.
New safety measures in place on Cal Poly campus
After the second rape occurred on Oct. 11, Cal Poly sent an email to the campus community saying that it would boost security measures on campus.
Cal Poly police now patrol the Poly Canyon, Design Village area and student residential halls more frequently, Lazier said.
The university police department has enlisted the help of the San Luis Obispo Police Department to “augment patrols around campus,” Lazier wrote in an email to The Tribune.
Additionally, the Cal Poly Police Department is increasing the Mustang Patrol walking escort program. That service enlists volunteers wearing yellow jackets and carrying a phone and radio to walk students or university employees anywhere on campus should they feel unsafe alone.
The program was suspended until the beginning of the fall quarter “out of an abundance of caution and care” due to the COVID-19 pandemic, according to the service’s website.
On Nov. 1, Cal Poly launched a pilot campus shuttle program through a third-party vendor following the two reported rapes.
The free shuttle program provides a loop through campus and runs from 7 p.m. through midnight. The stops include the Kennedy Library, university housing areas, the University Union and the Performing Arts Center.
Lastly, Lazier wrote in an email that “the campus is continuing to examine and seek to upgrade its security camera system — including upgrades made in residential areas in recent weeks.”
Following the arrest of Paul Flores, who’s accused of murdering former Cal Poly student Kristin Smart, in April, students told The Tribune that they noticed some areas of campus appeared darker and lacked security cameras compared to other, newer areas of campus.
The students also said they wished the university better taught them how to be safer on campus and sent more outreach to students when incidents such as rape occurred.
University officials responded at the time by saying they are continually upgrading security measures on campus and updating orientation and safety programs to better serve students.
Students push for change at SLO university
Freadman supports the university’s move to take new security measures on campus — and she hopes it’s just the start.
Since 2014, Cal Poly has had at least seven rapes reported each year. Those include incidents that occurred off campus.
In 2019, there were 20 reports of rape, the highest in recent years. In 2020, six were reported.
Typically, students don’t get emails from Armstrong or campus safety alerts about rapes because the university is not required to do so.
However, the university is required to send a so-called “timely warning” notification to the campus community if a certain crime occurred and “there’s an ongoing threat to the campus community,” Cal Poly Police Chief George Hughes told The Tribune in April.
Therefore, students received emails about the two rapes because the suspects have not yet been apprehended.
The recent rapes, as well as the multiple occurrences in the past, have renewed a student-led effort to find a way to create a cultural change on Cal Poly’s campus.
“I do think there already is that shift happening,” Battles said. “I just think that it needs to be happening across the school. And I think if we set that intention with teachers, to just mention these things, to talk about it, to be open more — I think everyone is willing to do it.”
It’s a big undertaking, Freadman and Battles said, but one they’re pursuing with a passion.
“I think the event we put on and the new safety and security on campus are definitely a stepping stone for Cal Poly’s culture and community,” Freadman said. “This is something that needs change, and you can’t just fix it with an email. So we’re going to push from the students’ side to create actual change.”
How to get help
There are on-campus resources available to students.
Safer provides confidential resources for the campus community for addressing sexual assault, intimate partner violence, domestic violence, stalking, sexual exploitation and harassment. Call 805-756-2282 or email safer@calpoly.edu.
Cal Poly Counseling Services provides clinical, educational, and consultative services for students. Call 805-756-2511.
Additionally, if you are a rape victim, support services are available 24 hours every day from Lumina Alliance, formerly RISE & Stand Strong, a local organization dedicated to ending sexual and intimate partner violence. Their crisis line is 805-545-8888.
More resources:
- Rape, Abuse, and Incest National Network: www.rainn.org
- National Sexual Violence Resource Center: www.nsvrc.org
- Victim and Witness Assistance Services: www.slocounty.ca.gov/Departments/District-Attorney/Victim-Witness-Assistance-Center
- Cal Poly Title IX coordinator Maren Hufton: 805-756-6770 or crco@calpoly.edu
This story was originally published November 5, 2021 at 9:00 AM.
