Sexual battery is a serious problem among college campuses across the United States. With this said, it is known that Mesa Community College experienced their own sexual battery case on Feb. 19 in the parking-lot 1 structure by the Admissions building, where the suspect is reported as following a female student to her car, asks her out, and then proceeds to grab her buttocks. According to The Washington Post, “It is estimated that 1 in 5 women on college campuses has been sexually assaulted during their time there — 1 in 5.” With numbers like this, there is no surprise as to why women have a back minded fear of any sexual predators lurking around them.

A report of this occurrence in an email sent out by the San Diego Community College District Police Department states that the proposed suspect is an African-American male who looks to be in his early 20s and ranges at about 5’5″ in height. It continues to say that he was seen wearing a white t-shirt, along with black, loose fitting jeans, a red backpack, had a shorted faded haircut and a clean cut beard.

According to www.rainn.org, there are essential ways to help prevent these events from taking place. The organization suggests that if you are traveling in a group, one or more people should “keep an eye out” just to be sure everyone in their group will be fine on their venture. Along with this, Mesa offers services on its campus, such as the emergency pillars, for students to use in case they feel as though they are unsafe at anytime in the day or night. Aside from these ideas, it is also suggested to contact 911 in the case of any emergency that you see fit.

In cases like this, it is sometimes difficult to find the culprit or perpetrator. Nonetheless, situations like this should not be overlooked, as every one of Mesa’s thousands of students deserve the feeling of safety to walk to their cars or to class without fear of being assaulted by another.