There have been five reports of sexual assault since the beginning of the fall semester at St. Louis University. Just last month, four basketball players were accused of sexually assaulting three women. 5 On Your Side is getting answers from school leaders about their efforts to make it stop.
Anna Kratky is SLU's Title IX Coordinator. She says students come to her office to report sexual harassment, sexual assault, relationship violence, and stalking.
"We do things like issue no-contact orders between students," she said. "Or, if the person that is being accused of doing something is a non-SLU student, we can ban people from campus."
Her office also reaches out to instructors when a student has academic concerns.
"If they don't feel safe where they're living, we're going to work with their living situation," she said.
They offer support. However, their work isn't only about response. A lot of it has to do with prevention.
"We even start before [freshmen] get to campus," Kratky said. "Students are invited to come to an orientation over the summer."
There are events throughout the year in the residence halls.
"We work with specifically with Greek life and athletes and student government," Kratky said.
There's also outside help from Safe Connections.
"Generally, how we interact with students is on campuses," said Jess Cowl, Assistant Director for Crisis and Prevention. "We like to come to them. We have a variety of workshops that we offer to students. We have Understanding Title IX and Your Rights, we have Sexual Assault Awareness."
The goal is to create a culture of consent.
"I'm satisfied with how much they offer to us and resources wise or educate us," SLU senior Liz Morris said. "I think it's important for everyone to know what to do."
Soon, students will be able to anonymously give SLU feedback on its prevention and response efforts through the Campus Climate Survey. Kratky has been working on it for almost a year.
