<p>a friend of mine has a question...
She has heard that there is huge problem at Notre Dame, particularly regarding rape incidents at Notre Dame. She has heard that it happens often but most times the reports are "hushed" up and she was just wondering if this were true. Is this something to be really concerned with, is it necessary to for example to carry mace with you at all times? I guess she wants to know how bad it really is.</p>
<p>On campus there is plenty of safety. Don’t go into South Bend alone. Only bad things can happen then. Not sure about a lot of rapes or anything. Maybe they are covered up well, in which case I wouldn’t know.</p>
<p>According to my Contemporary Topics and self-defense classes, it is a problem here and we don’t hear a lot of what really goes on. But I don’t think it’s more of a problem here than at any other school–sexual assault goes unreported everywhere. Not that this makes it okay, but I certainly don’t think ND is alone in this respect and it definitely shouldn’t be a reason not to apply, because there are plenty of safety measures taken on campus.</p>
<p>Campus is really safe in my opinion. I’m a guy, so take my opinion with a grain of salt. I’ve never felt threatened in any way regardless of where I am on campus. Off campus it’s a different story, but since it’s kind of rare to leave campus, it’s pretty much a non-issue.</p>
<p>It is hard say what they mean by rape. There was some stat during Frosh-O where they said something like 1 in 6 students got sexually assaulted. But the vast majority of those are drunk people being taken advantage of. I’m sure only a small part of that is violent rape.</p>
<p>There is a lot of effort put into sexual assault/harassment awareness. In our boys dorms there are posters in the bathrooms with all of the information about what to do if you are attacked. We have an annual student produced and directed play (Loyal Daughters and Sons) about sexual assault on campus. I think much of the hype comes from an incident about 8 years in which a football player allegedly date raped a coed. He was eventually expelled from the university but the woman claimed that campus officials attempted to cover it up. Things have changed. Dean Ava Preacher is in charge of rape/sexual assault survivors and that stuff isn’t taken lightly.</p>