Campus leaders and members of the board that governs Iowa, Iowa State and U-N-I are reviewing the effectiveness of campus safety measures. Jacob Simpson of Clinton is the president of University of Iowa Student Government. He says sexual assault is a “pervasive problem” on college campuses throughout the country.  “According to our campus climate survey on sexual assault, 21 percent of the undergraduate female-identified students who completed the survey reported being raped and then 11.4 percent of first-year undergraduate female-identified students who completed the survey reported being raped in their first semester on campus,” Simpson said. “These numbers are astonishing.”

Simpson spoke to a Board of Regents panel yesterday (Wednesday). Paula Knudson is the University of Northern Iowa’s vice president for student affairs. In the late 1980s, she was a resident assistant on a University of Iowa dorm floor when data showed about one in four or five women on campus said they had been sexually assaulted. “If this was a health issue — and it is a health issue — it would be considered an epidemic,” she said. “And it hasn’t changed in that 25-year experience.”

Iowa State University’s student body president is stressing the need for more lights and cameras on campus to enhance security and aid investigators when incidents occur. A summit will be held on November 1st at Iowa State University to discuss safety and security issues on college campuses throughout the state.

(Radio Iowa)