New School Year, New Freshmen -Ashley Bradley University Blogger-

It’s a new school year, so of course new freshmen are arriving on campus. On move-in day, students arrive by the masses on campus. My school has a block party sponsored by the sororities and fraternities on campus, welcoming the fresh blood and old beef back to campus. They reel you in with free food and other goodies, but the guys especially seek out freshmen girls to invite to the first parties of the semester aka the same night. For most freshmen, this is their first time being away from home, their first chance at freedom. This is the night that many fresh bloods go out and drink a nice amount of alcohol for the first time in this type of setting (the frat party). This is a night where many new students may feel the pressure to drink. Unfortunately, because of this fact, many students do not really know their limit, the extent of their tolerance.

            

    Not only are freshmen at risk of alcohol poisoning, they are also at risk of being taken advantage of by upperclassmen. During my freshmen year, around 15 people (mainly freshmen) were taken to the hospital the first night of parties due to alcohol. Who knows how many people, mainly females, could have been assaulted in some way that night as well. As much as we all would just like to believe that all of the frat guys simply want to throw a party and serve free alcohol to beautiful girls, we know that this is not the case for at least some of the guys out there.

If you’re a freshman, and you happen to come across the blog, please be careful on those first few nights of college. Don’t let go of yourself to follow the crowd. Fight the pressure. It’s easy to listen to everyone else when you barely know anyone on campus, but sometimes you have to listen to your gut instinct. I’m not saying you shouldn’t go out to frat parties (they can be fun at times), but I hope that you’ll all be observant and look out for yourself and use the buddy system. There truly is safety in numbers.

The Light at the End of a Tunnel-Courtney Blogger-

This past week, Governor Pat Quinn established a new law to support sexual assault victims and prevent violence against women from occurring.  As of January 2013, rape crisis centers throughout Illinois will receive funds from a tax placed on strip clubs, due to Pat Quinn’s signing of House Bill 1645.  A few months ago, I received an email from my supervisor asking for my help to pass this law.  Not realizing the potential gratitude of this bill, I did as my supervisor told, and honestly did not think much of it after.  Now that this bill has passed, I realize how it much power it holds for survivors, rape crisis centers and all women of Illinois.
Lt. Governor Simon was quoted saying, “This new revenue stream will help offset cuts that threatened critical services. When a sexual assault victim goes to a police station or a survivor calls a hotline, we need trained staff ready to respond. This bill helps to keep lights on and doors open, jobs filled and responders trained” (ENews Park Forest).  This statement hits close to home because I just completed an internship at a Rape Crisis Center just last week, and I understand the how necessary it is to have passionate, supportive counselors on staff and the financial means to train volunteers to assist with supporting survivors on the hotline, in hospitals and in police stations.
On one of my last days as an intern, my supervisor expressed how she wishes there were more hours in the day or more counselors in the office because every day our agency has more clients placed on the waiting list for counseling.  Perhaps this bill is just what rape crisis centers need to change the lives of even more survivors than anyone ever thought possible.  Perhaps this bill could be the light at the end of the tunnel.