SAN DIEGO — San Diego State University students are facing the serious issue of sexual assault head on. The Daily Aztec just released a magazine detailing the problem and it includes stories told by victims themselves.
This school year's final edition of The Daily Aztec has a magazine insert titled: “El Alma, Sexual Assault at San Diego State.” It includes statistics, resources, and stories from students who have been victims of rape.
One writes: "I'm pushing him away and telling him, ‘No, I don't want this. Stop.’ He was considerably stronger than me and he forced himself on me."
"It's one of those things that has a heavy stigma around it, so people don't wanna talk about it. People don't wanna take the time. They just wanna pretend like it's not happening, and so we really wanted to put it in people's faces like, ‘this is happening. It's not over. It's still a problem. You know people who abuse other people. You know people who have been victims of these kinds of things,’” said the magazine’s editor-in-chief Bella Ross.
She says the goal is to get people talking about sexual assault in hopes of not only preventing further incidents but also offering support to those who haven't come forward. She said she feels as though SDSU does a good job dealing with sexual assault but admits, there's still room for improvement.
"I don't think SDSU is doing a bad job, but obviously the resources only go so far,” said Ross.
The university's take on the magazine is one of praise.
"Our students should be talking about sexual violence and they should be aware of the issues on college campuses,” said Title IX coordinator Jessica Rentto.
Rentto said she encourages more students to take on this head-on approach saying it gives staff a better idea of what’s working and what’s not.
"There's always things that we can learn to do differently,” she said.
Meanwhile, the students News 8 spoke with also said they are impressed.
"I think it's a really important issue to address and it's so important to talk about on college campuses,” said SDSU senior Kate Clark. She added that the magazine hits close to home for many people.
"I think often times we feel removed from it like, ‘oh, that happened to those people and it's not me. It doesn't happen at our frat parties,’” she said.