Those heady first weeks of freedom as a college student have a name: the red zone, the time when freshman females are most at risk for sexual assault. And this year, the University of Virginia is mandating two online classes on alcohol and substance abuse, and sexual violence for both male and female students.
UVA is no stranger to either issue, but the sexual violence course is new and follows UVA’s latest sexual assault policy that went into effect July 1, the Newsplex reports. If the two hour-long nodules aren’t completed by September 18, student access to grades and test scores will be suspended.
Over in the dormitories, the student sexual-assault education groups One Less and One in Four are working on a safety initiative called Dorm Norms to bring up the sexual assault conversation with all first years, according to the Cav Daily.
A 2007 campus sexual assault study found that 50 percent took place in August, September, October and November, and that assaults on women usually took place early in their college career.
