December 8, 2022
Change Can’t Wait: Students Protest Sexual Violence at American University
By Lisa Herforth-Hebbert
After an intruder sexually assaulted a dorm resident, students at American University walked out en masse to expose their school’s inaction.
By Finley Muratova and Enrique Colon
Content warning: This article contains mentions of sexual violence.
“People are taking scissors with them to the shower in case someone sinister enters the bathroom,” said Mahita Desaraju, a freshman at American University. At a walkout organized by Lillian Frame and Emily Minster, two AU seniors with sexual violence prevention backgrounds, Desaraju spoke into a megaphone held by another student wearing a red tank top reading “protect survivors” across the front. “Most people shower in pairs to feel safer, and I hardly hear the showers run at night anymore.” Desaraju spoke to a dorm break-in that occurred on AU’s Washington, D.C., campus.
Around 2 am on October 31, 2022, an unknown individual entered the all-female floor of Leonard Hall, a first-year dorm at American University, gaining access to two rooms and reportedly sexually assaulted one of the residents. The community speculates that the intruder was another student, given their ability to enter the building by, presumably, an AU ID card.
The morning after the incident, an e-mail was sent to the students’ guardians informing them of the night’s events. According to several students, they heard about the break-in from their families prior to receiving any communication from the school. Many students regarded lack of direct communication as the university’s way of appeasing parents, rather than supporting those harmed.
