SAN DIEGO (KGTV) — There is new information from an audit found California State Universities are not doing enough when it comes to sexual harassment. School leaders will be meeting with lawmakers to discuss ideas on how to continue to keep students safe.
“It’s kind of scary not really knowing what situations I might get into and maybe if you could happen to someone I know,” says Freshman Marissa Gutierrez.
ABC 10News spoke with students at San Diego State University who say it is concerning knowing they have to be alert at all times, in a place where they are supposed to feel safe.
“This is our campus,” says Senior Emily Rugg. “We should feel safe at night and even walking around during the day.”
“There’s been a lot of known cases around college campuses,” says Gutierrez. “The beginning of the school year is usually known as the red zone. So I definitely think there needs to be meetings done, and there needs to be something done to put an end to this.”
Representatives from all CSU schools will be meeting with lawmakers in Sacramento. Among the discussion is an audit that specifically looked into sexual harassment complaints on campus against CSU employees.
There were three schools that were surveyed: San Jose State University, CSU Fresno, Sonoma State University. The audit looked at 40 sexual harassment cases dating back to 2019. It found 11 of them were never investigated.
California Assemblymember David Alvarez, who is the chair if the Joint Legislative Audit Committee, says this audit is a part of a larger problem in the Cal State system.
“For such a small sample to have been reviewed and 11 instances, there was not even an investigation completed,” says Alvarez.
RELATED: Police searching for suspect who sexually assaulted San Diego State student
ABC 10News reached out to San Diego State University Police to see how many instances of sexual harassment and/ or assault were reported in recent years. We are still waiting on a response.
Thursday’s meeting in Sacramento comes off the heels of a SDSU student who was sexually assaulted Sunday after getting into a ride share service.
We’ve had people follow us on campus before and it hurts to hear that that’s happening miles away from where we live.
“We’ve had people follow us on campus before and it hurts to hear that that’s happening miles away from where we live,” says Rugg.
ABC 10News reporter Natay Holmes asked Assemblymember Alvarez what are the next steps following the meeting.
He responded, “The next steps are critical to making sure that these lapses occurred, these lack of investigations, these lack of completions no longer is the case and there’s accountability.”
