Assault report boxes in Union facilitate anonymous reports

Three sets of bathrooms in the Student Union received some additional hardware in June.

Placed among pamphlets regarding sexual harassment and relationship violence, Safe Space Reporting boxes allow survivors of sexual offenses to report incidents in a private, anonymous manner.

The boxes were the idea of senior Annie Clark, who thought there should be a method to report sexual offenses without having a face-to-face conversation with police, Campus Health or the Office of the Dean of Students.

“In addition to the preventative measures we take on campus, I thought we needed a place for survivors to report privately,” Clark said in an e-mail.

The boxes were installed in three Student Union bathrooms — one near Alpine Bagel Cafe on the first floor, one neighboring the fish tank on the second floor, and another in the annex on the second floor.

They are located in both the women’s and men’s bathrooms, and the pamphlets are in both English and Spanish.

The boxes present survivors with two discrete reporting options.

Through the blind reporting option, the Office of the Dean of Students receives the student’s full PID and information on the report.

Students may also list only the last four digits of the PID to report anonymously.

No action can be taken on the incidents reported unless consent is given by the survivor.

Assistant Dean of Students Melinda Manning said the University receives between 25 and 30 reports per academic year.

She said two reports have been made thus far. Both were from a women’s bathroom.

Even if reporting leads to no physical consequences, there are benefits for the survivors, officials said.

“It’s empowering for survivors to report,” Manning said. “Forty percent don’t tell anyone, but this is a small way to put their experience on the record. It’s a way to validate it.”

Manning added that sexual assault is the least reported crime on campus, necessitating a variety of reporting options.

“We believe in giving options. We want to make it as easy as possible to report as possible,” she said.

The report boxes also help the University gain a larger picture of sexual assault on campus. Report forms allow survivors to describe the incidents in detail, a feature that becomes more valuable than mere numbers.

“It’s hard to report what’s going on based on Department of Public Safety — that’s one number,” said Ashley Fogle, associate director of the Carolina Women’s Center.

“The Dean of Students is another number. Installing report boxes allows us to get a picture of not just numbers but what’s actually happening.”

Contact the University desk at udesk@unc.edu.