The rape reported Feb. 3 reminds us that sexual assault is a sobering reality.

IC Feminists and SAFER responded to the attack with an open meeting to discuss sexual assault. At the gathering — because of the gathering — two more rape victims came forward to share their accounts of rape, which they said happened on campus during the 2006-07 school year. Both victims said they knew their assailants, one of whom was a Resident Assistant at the time of the attack. Both victims also reported the rapes to the Office of Public Safety, but Public Safety did not alert the rest of the community.

The way these rapes were dealt with in the hands of Residential Life and Public Safety officials is counterintuitive. Leaving rapes unreported should never happen; an RA should never be allowed to keep his or her job after being found guilty of a crime such as rape.

The Office of Public Safety said it did not issue a Public Safety Alert for the rape reported in October 2006, nor for the rape reported last Friday, because both victims knew their assailants. By this logic, alerts are issued when Public Safety is still seeking an attacker, but not if the attackers remain on campus.

One of the male students accused of rape was a Resident Assistant. He was found guilty by Public Safety, which then turned the case over to the Office of Residential Life.

RAs are hired by the college to keep students safe, to provide leadership and to guide students — especially underclassmen.  Residential life officials say that offenses involving RAs are dealt with on a case-by-case basis, with some offenses warranting a one-strike removal. Dealing or possessing drugs is a one-strike offense. In this situation, rape was not.

It seems that by making these decisions, both offices decided that it was not important to inform the campus, much less the RA’s residents, that a student with access to many residence halls was under investigation for rape.

The reports from the past two weeks give more victims of rape on this campus an opportunity to come forward. While the two offices involved in this week’s reports cannot change how they mishandled rape reports in the past, they can be — and are — responsible to make sure they are handled more appropriately in the future.

First, Public Safety should inform the campus community of all rape attacks on campus, regardless of whether or not the victim knows his or her assailant’s identity. The victim may know the assailant, but the assailant is still on campus and a threat to the community, especially when they are an RA in charge of other students’ safety.

Secondly, the Office of Residential Life should seriously reconsider what constitutes a one-strike offense. Certainly, officials have no way of knowing when they hire someone whether that person will commit a rape, or any other crime, in the future. But they must ensure that in this type of situation, justice will be delivered.

We are no safer in Ithaca from crime than we are anywhere else, but we should not have to live in fear of another attack. Rape is real. This is the only way we can fight to end it and ensure that those who commit it are not allowed to slip by without consequence.