york rapists, not wasting any time

Last week, Friday morning - Thursday night, pub night - at York University in Toronto, where I attended last year, two white men in their 20s gained access to Vanier residence, raped two separate women in their two separate unlocked dorm rooms, and attempted to sexually assault a third. (Whether that means she was only sexually assaulted, and not raped, is not made clear.) Then they split after trying to rape some more.

A friend back at York sent me the story from the National Post, and I read further on the YorkU LiveJournal and at the Toronto Star. In my first months there (Aug-Dec '06), there were two separate reports of sexual assault (I may be wrong - it may have been three) in the Village, a group of houses rented as apartments not owned by York but by individual landlords about, say, a 15 minute walk from Vari Hall, the center of York's campus. As the year went on I heard stories of robberies in plain day behind the Accolade buildings and an old-fashioned "stick-up" in one of the Accolades. There were two more sexual assaults right before I left at the end of April of this year.

From the Star article:

"York spokesperson Alex Bilyk said officials will be reviewing campus security – a standard practice after such incidents. 'Our dormitories are safe,' he said. 'Someone gained entry. Normally it isn't easy to gain access. Police are working to try to figure out how that happened.'"

Let me help them out. I lived in Stong residence, where I regularly held the door open after swiping my card to let me into the residence for people behind me, and others did the same. Could I have let in a sexual assaulter? Yes. I'm one of the people who gives the once-over to someone before I let them in behind me, but I know plenty of assholes who would let anybody in. They could've known someone in Vanier and that dude could've come down and let them in. I thought I'd been to Vanier but it was Winters that I'd been before, but if their get-ups are anything at all alike, these guys were there past porter hours (3 AM) and it's not fucking hard to get into these buildings. Shit's not safe!

More shat from the Star:

"Students require an entry card to get past the locked front doors of the residence. Once inside, they must sign in any guests they invite in. 'Dons,' mature students with residence responsibilities, and porters scrutinize people coming and going, students said."

With all due respect to my Don, an awesome gal, she wouldn't have ever spotted a weirdo unless they intersected - I doubt it, she was never really out and about, and as a senior she wasn't really in her room much - or if there had been yelling or screaming, if they had brought attention to themselves. And on a crazy floor (mine was relatively quiet), who can tell the difference? And it depended on the porter. Additionally, these guys got in past porter hours. There are no rezes with all-night porters.

Two gals in the Star article say they've become "desensitized" to sexual assault at York (although they're first-years, sooooooo, yeah whatever), but what can I say except can you please try and fight it? Lock your doors, y'all. Constantly, the reaction I get when I mention my time in Canada is is it as safe as it seems? And I'm like no, not completely. Lock your doors, lock them. You can't get in from the outside if they're locked without making noise, if you can at all. Please, please please. I'm thinking of you, York.