New accusations of sexual harassment surfaced at San Jose State University this week. A male student who was turned down for a date allegedly unleashed a storm of harsh and "threatening" online messages toward a woman who rejected him.
Now, several women are saying the alleged harasser is a repeat offender.
While the school investigates the latest incident, some student activists believe the process to report sexual harassment on campus needs to improve, saying it could possibly be a deterrent for other victims who didn’t come forward sooner.
"I don’t think that the process is made clear enough for students to know when an incident has occurred, where exactly to go, who to speak with and what incident is important enough to report," said Yvette Jones. a member of Students Against Sexual Harassment.
New students go through a mandatory orientation on procedures for reporting sexual harassment. But SASH members say more needs to be done, especially with a current incident where a spurned male student has allegedly been sending harsh online messages to a female student, including one that reads "I hope you get raped."
The university’s Title IX and student conduct offices launched investigations, but only after the messages were called out by other students online.
Both people involved are current SJSU students. The unidentified alleged harasser has not been charged with a crime. The alleged victim, who confirmed the messages, is a minor.
Local
SASH now plans to conduct its own campus poll because it says the massive online response to the case shows there are more hidden victims than the school ever reveals.
"There’s a point where it goes from protection to kind of endangering us, SASH member Ashley Rose Sanchez said. "Because if we’re not aware of what’s going on in our campus, then how can we protect ourselves?"
The university reiterated that it does not reveal information about students in Title IX cases and prefers contacting students confidentially. Officials say they take all cases seriously and asked any students who have had contact with the male student to contact the Title IX office.
