What does it take for Washburn University to alert women they are in danger?

An incident with a flasher, of course. That warrants two emails sent out to every woman and man on campus.

But a rapist? Nah. Yes, he is still at large, but he probably won’t do it again, so no need to go to the trouble of sending a text.

He wasn’t an “imminent threat,” whatever that means. Not a threat for the next hour? For the rest of the day?

“Not an imminent threat” means he was not a threat at the time, but he was/is still a threat.

After publishing an opinion piece a week ago promoting the idea of a female Ichabod, The Review’s executive staff now has to step back from the offensive and go on the defensive for all women on campus (as sad as it is that the student staff has to do that).

But we feel we need to, even if just for our own colleagues. It’s terribly sickening to the executive staff to see its female employees leave the office on this Tuesday night and legitimately feel worried for them.

University relations said it did not send out an iAlert because it did not believe a rapist on the loose constituted imminent danger for the campus. Of course, university relations had recently sent out a test for the iAlert system, so at least students know the system works. Thank goodness.

It works but wasn’t used because rapists, evidently, are not dangerous, even when they are not in custody.

Or, perhaps, the system wasn’t used because alerting the public that there had been a rape on campus would make the university look bad, and passing along such information would get someone fired.

Just sweep it under the rug, let the victim file a lawsuit, and settle.

Students, students and more students expressed their rage and, in some cases, fear on Tuesday. To think, a higher education institution would accept this on such a large scale just to save face.

This may all come across as harsh. But at the end of the day, a woman was raped on campus, and despite having knowledge of it, no one did anything about it to protect the students.

So, harsh words or covering up a rape – which is the greater crime?

It’s not fun writing editorials like this – it’s fun to write about going to Mars or a female Ichabod – but it’s less fun not feeling safe at school.

– The Executive Staff