Where sexual assault survivors at Ohio State go for confidential help

Sarah Szilagy
·5 min read
Where sexual assault survivors at Ohio State go for confidential help

View a 2021 report on Ohio State University’s sexual assault statistics over a four-year period in the video player above.

COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) – Nestled in an office building on West 11th Avenue is one of Ohio State University’s only confidential resources for survivors of sexual assault.

Eliza Sabo is the Sexual Assault Response Network of Central Ohio’s advocate on Ohio State’s campus. Their office – sharing building space with the Kirwan Institute and research and development office – is on Ohio State property, but she’s not employed by the university. That distinction matters, both to Sabo and the survivors who come to her; she does not have to report sexual assault to Ohio State’s Title IX office.

“It’s kind of a weird spot to be in, like on the margin, but it’s perfect because it means I can truly advocate for and serve survivors and co-survivors,” Sabo said.

For the past five years, aside from the university’s student counseling service and programs in the university hospital system, the SARNCO campus advocacy program is the only confidential resource for sexual violence survivors at Ohio State. And, unlike student counselors, Sabo isn’t limited to helping students; they’re available to faculty, staff, families of survivors and campus visitors.

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Their work, similarly, isn’t confined to the four walls of their office. While she spends a significant amount of time listening to survivors who come to her, Sabo regularly dons many hats.

Last week, they staffed a table at a suicide prevention event, informing students of SARNCO’s presence on campus and highlighting the impact that sexual violence has on mental health. Before that, a student organization invited Sabo to participate in a discussion about rape culture.

Sabo spends a lot of her time supporting survivors in their journeys to find justice, whether that be navigating the criminal system, civil system or Ohio State’s Title IX process. As a support person, she attends court hearings and Title IX hearings, and she tags along when survivors need to speak to their professors or academic deans about declining grades or difficulty with classwork.

Survivors often need logistical support, whether or not they’re pursuing legal or academic justice processes. That can include safety planning – developing a plan to avoid interactions with a perpetrator on campus, or leave an abuser – but it also means connecting survivors with resources to access food, housing, and mental and physical health care.

Crucially, it also means explaining the different justice options for survivors, and providing a nonjudgmental space for them to make decisions. With a university community reaching over 90,000, including faculty and staff, survivors of sexual violence at Ohio State present with varying needs depending on their role on campus.

“Every decision is a difficult decision after you’ve been assaulted,” Sabos said.

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Aside from academic concerns, Sabo said many undergraduate survivors ask about how to tell their parents and intimate partners about what happened to them – and how to seek support from friends without over-burdening them. Graduate students are also concerned about academics, especially students in professional programs that have limits on how long a person can take to complete their degree.

And, in the year and change since she became the campus advocate, Sabo said she’s seen faculty who are assaulted on campus confront unique concerns about their reputation and prospects for tenure. At such a large university, the academic communities themselves are often tightly knit – and academia nationwide is a similarly “small world,” Sabo said.

“When I talk to faculty, their concern isn’t just about this campus community, but, ‘If I leave, if I report, if I seek justice for what happened to me, how will that impact me here at Ohio State? And if I were to leave to go to another university, how will that continue to impact me when I try to publish, when I try to apply?’” Sabo said.

Supporting those who support survivors

Sabo likes to emphasize that they’re not just there for survivors of sexual violence; they’re also there for the co-survivors – the people who know and love someone who was assaulted.

According to the CDC, half of women and a third of men are sexually assaulted in their lifetimes. And a 2019 national survey on sexual assault on college campuses – in which Ohio State participated – found that nearly a quarter of transgender, nonbinary and genderqueer college students are assaulted while at college.

The reality, Sabo said, is that everyone knows someone who has experienced sexual violence. It’s important to acknowledge the toll that sexual violence takes on co-survivors, they said.

Sometimes, co-survivors come in groups – Sabo said she once had half a sorority come to her to ask for guidance on how to support their sister. Other times, parents of out-of-state students call Sabo for help navigating their own feelings and pain while helping their child from states away.

“People come to me and say, ‘How can I help this person? Because I don’t know if I’m doing a good job, I don’t know if I’m saying the right things, I want to help them,’” Sabo said. “By the time we’re done talking, we have talked about that. But I usually start with, ‘How are you doing? This is a lot of stress on you, right? Have you ever heard of vicarious trauma?’”

If you or someone you know has experienced sexual violence, there are resources available.

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