Early last Sunday, at least 14 women from three floors on Snyder Hall were in for a rude awakening.

As they lay sleeping in their rooms, a man walked in and either sexually harassed or abused them. One woman was "indecently penetrated," by his fingers, according to a police report.

On Wednesday, Penn State student Hung Truong, 21, was charged with one count of aggravated indecent assault, six counts of indecent assault, 12 counts of harassment and stalking, five counts of burglary and 12 counts of criminal trespass. Truong is being held on $50,000 bail in Centre County Prison.

Questions still remain about what happened that night, but some are calling attention to the fact that these women's doors were unlocked, thereby giving the man access to their rooms. Others have been as brazen to blame the women for what happened to them.

The 14 women from Snyder Hall are not at fault for the events that have occurred. Some of the women simply forgot to lock their doors, others left their doors unlocked for roommates who had not returned home yet. It may not have been the safest thing to do, but not locking their doors is hardly a justification for the violations that these women had to endure.

Those attacking the 14 women have by and large bought into the paternalistic assumption that women bring sexual assaults to themselves, and that they are the ones to blame if they are sexually assaulted or violated.

Society, as a whole, focuses far too much on the behavior of women. Although safety precautions never hurt, society expects women to change their behavior in response to a sexual assault. Men, on the other hand, are usually not expected to stop ogling women while walking down College Avenue late Friday night or scream catcalls and whistle loudly while driving downtown. Boys will be boys, or so the saying goes, and it's her fault for dressing that way, or it's her fault for flirting with him or it's her fault that she forgot to lock her door.

This is not to say that students should act irresponsibly and disregard common sense. Safety should be a high concern for everyone at Penn State. Perhaps the relatively quiet nature of Happy Valley has lulled many students into a false sense of security, especially because even those of us who take safety precautions are not completely safe from the wrongful behaviors of others.

Moreover, the Snyder Hall assaults have exposed the lack of attention given to sexual crimes at Penn State. With no official response from Penn State President Graham Spanier about the sexual assaults, students are left to wonder whether the administration is concerned with the actual safety of its students or with the perception of a carefree and idyllic campus environment.

Is Penn State's only response to situations such as these to ignore it in the hopes that it will go away quietly? In this case, the women have come forward. Let the administration show Penn State that they can display the same amount of courage these women have.