The guest column by assault victim Elissa Mills ("Community's response to recent assaults lacks outrage, blames women," Nov. 12), brought to my attention several very important issues. Among these is the question: Does the university do anything to prevent these assaults? The answer: No, they just tell victims and potential victims how they think we should behave to prevent these attacks.

And it turns out, victims sometimes aren't even supported when they try to follow this advice. A couple of years ago, I had just started school at Penn State and lived in West Halls. On more than one occasion, I stayed in a lab building past 2 a.m. to finish up work. I phoned the so-called "escort service" on campus to take me home. I was told that it was too late, that I should call a taxi. Did I misunderstand something here? Is it not the university's responsibility to make sure that I am safe walking from a lab in the middle of campus to my dorm room? Why should I have to call a cab to take me two blocks across campus? Does this mean that I had to wake friends up in the middle of the night and make them come to school so they can walk me home? Do my male colleagues have to worry about this?

I stand with Mills and say: No, it is not your fault! You and I should be free to walk on campus and downtown alone whenever we need to. Sometimes, women do not have a colleague or a friend to walk around with us wherever we need to go. As I have pointed out, we do not even have an escort service to rely on.

I hope more people come out and denounce how unfair and unsafe the environment in this school is to women so that the administration will think and do something about it.