CAL STATE NORTHRIDGE : Restroom ‘Rape Alarms’ Installed

In an effort to deter would-be rapists lying in wait for victims, two women’s restrooms have been equipped with “rape alarms” at Cal State Northridge’s new Satellite Student Union.

The new alarms emit a piercing buzzer through the hallways and at the information desk when activated, alerting building staff and other students.

Alarm buttons are located on the wall just inside the women’s restrooms, which are on both floors of the two-story building.

“We’re trained to immediately go there and see if there’s a rape going on or not,” said Lawrence Marks, 23, a senior who works as a manager at the satellite building. “If there is, we carry radios that have the same frequency as campus police or we can call the information desk people and have them call campus police.”

The satellite facility was opened last year near student housing on the northwest corner of campus.

The rape alarm is “a brand-new idea,” said Dick Scott, director of operations for University Student Union, who suggested the alarm. “It was something I had seen at Northeastern University in Boston.”

Scott added that such an alarm seemed appropriate for CSUN because “personal safety is an increasing issue on campus and in the Valley.”

Scott said the alarms were placed in the women’s restrooms because those are areas “where someone could be isolated” by a rapist.

Some students, however, pointed out that other rooms should be outfitted with the alarms, as well.

“If I’m an attacker, I’m just going to grab someone and drag them into the men’s bathroom,” one student said.

The system has not been used so far this year, except when accidentally activated. No rapes or attempted rapes have been reported on campus this semester. Four were reported in 1991, according to campus police statistics. Only one sexual assault in a campus restroom has ever been reported.

Even so, University Police Lt. Mark Hissong, who praised the rape alarms, agreed that it would be beneficial to have alarms in all such rooms throughout campus.

“I don’t think there’s any question that alarm capabilities enhance the security of the whole campus,” Hissong said. “We’re looking at alarm possibilities in other rooms, but to do retrofitting . . . it would be costly. In this day and age of budgeting, it’s not attainable.”

CSUN physical plant management and planning facilities management were unavailable to comment on the feasibility and cost of retrofitting alarms throughout the campus.

The funds to install the rape alarms came from the Associated Students Organization, not the university, Scott said, although he was unable to provide the cost. He said installing rape alarms in the satellite facility men’s bathrooms is something that “we may take a look at.”

Meanwhile, Scott said he hopes the rape alarms fulfill their function as a deterrent. “I hope it never has to be used,” he said.