The first part of this story makes perfect sense but the rest could only happen on a woke college campus. Earlier this month a female student was allegedly sexually assaulted in a stairwell inside the Cathedral of Learning at the University of Pittsburgh. Students were understandably upset.

Late Monday afternoon, an unknown college-age man pushed the student, held her against a wall and sexually assaulted her, according to a crime alert from the university. The attack was reported to campus police on Wednesday.

“That is completely unbelievable, terrifying, horrifying in every way. This is a very immediate threat to our safety,” said Hope Karnes, a sophomore and president of the university’s chapter of Take Back The Night, in an interview. “I feel scared. If someone can get assaulted in a stairway at 4 p.m., I don’t know.”

“I was just really upset because you know, it’s during class time when we should feel most safe,” said student Angie Escobar. “We’re just here for our education. And we shouldn’t have to worry about getting raped.”…

Several students on Friday said they’d like to see increased security on Pitt’s campus. Katherine Lowell, a pharmacy student who attended the protest, said she’d like the university to implement swipe I.D. access to university buildings and keep records of the people who enter.

One anonymous student created a Change.org petition which gathered more than 6,000 signatures in about 24 hours. The petition made a number of demands, some of which made sense (require ID for access to University buildings and monitor security cameras) and others did not (leave stairwell doors open). But in general the sense was that the campus needed to do something to make sure an assault like the one reported couldn’t happen again.

The petition went up on Thursday and Friday there was a student protest with about 100 students demanding some changes. The university sent out an email later in the day from the Vice Chancellor of Public Safety and Emergency Management.

I want you to know that I hear, understand and share your concerns about the recent criminal activity. In addition to our ongoing campus safety measures, such as security in all campus buildings and more than 1,000 closed circuit cameras on the Pittsburgh campus, we are taking additional actions in response to these recent incidents. This includes increasing patrols and security shifts in the Cathedral of Learning. The officers in our Community Programs Unit will also be available on campus to talk with students, faculty or staff, address questions and hear their ideas. And, it goes without saying, the Pitt Police are continuing to investigate in partnership with other local law enforcement agencies.

I’d also like to personally thank every person who has called us with a tip or made a report of sexual violence. I know how hard it can be to make those calls, and I want you to know we’re grateful to you, and that we are here to support you. More than 80% of our officers are currently trained in crisis intervention, which includes a trauma-informed response. And we have a victim-guided process, which empowers those who report a crime to make decisions about how we proceed.

You may have noticed that the official response from the school put the police front and center. And in 2022, no campus is spared left wing anti-police politics.

The backlash came, in part, from those concerned that increasing police presence would threaten the safety of students of color. Some students shared these concerns at the protest, and others voiced their discontent through comments on a lengthy Reddit thread.

Clyde Wilson Pickett, the university’s vice chancellor for equity, diversity, and inclusion, told The Chronicle in a statement that his office is “in the process of doing outreach across the university” to better understand the concerns of students of color to “ensure that they are heard and know we are here for them.”

By the next day, the person who started the petition deleted it and apologized profusely for causing harm. He even labeled himself “a monster.”

Hey, so, I don’t have much proof because I’ve chosen to remain anonymous, but I’m the one that made the petition. And I totally get everybody’s frustration…

I never, ever wanted to advocate for more on-campus cops. When I said more unarmed security, I meant like, people signing us in/out of dorms, people watching cameras, etc. I very well know that not everyone, especially not SA victims, can trust police, and that includes the Pitt Police. But, again, that could’ve been worded better…

I also just want to say that I’m really sorry about all of this. I did want to inspire positive change on campus – I have very, very close friends that are SA victims so it’s something really, really near to my heart. But if I could take it all back, I promise I would.

The fact that it seems like more campus cops are being added because of something that I did makes me a monster, and I know that. I really shouldn’t have even been the one to make this petition – I’m an English major, and a freshly 18-year-old. Probably the least qualified person in the bunch. I’ve never done anything like this in my entire life and it blew up quicker than I could have ever imagined.

I’ve totally stepped down from the sit-in/petition. After the protest, I went home for the weekend, and I don’t think I’ll come back to campus Monday. I’m considering academic leave, or transferring to another school, if that’s possible.

I don’t know which wokester got to this kid but his reaction is pathetic. He did nothing wrong and he’s not a monster. The only monster in the scenario is the person who sexually assaulted a student in a stairwell.

The Chronicle of Higher Education notes that some students are advocating for putting cameras in stairwells, which seems reasonable. However they see this as an alternative to more police on campus. I suppose cameras could make someone less likely to take a risk knowing they’d be caught but it would still be useful to have police around to potentially interrupt or intercede in future incidents. Running a campus without police won’t work any better than running a city without them. The result in both cases is likely to be more criminal behavior.