Content Warning: gender-based violence, sexual violence, & racism
Penn’s campus and Penn-affiliated buildings have 260+ surveillance cameras (1). Above is a map that indicates the general locations of most of the UPenn’s Almanac CCTV Locations. The larger dots indicate buildings/locations with multiple exterior cameras.
Almost anywhere you go outside on Penn’s campus and even when you step several blocks off campus, you will be on camera. While many would see this as an attempt to make Penn’s campus safer, there are many deeply rooted safety issues that these cameras won’t solve such as gender and racial based violence.
According to the AAU survey, over 1 in 4 women at Penn have experienced unwanted sexual contact (2). Most sexual assaults occur either in fraternity houses or in college dorms (3), both of which do not have security cameras or much surveillance. If college houses do have cameras inside, it is only in the lobby, so there is no surveillance on the floors with residences. An argument on this topic is to put cameras in the hallways of the college houses which could theoretically deter people from committing violence. However, placing more security cameras in upper floors will not prevent violence from occurring because attacks often happen in private spaces (4) where cameras can not be placed. If cameras are beneficial, it’s usually after the fact when the footage is used as evidence in sexual assault cases. But, it is not always helpful in instances such as when the victim does not seem incapacitated enough.
An increase in surveillance cameras in college houses will not change the systemic issues that exist on Penn’s campus. Increasing security and surveillance could also continue harm on Black students at Penn and the surrounding West Philadelphia community. If you look at the map above, there is a camera on 46th and Chestnut St. which is well off Penn’s campus. This camera signifies the control Penn has over the West Philly area and the excessive amount of surveillance present.
In this class, we talked about sexual geographies, or how space is regulated by people or organizations and the power they have over it. Penn maintains its power over the West Philly community with its police division and the continual monitoring of campus along with its vicinity. For Black students and residents, Penn’s policing and surveillance does more harm than good. Hyper-surveillance and over-policing creates trauma for people of color, especially youth of color. Even when they are not directly stopped by police, the mere presence of police brings about anxiety and trauma to people of color. Those who are stopped report a high amount of anxiety, stress, and trauma (5). Heavy policing and surveillance mainly protect white students while doing very little for students of color. When it comes to trying to prevent gender based violence, there needs to focus on how other communities are affected and how different identities may put you at greater risk for facing violence.
On campus, it is evident that students of color have little control over space on campus, especially when it comes to sexual assault. This can be seen with three of the cultural resource centers (PAACH, Makuu, and La Casa Latina) still being located in the basement of the ARCH Building while numerous fraternity houses line Locust Walk. Cultural resource centers act as confidential resources, meaning they are not mandated to report if a student came to them with an issue such as sexual assault. The fact that many of the necessary resources are hidden away and not well advertised to students highlights how little Penn cares about solving the systemic issues that harms people of color and marginalized genders.
If Penn really cared about gender and racial based violence on campus, it would create systemic changes rather than focusing on increased surveillance. Penn could create a mandatory freshman seminar that discusses topics like consent, sex education, and intervention training. They could also make the resources they have on campus more visible and provide alternatives to calling police. They could also remove fraternities from campus and replace them with cultural resource centers. For violence committed against the West Philly community, Penn should pay Payments in Lieu of Taxes (PILOTs) and dismantle their current surveillance system. Gender and racial based violence are deeply ingrained into this school and for these issues to be solved, it will take a complete rearrangement of power to dismantle the systems that have allowed these harms to occur for so long.
Discussion Questions:
- What are some solutions to protecting students from sexual violence without involving surveillance or Penn Police?
- How can we rearrange power at Penn and in West Philly to mitigate harm against students of color and the community?
Bibliography:
(1) “CCTV Locations: University of Pennsylvania Cameras.” Almanac, University of Pennsylvania, https://almanac.upenn.edu/articles/cctv-locations-university-of-pennsylvania-cameras.
(2) Cantor, David, et al. “Report on the AAU Campus Climate Survey on Sexual Assault and Misconduct: The University of Pennsylvania.” Westat, September 16, 2019.
(3) Cantor, David, et al. “Report on the AAU Campus Climate Survey on Sexual Assault and Misconduct.” Westat, January 17, 2020. https://www.aau.edu/key-issues/campus-climate-and-safety/aau-campus-climate-survey-2019.
(4) Connaughton, Maddison. “Security Guards, CCTV, and Panic Buttons Won’t End Rape at University.” Vice, Vice, 8 Aug. 2017, https://www.vice.com/en/article/j58ew4/security-guards-cctv-and-panic-buttons-wont-end-rape-at-university.
(5) Henning, Kristin N. “Policing and Trauma: The Harms of Hyper-Surveillance and Over-Policing Youth of Color.” Criminal Justice, vol. 37, no. 1, spring 2022, pp. 42+. Gale OneFile: LegalTrac, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A711331467/LT?u=upenn_main&sid=summon&xid=e1027c23. Accessed 24 Apr. 2023.
Trauma Porn to Title IX: Gender Based Violence at Penn 