For incoming students, the first six weeks on campus are the most dangerous. It’s during this time — which colleges across the country call “the Red Zone” — that sexual assault is at its most prevalent.

The Red Zone typically refers to the period from the start of classes until Thanksgiving break.

“We are very familiar with this concept — that the university population is more vulnerable at the beginning of the year,” said Emilie McLarnan, the assistant director of Alternatives to Violence of the Palouse (ATVP).

ATVP is a local advocacy group that provides free 24-hour emergency and supportive services to families and victims of sexual violence.

This group reports that Pullman Regional Hospital received six calls regarding sexual violence in each of the first quarters of the 2012-13 and 2013-14 academic years.

In the fourth quarter of each of those years, the hospital received only one such call.

Incoming students, namely freshmen and sophomores, are most at risk during the Red Zone because they are in a new environment away from their home and friends, said Nikki Finnestead, violence prevention and Green Dot coordinator.

“They are having new experiences and are often drinking and out on their own for the very first time,” Finnestead said. She added that these perceived vulnerabilities can facilitate sexual assault.

Washington Administrative Code 388-76-10000 defines sexual abuse as any form of sexual contact without the consent of all participating persons.

Adam Jussel, the director of WSU’s Office of Student Standards and Accountability (SSA), described consent as the “emphatic and un-coerced agreement to sexual activity, with sexual activity being any form of sexual contact.”

New students trying to forge new identities and explore new freedoms are often pressured, for the first time, to use alcohol and/or other drugs, which perpetrators can use as a weapon, Jussel said.

Cassandra Nichols, the senior associate director of WSU’s Counseling and Testing Services, said risk factors for on-campus sexual assault, especially during the Red Zone, include being female, being a first- or second-year student, consuming alcohol and attending off-campus parties.

“(New students) are young, have little life experience, and may over-trust the new environment they find themselves in,” Nichols said.

Other facilitators include hyper-masculine, sexist and pro-rape attitudes among offenders, said William Flack Jr., a psychology professor at Bucknell University who coauthored a paper on the Red Zone.

“The Red Zone is a very complex area of research with serious social and political implications,” Flack said, noting that education and prevention programs are crucial in raising awareness and improving prevention strategies.

In the last year the federal government began taking an enhanced interest in violence on college campuses

In April, the White House Task Force to Protect Students from Sexual Assault released its first-ever report which declared one in five college-aged women is sexually assaulted in college — most often by someone she knows.

On May 1, the U.S. Department of Education (DOE) launched a nationwide investigation of 55 higher education institutions — including WSU — that had allegedly mishandled complaints of sexual assault. The investigation was expanded in June to cover 64 institutions.

In June The Daily Evergreen reported the DOE’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR) had dismissed at least two complaints in the WSU investigation. According to documents sent to the university, the OCR determined there was insufficient evidence in each case to conclude WSU had violated laws regarding sexual violence.

Nichols said that victims often don’t seek help, or wait to do so for some time after assaults take place.

“They are afraid of retaliation, not being believed, being stigmatized, and social isolation,” Nichols said.

She added sexual assault victims can suffer from anxiety, acute stress disorder or post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Some increase their alcohol and drug use in order to numb resulting depression.

Finnestead emphasizes the problem of victim-blaming, which can deter victims from reporting to the police. She said victims are met with a variety of mental barriers, including shame and guilt, and as a result often excuse the actions of their perpetrators.

“When all we’re discussing is the actions of the victim rather than the perpetrator’s, essentially what we’re doing is letting the offender know (sexual assault) is acceptable on campus, when we obviously know that’s not actually true,” Finnestead said.

Sexual assault on college campuses is a nationwide concern. Ways to prevent it are constantly evolving, as are ways to report and respond to it.

Mentally reliving an assault and having to speak about it with strangers are barriers that victims are forced to overcome when moving forward, Dean of Students Melynda Huskey said.

“We want to make this system as barrier-free as possible, recognizing that the students automatically bring with them a set of social and cultural burdens associated with this experience,” Huskey said.

WSU and the surrounding community offer numerous resources for victims of sexual violence.

Confidential resources include WSU’s Health and Wellness Services, WSU’s Counseling and Testing Services, Pullman Regional Hospital, and Alternatives to Violence of the Palouse.

Non-confidential resources include the Office of the Dean of Students, the Office of Student Standards and Accountability, the Office for Equal Opportunity, ASWSU Student Legal Services, and the WSU and Pullman police departments.