In the wake of the disheartening sentencing or lack thereof, of convicted rapist Brock Turner, many calls for action have been made regarding entities involved in the case.
Following the conviction of the student-athlete after he sexually assaulted an unconscious woman on the campus of Stanford University last year, many flocked together for change, calling for the removal of Judge Aaron Persky who only sentenced Turner to a term of six months with parole, and the possibility of being released on good behavior only after three months.
Now, launched only on Sunday and already at over 80,000 signatures and counting, the Stanford Association of Students for Sexual Assault Prevention has spearheaded a campaign on Change.org that demands Stanford University immediately and publicly apologizes to the unidentified victim of the assault.
“The important thing is that we can always do more to have education efforts and create a climate on campus that supports survivors,” says Stanford student and co-author of the petition, Matthew Baiza. If you read into what our petition says, we’re not saying that the university is doing anything wrong, but the university can always do more. All of this injustice has occurred, but the university can step up and show some more support,” Baiza tells PEOPLE.
In an official statement released Monday, Stanford maintained that it has done “everything within its power to assure that justice was served in this case, including an immediate police investigation and referral to the Santa Clara County District Attorney’s Office for a successful prosecution.”
