*Names have been changed to protect the privacy of some sources in this story
When people think of college life, images of classes, exams, football games and parties automatically spring to mind. Unfortunately, for some people sexual violence also has become a defining aspect of their undergraduate experience. These incidents can have detrimental effects for survivors, but they often go unreported or do not result in a conviction for the perpetrator.
Sexual violence laws vary by state, but the simplest definition is any sexual contact without consent. According to Missouri state law, consent may be implied, but cannot be legally given if the victim is coerced using fear, force or deception or if the person is unable to agree because of youth, intoxication or mental illness.
Although the federal definition of rape was recently expanded to be gender-neutral, Missouri’s definition applies only to male-on-female violence. Rape is defined as “any penetration, however slight, of the female sex organ by the male sex organ, whether or not an emission results.”
Danica Wolf, coordinator of the MU Relationship and Sexual Violence Prevention Center, said this definition has problematic implications for many other types of sexual violence. For example, male-on-male or female-on-female sexual assaults cannot be prosecuted as forcible rape in Missouri.
“In Missouri rape is narrowly defined as a penis penetrating the vagina, so this has implications for same-sex relationships and other kinds of situations,” she said.
On March 10, it was reported that a sexual assault occurred around 3:50 p.m. in lot SG4 near the Hearnes Center. A woman reported that an unknown man came up behind her and grabbed her buttocks and crotch area. She was able to get in her car and leave the scene of the incident.
Students might remember another incident that occurred on March 1, 2011. A female student was sitting on the steam grates outside of Laws Hall after spending a night out with her friends. She was approached by a male subject whom she did not know and he proceeded to rape her. The incident was investigated, but no arrests were ever made.
Although such incidents perpetrated by strangers are alarming, they are not the norm. According to the RSVP Center’s website, 80 to 90 percent of victims reported being raped by someone they know.
Wolf said she believes that this is one of the most common misconceptions about sexual violence.
“(People think) that it is usually a stranger or someone they didn’t know,” Wolf said. “Typically most incidents occur in the residence of either the survivor or perpetrator, and it is usually someone the survivor knows.”
Wolf said that last year she worked with 17 individuals at the RSVP Center from Jan. 1 to June 1 alone who had experienced a sexual assault, rape or some form of domestic violence.
But campus police made only six arrests on charges related to sex offenses in 2011. They made no arrests for forcible rape.
This relatively low number of arrests is not uncommon at universities in the Midwest. According to a 2011 article in the Chicago Tribune, a survey of six schools in Indiana and Illinois found that police investigated 171 sex crimes since 2005. Only 12 resulted in an arrest, and only four resulted in a conviction.
MU student Sarah* is a victim of a sexual assault that occurred during her time as an undergraduate.
“It’s amazing, when you open up, how many other people have similar experiences,” she said. “It’s way more common than you think. It happens way too often.”
One night during her freshman year, Sarah went out to a bar with some of her friends. She washed off the X’s that the doorman put on her hands.
“I wanted to go out and drink because that’s what I saw everyone doing,” she said. “I thought, ‘I guess this is what college is supposed to be about.’”
There, Sarah was introduced to a young man who was an acquaintance of one of the women she had gone to the bar with. Eventually, she went to this man’s fraternity house with some of her friends in the group. After one of them left the premises, she found herself alone in a room with the man she had just met.
“At first I thought he was genuinely interested in me,” Sarah said.
She said he began forcefully kissing her and took his clothes off, and then he began trying to remove her clothing as well.
“He was being very aggressive,” Sarah said. “I was stuck there with no way out.”
She told the man that she was a virgin.
“That was my way of saying no,” she said.
He still did not stop. He continued to forcefully push himself on her physically.
“He was on top of me and he was crushing me,” she said. “It was all about him and about total dominance.”
Sexual intercourse ultimately did not occur, but the perpetrator did penetrate her with his fingers, which under Missouri law would be considered “deviate sexual intercourse.”
“I thought about prosecuting, but I felt like there was nothing I could do,” Sarah said.
She did not report this incident, but she later heard the man went on to do the same thing to someone else. This time, the victim reported the incident, and the perpetrator was subsequently kicked out of his fraternity.
Wolf emphasized the detrimental emotional effects events like this can cause for the survivor.
“One of the most common trends is a dramatic change in certain aspects or multiple aspects of the survivor’s life,” she said. “This usually indicates some kind of trauma.”
Wolf also stressed the importance of seeking professional help.
“It is so important for someone to receive mental health services of some sort,” Wolf said. “It’s very helpful for them to have that time every week where they can just concentrate on themselves.”
Sarah agreed that professional support was invaluable to her following her experience.
“I called the (MU Counseling Center) crisis hotline, and they were very helpful,” she said. “The people at student counseling services really got me through it.”
In addition to the initial shock and emotional turmoil, this incident has had long-term consequences for Sarah. She missed an entire week of classes, which she believes drastically affected her GPA. It has been more than a year since the incident, and she still has to petition the School of Journalism for permission to enroll for classes.
“It’s discouraging,” she said. “I was so excited to come here, and I’m set back so far.”
She said she will probably have to extend her graduation by at least one semester, and with rising tuition this is also a financial concern.
Even though sexual assault and rape often have these devastating effects, many survivors don’t file police reports. Wolf said this is because survivors are often afraid of being re-victimized during the trial process.
Usually the survivor and any witnesses will be drilled on all the details surrounding the incident, including if there was any alcohol or drug consumption. She said sometimes this makes the survivors feel as if they are the ones on trial.
“Everyone in the process has a different focus or job,” Wolf said. “For the victim, reading that police report it seems as if they’re being blamed, but the defense will always bring up how drunk the survivor was. The prosecutor needs to be prepared.”
However, it is the job of law enforcement to gather as much information as possible so the prosecuting attorney will be prepared for anything the defense might bring up.
Underage students can also rest assured that they will not be charged with anything for disclosing information about alcohol consumption. At an RSVP Sexual Violence Legal Panel on April 5, MU Police Department Sgt. April Colvin emphasized this.
“The best advice I could give is to be honest,” Colvin said.
Another option for students who are hesitant to take legal action is to report the incident to the Office of Student Conduct if the perpetrator was a student. This can result in punishment for the perpetrator up to expulsion from MU.
Donell Young, senior coordinator of the Office of Student Conduct, said an average of six rapes or sexual assaults are reported to the office each year.
If a friend, roommate or partner has been the victim of a campus sex crime, Wolf said listening is key.
“I sum it up in three words,” Wolf said. “Listen, believe and support. Listen without judgment or placing blame. Believe what they’re saying happened how they are saying it, and support them in whatever they decide to do.”
