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Silent Majority
by Susan Youssef
Take a look at the most comprehensive list of statistics on rape within the university community organized for the 1988-89 school year by the Office of the Dean of Students. This list numbers the rapes reported in that year, without overlap, to each of the following facilities:
These numbers total 134 students. According to this number, at least one rape per week could have occurred at the university. Only five percent of college women who are raped report to the police, and five percent seek help at a rape crisis center. (Sex Without Consent: Peer Education Training for Colleges and Universities, Toby Simon and Cathy Harris.) Therefore, during that school year 738 women who did not report to the University Police or SARA may have been raped. Unfortunately, the Dean of Students Office does not have more recent statistics. Associate Dean of Students Shamim Sisson stated, "This research was done before the position of University Sexual Assault Education Coordinator was created. The Dean of Students had much more involvement in the issue back then. Claire Kaplan, the current educator, is currently working on compiling a list like this one." There is little reason to believe that these numbers have declined. Four cases involving assaults that occurred last spring are currently going to court; three cases involve athletes who allegedly committed crimes of violence against women (battery or sexual assault), and one case involves a fraternity brother who allegedly raped a woman who was in a rohypnol-induced state. Throughout June and July, several attempted and realized sexual assaults occurred throughout the community by the same attacker. Furthermore, the sexual assault prevention and education programs and policies at the university have limited outreach and are ineffective as a result. The Office of the Dean of Students created the position of University Sexual Assault Education Coordinator in the early 90s to work more effectively with the issue of sexual assault. Claire Kaplan holds that position; her role is to educate the university community about the various issues which lead to sexual assault in order to both facilitate prevention and inform the community of resources available in case of sexual assault. Her work is highly dependent upon the ability to give talks and lead workshops with important audiences in the first-year community. A great number of sexual assaults on Grounds affect first-year women during the first three months of the academic year (Simon and Harris). "Last year at the residence staff fair, 80 names signed up interested in sexual assault education. Only three or four called the Women's Center with interest in setting up a program using S.A.F.E. (Sexual Assault Facts and Education) or the Women's Center. First year dorms don't receive mandatory education. They get Grounds for Discussion -- which touches on it, but not heavily." Sarah Curtis-Fawley, President of Sexual Assault Facts and Education, a student-run organization which works parallel to Kaplan, described the Grounds for Discussion presentation on sexual assault: "Grounds for Discussion is a series of skits introducing various important issues. It presented sexual assault in the context of date rape. They're at a frat party, it's noisy, whatever, 'Let's go up to my room.' He pins her down, starts kissing her, whatever, she's saying no ... Then they start the scene over again and the guy says, 'You seem pretty drunk. Let me walk you home.' There's no discussion of power or gender issues, or of resources for students to turn to. It's just ridiculous." Curtis-Fawley encountered much difficulty attempting to educate first-year dorms. "The University Police give 20 talks, a talk for every first year dorm, usually with S.A.F.E. I called the Dean of Students last spring. I just wanted them to know the schedule. They referred me to Residence Life who referred me to the Community Resources Representative for the police. She said, 'No one told me that S.A.F.E. existed, so I planned it without S.A.F.E. It's too late to include S.A.F.E.' I gave her brochures and went to a talk. She talked about it for about two minutes." S.A.F.E. and Kaplan also attempt to target the Greek community. According to the Department of Justice (numbers corroborated by the FBI campus-watch program), fraternity members were named as the aggressor in 93 percent of all university-related reported rapes between 1984 and 1993. In terms of strict geographic locality, more alleged rapes occur within the property lines of fraternity and sorority houses than any specific area in the United States (excluding military bases and prisons). The Dean of Students' office mandates that fraternities and sororities fulfill the Agreement for a Fraternal Organization (FOA) which states that: "The Office of the Dean of the Students requires at least one educational program a year in each of the five areas: illegal drugs, alcohol, discrimination, hazing, and personal safety/sexual assault." In regards to this requirement Dean Sisson explained, "One program per year takes place at a regular chapter meaning. We aren't in a position to mandate their attendance, which is more than can be asked because other university organizations do not have to fulfill this requirement at all." This requirement is quite vague and does not insure proper education. Kaplan commented, "It's very haphazard -- some houses don't call me until the very end of the year, when their forms are due. There are no clear standards for what they're supposed to get in their programs." Chris Jeffries, President of the Inter-Fraternity Council said, "The least effective programs are the ones in which the houses stick in a 20-minute video tape and figure that'll do the trick." On S.A.F.E.'s visits to fraternities, Curtis-Fawley said, "S.A.F.E. gets calls from maybe six to ten fraternities a year, out of the 30 or so that exist. I don't want to put down the Greek system or blame it on alcohol. Sexual assault runs so deep. Fifteen-minute rapid-fire isn't going to tear down the gender inequalities and power issues that cause rape." Kaplan is also skeptical about the effectiveness of her work in fraternities: "I know full well before I get there, they're trashing what I do. It's fear and defensiveness. Men are needed as educators for these programs." On the worth of the education, Jeffries said, "The education can't be doing any harm. From the literature I've read, sexual assault is occurring everywhere and is rarely reported. But serious cases of abuse are minimal at the university." Another target community for sexual assault education is the athletic community. A study released recently by the North American Society of Sports Sociology examined 20 Division I football and basketball teams and found that, from 1991-93, though these athletes comprised 3.3 percent of the male population at ten major universities, they accounted for 19 percent of men reported to the university for sexual assault. In order to work against these percentages, U.Va. has integrated sexual assault education into the Life Skills program mandatory for athletes. Associate Dean for the Office of African-American Affairs presents the sexual assault portion of the program for the basketball, football, and wrestling teams. It is a series of two-hour-long exercises which he developed with his colleagues Nina Cummings and Dr. Andrea Parrot while working at Cornell University. His series is presented once a year. He described its focus: "Young men are trained in aggression; we have to train them that they shouldn't play that out in their relationships more than others and modify and change, but it's not a dogmatic thing. I say, 'Here are the options; you can make the decisions' ... When I'm done, they know the personal and legal implications of sexual assault." How effective does he think this talk is? "Well, this is human interaction and experience. You can't measure it. Yes, it is effective, but it's also proactive by its being done. They're not blind to these issues ... This is not a one-victim crime. Both people are victims of a misguided situation." Beyond the sphere of sexual assault prevention education at the university, there are educators responsible for presenting the university's judiciary options. Under the University Sexual Assault Policy, rape cases can come to trial within the university judicial system, an option which may seem less threatening than civil or criminal court. Judiciary committee educators visit first year dorms, several organizations, and events such as the CIO Activities Fair and the Black Students Alliance Activities Fair. When asked if the judiciary options for sexual assault are discussed, committee chairperson Dave Johnson replied, "They don't give me enough time. It hasn't been a topic because I have to explain the central ideas and concerns of the judiciary committee. If they do give me enough time, I'll explain the sexual assault policy, I'll squeeze it in ... Everybody should have been doing more. But we have a lot of stuff to do, and the transition policy from the current sexual assault policy into a new one has left the issue in limbo, preventing us from really moving." The revised sexual assault policy is currently being conferred over by a committee of concerned active individuals such as Kaplan, Johnson, and Sisson. After the policy is revised, the University Committee for Sexual Assault Judicial Review will be divided into two boards: sexual assault and judicial review. "I want the split to occur so that I can send the sexual assault board out to educate people of the process as an option, so that maybe more cases will be reported." Unfortunately, the policy has not yet completed review by committee, and it still has to go to the President and the Board of Visitors for review. So this education may not occur for an indefinite amount of time because of lengthy process has left the policy and judiciary affairs in "limbo," as Johnson has put it, for three years. The climate for discussing sexual assault prevention and education at the University of Virginia is stifling. The gender issues which lead to sexual violence are little discussed, and the resources available for education, counseling, and judicial action are minimally presented and shared. As a result of lack of awareness and apathy, the danger of sexual assault will remain real in a community where, as in universities across the country, one of four women and one of six men in college is likely to be a victim of sexual assault (Simon and Harris).
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