One in four women between the ages of 15 and 24 are victims of either rape or attempted rape, Lee Van Donselaar, chairman of the Sexual Assault Prevention Outreach Team, said.
"Rape isn't just a violation of the body," team member Maggie Reed said. "It affects the way you think of the world."
The Healing Wall for Sexual Assault Awareness Week in the Atrium provides a space for students to write how they think and feel about sexual assault.
Graduate student Gina Edghill used the wall to post a poem she wrote about a family member's experience titled "Abuse Equation."
"I had a cousin who was murdered last month by her husband," Edghill said. "Although there are survivors, we have to remember that not everyone survives."
Sexual assault is a problem on every campus, Reed said, and Ball State University is no exception.
Sexual Assault Prevention
Sexual Assault Awareness Week was planned strategically, Randy Hyman, dean of students, said.
"We also realize it's less than two weeks until Spring Break," he said. "We want [students] to be well aware of things that could prevent them from having a good time."
Students can avoid situations that make them more vulnerable sexual assaults by not walking alone late at night, keeping an eye on friends and not accepting an open drink from a stranger, Police Chief Gene Burton said.
"The first thing I would advocate is, I would like to see every female on campus participate in our RAD program," he said.
RAD stands for Rape Aggression Defense, a program in which students are taught tips and techniques on how to defend themselves against sexual assault attacks.
Students can sign up for RAD in Irving Gym by filling out a form and paying a $25 fee. The sessions begin March 2 and will last for six consecutive Tuesdays from 7:30 to 9:30 p.m.
People need to be more aware of issues such a rape and talk more openly about sexuality, Carolyn Kapinus, associate sociology professor, said. Educating both women and men is imperative if society wants the issue to improve.
One in 10 men will be raped in their lifetime, Van Donselaar, said.
"Most men when they are educated about this are horrified, and I think a lot of good men want to step up to help," Reed said.
How to Report Sexual Assaults
"Rape, by definition, is sexual activity without consent, and that's very hard to prove," Kapinus said.
To improve chances of prosecution, a victim who wants to press rape charges should complete a rape kit at Ball Memorial Hospital within 72 hours, making sure not to shower or change clothes so that evidence is preserved, Van Donselaar said.
Four forcible sex offenses were reported to University Police during the 2004 calendar year, Burton said. This is the same amount as the 2003 calendar year.
Students who are sexually assaulted can report the incident to the Dean of Students Office to have disciplinary action taken against the accused student, David Fried, associate dean of students, said.
If accused students are found responsible by the University Review Board, he said, they can be subject to disciplinary action ranging from a letter of reprimand to suspension or expulsion.
While only two cases of sexual misconduct were reported last semester to the Dean of Students Office, six cases of sexual misconduct or assault have been reported since the beginning of the semester, Fried said. That number is equal to the reported cases for the entire school year of Fall 2003 through Summer 2004. Fried isn't sure why the number of reported assaults has increased.
"It's hard to say why," he said. "It could be that people are simply reporting it more."
Why Sexual Assault Goes Unreported
Ninety percent of sexual assaults go unreported, making it one of the most underreported crimes there is, Van Donselaar said.
Rape and sexual assault are viewed differently than other crimes because people tend to place blame on the rape victim, John Stachula, psychologist for the Counseling Center, said. This is especially true when alcohol is involved.
"I think seeing how much alcohol use is used to blame the victim is very frustrating," he said. "We don't do that in other crimes."
Alcohol is involved in 74 percent of rapes that occur on campuses, Stachula said.
"I don't think [drinking alcohol] makes the woman more responsible for what happened, but alcohol impairs your judgment. It impairs the judgment of both parties," Edghill said.
In rape cases, the victims are put on trial more than the attacker, Kapinus said.
"We want to point to the victim and say this is what that person did wrong," Kapinus said. By placing blame on the victim, people are trying to convince themselves that they will be safe as long as they don't act like the victim did, she said.
"It's a self protection mechanism," Stachula said. "We want to believe in a just world."
Reed said that no matter what a woman did or didn't do, being assaulted is not her fault.
"Not behaving perfectly does not mean you deserved to be raped," she said.
Women are seen by society as the sexual gatekeepers, Kapinus said.
Stachula said that as gatekeepers, women are expected by society to reject men kindly and gently. They are not expected to be strong and fight back against sexual advances.
Fried said sometimes students ask him if they can report a case of sexual misconduct without actually getting their attacker in trouble. These situations usually occur when the victims know the person who assaulted them.
According to Reed, 85 percent of rape or sexual assault is committed by a person the victim knows.
"People assume that fake reports of rape happen more than they really do," Kapinus said. In actuality, only 2 to 5 percent of rape claims are false.
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