Thursday Reads: An Important Story about Sexual Assault on College Campuses
Posted: November 20, 2014 Filed under: education, morning reads, Violence against women, War on Women, Women's Rights | Tags: culture of cover-up, date rape, frat parties, fraternities, gang rape, Nicole Eramo, Phi Kappa Psi fraternity, rape, sexual assault on college campuses, Teresa Sullivan, University of Virginia 62 Comments
Francoise in a round-backed chair reading, Mary Cassatt
Good Morning!!
I stayed up late last night reading the stunning Rolling Stone article on the culture of sexual assault and official cover-up at the University of Virginia. After I finished it, I had quite a bit of difficulty getting to sleep. The story was reported and written by investigative journalist Sabrina Rubin Erdely. The headline is A Rape on Campus: A Brutal Assault and Struggle for Justice at UVA. Before I begin, I want to warn everyone that the article includes explicit descriptions of sexual assault and a shocking culture of indifference to victims. I’m not going to excerpt explicit descriptions of rapes, but I do want to quote some of the reactions to them by students and administrators.
The article opens with a graphic description of a violent gang rape of 18-year-old incoming freshman “Jackie” that took place at the Phi Kappa Psi fraternity house during a party. Hours later, beaten and bloody, Jackie called “friends” for help, but instead of taking her to a hospital they talked her out of reporting the assault because it would ruin her “reputation,” and they as her friends would be ostracized and would no longer be invited to frat parties.
So Jackie hid in her room and sank into a deep depression. She received no support from her “friends” and acquaintances. The man who had taken her to the party and set up her rape by 7 men behaved as if nothing abnormal had happened, and asked her why she was ignoring him. Erdely on the friends’ reactions:
She was having an especially difficult time figuring out how to process that awful night, because her small social circle seemed so underwhelmed. For the first month of school, Jackie had latched onto a crew of lighthearted social strivers, and her pals were now impatient for Jackie to rejoin the merriment. “You’re still upset about that?” Andy asked one Friday night when Jackie was crying. Cindy, a self-declared hookup queen, said she didn’t see why Jackie was so bent out of shape. “Why didn’t you have fun with it?” Cindy asked. “A bunch of hot Phi Psi guys?” One of Jackie’s friends told her, unconcerned, “Andy said you had a bad experience at a frat, and you’ve been a baby ever since.”
That type of response to sexual assaults is apparently common at UVA.
That reaction of dismissal, downgrading and doubt is a common theme UVA rape survivors hear, including from women. “Some of my hallmates were skeptical,” recalls recent grad Emily Renda, who says that weeks into her first year she was raped after a party. “They were silent and avoided me afterwards. It made me doubt myself.” Other students encounter more overt hostility, as when a first-year student confided her assault to a friend. “She said she thought I was just looking for attention,” says the undergrad. Shrugging off a rape or pointing fingers at the victim can be a self-protective maneuver for women, a form of wishful thinking to reassure themselves they could never be so vulnerable to violence. For men, skepticism is a form of self-protection too. For much of their lives, they’ve looked forward to the hedonistic fun of college, bearing every expectation of booze and no-strings sex. A rape heralds the uncomfortable idea that all that harmless mayhem may not be so harmless after all. Easier, then, to assume the girl is lying, even though studies indicate that false rape reports account for, at most, eight percent of reports.
And so at UVA, where social status is paramount, outing oneself as a rape victim can be a form of social suicide. “I don’t know many people who are engrossed in the party scene and have spoken out about their sexual assaults,” says third-year student Sara Surface. After all, no one climbs the social ladder only to cast themselves back down. Emily Renda, for one, quickly figured out that few classmates were sympathetic to her plight, and instead channeled her despair into hard partying. “My drinking didn’t stand out,” says Renda, who often ended her nights passed out on a bathroom floor. “It does make you wonder how many others are doing what I did: drinking to self-medicate.”
Investigative journalist Sabrina Rubin Erdely of Rolling Stone
Erdely talked to a number of survivors, and she found a history of gang rapes at Phi Kappa Psi fraternity stretching back at least 30 years. She describes a culture in which male upperclassmen target freshmen girls and deliberately take advantage of their lack of sophistication about the danger of sexual violence on college campuses.
A year later, Jackie did report the rape to a UVA administrator. She was sent to Dean Nicole Eramo, who heads the “Sexual Misconduct Board.” Eramo subtly discouraged Jackie from reporting the rape.
When Jackie finished talking, Eramo comforted her, then calmly laid out her options. If Jackie wished, she could file a criminal complaint with police. Or, if Jackie preferred to keep the matter within the university, she had two choices. She could file a complaint with the school’s Sexual Misconduct Board, to be decided in a “formal resolution” with a jury of students and faculty, and a dean as judge. Or Jackie could choose an “informal resolution,” in which Jackie could simply face her attackers in Eramo’s presence and tell them how she felt; Eramo could then issue a directive to the men, such as suggesting counseling. Eramo presented each option to Jackie neutrally, giving each equal weight. She assured Jackie there was no pressure – whatever happened next was entirely her choice.
Like many schools, UVA has taken to emphasizing that in matters of sexual assault, it caters to victim choice. “If students feel that we are forcing them into a criminal or disciplinary process that they don’t want to be part of, frankly, we’d be concerned that we would get fewer reports,” says associate VP for student affairs Susan Davis. Which in theory makes sense: Being forced into an unwanted choice is a sensitive point for the victims. But in practice, that utter lack of guidance can be counterproductive to a 19-year-old so traumatized as Jackie was that she was contemplating suicide. Setting aside for a moment the absurdity of a school offering to handle the investigation and adjudication of a felony sex crime – something Title IX requires, but which no university on Earth is equipped to do – the sheer menu of choices, paired with the reassurance that any choice is the right one, often has the end result of coddling the victim into doing nothing.
“This is an alarming trend that I’m seeing on campuses,” says Laura Dunn of the advocacy group SurvJustice. “Schools are assigning people to victims who are pretending, or even thinking, they’re on the victim’s side, when they’re actually discouraging and silencing them.
The culture of cover-up at UVA is shocking to me, but it is probably typical of many colleges and universities, according to Erdely. However UVA is among a select group of 86 schools that is under investigation by the federal Office of Civil Rights because of their failure to deal with the problem. In September UVA held a two-hour trustees meeting to discuss sexual assault on campus.
Those two hours, however, were devoted entirely to upbeat explanations of UVA’s new prevention and response strategies, and to self-congratulations to UVA for being a “model” among schools in this arena. Only once did the room darken with concern, when a trustee in UVA colors – blue sport coat, orange bow tie – interrupted to ask, “Are we under any federal investigation with regard to sexual assault?”
Dean of students Allen Groves, in a blue suit and orange necktie of his own, swooped in with a smooth answer. He affirmed that while like many of its peers UVA was under investigation, it was merely a “standard compliance review.” He mentioned that a student’s complaint from the 2010-11 academic year had been folded into that “routine compliance review.” Having downplayed the significance of a Title IX compliance review – which is neither routine nor standard – he then elaborated upon the lengths to which UVA has cooperated with the Office of Civil Rights’ investigation, his tone and manner so reassuring that the room relaxed.
Told of the meeting, Office of Civil Rights’ Catherine Lhamon calls Groves’ mischaracterization “deliberate and irresponsible.” “Nothing annoys me more than a school not taking seriously their review from the federal government about their civil rights obligations,” she says.
Jackie eventually became involved with a UVA rape survivors group, but even among these women who were trying to deal with their traumatic experiences and reaching out to recent victims, the culture was one of not reporting their rapes to police.
UVA Dean of Students Nicole Eramo
You’ll recall that it was at UVA that 18-year-old Hannah Graham was abducted and murdered, allegedly by 32-year-old Jesse Matthew, who had been previously accused of rape at two different Virginia colleges in 2002 and 2003. He was not charged in either case, and he apparently went on to become a smoothly professional sexual predator. The news reports say that the victims did not want to press charges, but the truth is that colleges and universities regularly discourage young women from reporting rapes in order to protect their institutional reputations. Erdely addresses this issue at length in her article on UVA.
Matthew’s DNA was found under the fingernails of Virginia Tech student Morgan Harrington, who disappeared after she was locked out of a Metallica concert on the UVA campus in 2009. Harrington’s body was later found a few miles from where Hannah Graham’s body was recovered. Matthew’s DNA has also been connected to a violent rape and attempted murder that took place in Fairfax in 2005.
In her article, Erdely discusses the research done by psychologist David Lisak on campus rapists. He discovered that a small percentage of college men commit rapes, and they tend to be repeat offenders (PDF). That last link is to a peer-reviewed journal article by Lisak, “Repeat Rape and Multiple Offending by Undetected Rapists.” Erdely writes:
Lisak’s 2002 groundbreaking study of more than 1,800 college men found that roughly nine out of 10 rapes are committed by serial offenders, who are responsible for an astonishing average of six rapes each. None of the offenders in Lisak’s study had ever been reported. Lisak’s findings upended general presumptions about campus sexual assault: It implied that most incidents are not bumbling, he-said-she-said miscommunications, but rather deliberate crimes by serial sex offenders.
In his study, Lisak’s subjects described the ways in which they used the camouflage of college as fruitful rape-hunting grounds. They told Lisak they target freshmen for being the most naïve and the least-experienced drinkers. One offender described how his party-hearty friends would help incapacitate his victims: “We always had some kind of punch. . . . We’d make it with a real sweet juice. It was really powerful stuff. The girls wouldn’t know what hit them.” Presumably, the friends mixing the drinks did so without realizing the offender’s plot, just as when they probably high-fived him the next morning, they didn’t realize the behavior they’d just endorsed. That’s because the serial rapist’s behavior can look ordinary at college. “They’re not acting in a vacuum,” observes Lisak of predators. “They’re echoing that message and that culture that’s around them: the objectification and degradation of women.”
I won’t quote any more from the article, but I do recommend reading it if you can handle it.
After the Rolling Stone article came out, UVA’s president suddenly decided maybe she should something about Jackie’s rape. From The Daily Progress, UVa calls for investigation into rape allegation in Rolling Stone article.
UVa President Teresa A. Sullivan released a statement Wednesday night, stating the university’s commitment to preventing sexual assault.
“The University takes seriously the issue of sexual misconduct, a significant problem that colleges and universities are grappling with across the nation,” Sullivan said in the statement. “Our goal is to provide an environment that is as safe as possible for our students and the entire University community.”
Erdely said UVa reinforced one of her major arguments in her article — that UVa administration focuses on prestige and appearance over student safety — with Sullivan’s statement….
“I am writing in response to a Rolling Stone magazine article that negatively depicts the University of Virginia and its handling of sexual misconduct cases,” Sullivan said at the beginning of the statement.
“It goes to show what their priorities are here — the fact that she would go out of her way to say I negatively depicted the university — this is the first thing on their minds,” Erdely said. “They need to be putting student safety first.”
UVA President Teresa Sullivan
Date: Wed, Nov 19, 2014 at 6:17 PM
Subject: An Important Message from President SullivanTo the University community:
I am writing in response to a Rolling Stone magazine article that negatively depicts the University of Virginia and its handling of sexual misconduct cases. Because of federal and state privacy laws, and out of respect for sexual assault survivors, we are very limited in what we can say about any of the cases mentioned in this article.
The article describes an alleged sexual assault of a female student at a fraternity house in September 2012, including many details that were previously not disclosed to University officials. I have asked the Charlottesville Police Department to formally investigate this incident, and the University will cooperate fully with the investigation.
The University takes seriously the issue of sexual misconduct, a significant problem that colleges and universities are grappling with across the nation. Our goal is to provide an environment that is as safe as possible for our students and the entire University community.
We have recently adopted several new initiatives and policies aimed at fostering a culture of reporting and raising awareness of the issues.
We want our students to feel comfortable coming forward with information when there are problems in the community and cooperating with local law enforcement and the student disciplinary process. We also want them to feel empowered to take action and to lead efforts to make our Grounds and our community a better place to live and learn.
We have been taking a leadership role on issues regarding sexual misconduct and violence. U.Va. hosted a national conference on this topic in February 2014. “Dialogue at U.Va.: Sexual Misconduct Among College Students” brought together national experts and professionals from approximately 60 colleges and universities to discuss best practices and strategies for prevention and response.
The HoosGotYourBack initiative, part of the Not On Our Grounds awareness campaign, was developed and launched in collaboration with students and with local Corner Merchants to increase active bystander behavior.
A number of other initiatives are also planned for the spring. Among them are the implementation of a new student sexual misconduct policy and a related training program, a campus climate survey, and an in-depth bystander intervention program that will include students, faculty, and staff.
More information about sexual violence education and resources is available on the University’s website at http://www.virginia.edu/sexualviolence/
Finally, I want to underscore our commitment to marshaling all available resources to assist our students who confront issues related to sexual misconduct. Our dedicated Student Affairs staff devote countless hours to educating and counseling our students on issues regarding their health and safety, and they stand ready to assist whenever students need help.
Teresa A. Sullivan
PresidentPresident Sullivan approved distribution of this message.
I’ll let you judge the sincerity of Sullivan’s statement.
I know there is plenty of other news going on, but this was all I could think about this morning. Please post your links on any topic in the comment thread, and feel free to discuss this post or not. I realize this is a very difficult subject, but it is also a vitally important one.
peej
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Mona (aka Wonk the Vote)
Sky Dancing 
Teresa Sullivan has an interesting history at UVA. She was forced to resign in 2012 and later reinstated. Here are some links:
UVA Magazine, Timeline: Teresa Sullivan’s Resignation and Reinstatement
NYT, Anatomy of a Campus Coup
Chronicle of Higher Education, UVa Board Reinstates Teresa Sullivan: Complete Coverage
Teresa Sullivan was forced to resign by the UVA Board of Visitors. It’s important to understand exactly what a Board of Visitors is in Virginia. From the NYT article:
The easiest way to get seated on a Board of Visitors at any Virginia University is to write a big check or be a big bundler during a gubernatorial election. If you live in Virginia and can deliver campaign money, you too can sit on a Board of Visitors. As soon as I heard that a university president was forced to resign by the Board of Visitors, I knew it was politically motivated. The NYT article states that conspiracy theories abound regarding exactly why Sullivan was fired by the Board of Visitors. One of them that I heard was that it was over the issue of guns being allowed on campus. Sullivan was against it and the McDonnell appointed Board of Visitors was for it. That’s gossip I know, but whatever the real reason for why she was fired you can bet that it had a lot more to do with politics than it had to do with how she was running the university.
Yes, and she got tons of support from the university community. Will they still support her wholeheartedly after the RS article?
Florida State University gunman killed by police after shooting wounds three.
Lots of wingnuts will now recommend that librarians carry guns to work.
I am so glad you wrote about this BB. I read that article last night as well and it disturbed the hell out of me.
Sent from my iPhone
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I was wondering if you read it. It was very upsetting to me too, but an important read.
Upsetting for me too. I’m very grateful for BB’s writing and the pointing to the RS article. I’m also really, horrified I guess is the best word, that this stuff is still happening, and still just as nudge-nudge-wink-wink as it was when I was in college. So much has changed since then, but so much is still the same, or worse!
NYT:
Mike Nichols, famed director of The Graduate, dies at 83.
The Root:
Watch: Bill Cosby Tells AP Reporter ‘I Don’t Talk About’ Sex Assault Allegations
It sounds like Cosby hasn’t yet figured out that he has lost his status. How disgusting that he was allowed to continue to violate and abuse women for so long but at least now he’s being called out for it.
The culture at UVA has been a dirty little secret here in VA for quite some time now. I’m glad the Rolling Stone story came out and I’m glad that you have posted about it. Obviously it’s not just UVA, I’m sure there are other universities across the country with similar untold stories, but the UVA story needed to be told. UVA has very high academic standards for admission so the women who have been accepted there have a lot to offer this state and this country but sadly, by the time some of them leave UVA they have been traumatized beyond repair. This is wrong. My niece attended UVA for one year. A brilliant student, she quickly became disillusioned and depressed. She hated the culture there and thankfully transferred out and was able to complete her education elsewhere. Many bright young women don’t even bother to apply there. It’s about time this story got told and real change starts happening to preserve the institution and its legacy.
My undergraduate mentor got her Ph.D. at UVA. They have an outstanding psychology department. But UVA has also long been known as a party school, and it’s troubling that the Greek system there is so powerful.
There’s no doubt that this culture of rape and cover-up is widespread. Harvard comes to mind. I’m not sure if it is on the list of 86 schools being investigation for civil rights violations, but I wouldn’t be surprised if it is.
At my own alma mater, Boston University, there was recently a terrible scandal about rapes by members of the hockey team. I don’t think any of them were prosecuted. I need to check that and the Harvard situation.
Two BU hockey players were arrested and charged. One pleaded guilty and the other one had his charges dropped.
ABC News on the university’s report on the situation: Boston University Ice Hockey Team Slammed for ‘Sexual Entitlement’ Culture
They have many outstanding departments including their law school, medical school, and hospital. UVA Hospital is the regional trauma center serving the area and the rest of the hospital is world class. Three people in my family, myself included, were saved by the doctors at UVA after being misdiagnosed by doctors in other places. I owe them my life and that’s another reason why it saddens me so to see the university hurt itself by perpetuating and protecting rape culture.
It is sad, and it just shows how powerful the culture of ignoring and justifying violence against women is.
OMG, I’m not finished with the Rolling Stone article and I’m already in tears. It really is tearing the scab off of all of the rumors we have heard about the culture there.
I was right. Harvard is on the Office of Civil Rights list along with UVA. So are BU, Dartmouth, UC Berkeley, USC, Indiana U., U. of Chicago, and Michigan State. Read the rest at the link.
IU is another notorious “party school,” and you may recall that a young woman named Lauren disappeared from the IU campus in June 2011 after a night of partying ended with her at an apartment with several men. Her body has never been found.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disappearance_of_Lauren_Spierer
University administrators need to wake up to the fact that most campus rapes are committed by a small number of repeat offenders who may then go on to be serial predators like Jesse Matthew.
I think I’ve come to hate the term “party school” because it has a positive connotation to young people. In the case of UVA I’d rather call it what it is, a rape school. I thought that rape counselor’s remark that “Nobody wants to send their daughter to a rape school” was telling and indicative of the entire culture there. She should have said “child”. I think most people don’t want to send their sons to a rape school either.
From The Atlantic:
Jim Webb has launched an exploratory committee in preparation for running for president in 2016.
I can’t figure out this move. I know there is a reason for it. He doesn’t stand a chance at winning a national election. The only thing I can figure is that he’s conservative and he’s there to make whomever is the ultimate nominee look more liberal? I just don’t know and I’ve asked some insiders in the state but I haven’t gotten a satisfactory answer from anyone.
Maybe he really wants to influence the debate on income inequality?
Being cynical, he did write a recent memoir which probably sold very little. Chances are sales will pick up like crazy now. Just a guess but why would a guy who didn’t even like being in the Senate want to run for president?
Ahhhhh! Thank you! It’s a Trump move. I can see that.
The snowpocalypse isn’t over yet in upstate NY.
Already reeling, Buffalo area braces for more snow
I really think it’s time to ban fraternities and sororities unless they are honors or public service oriented.
That isn’t likely to happen, but UVA should certainly suspend Phi Kappa Psi. There was already an “investigation” by the national organization, but they did nothing.
It’s not likely to happen everywhere, but more and more I’m hearing people question the necessity of them. If you remove the cachet what’s left? Just a bunch of fools who feel better about themselves because others have been excluded.
I agree about banning social frats, they are just training grounds for douchebags,
Shouldn’t suspend them, they should disband and permanently kill them. That article was reason enough all by itself.
I certainly wouldn’t mourn the death of fraternities and sororities.
The frat has been suspended.
There was one portion of the RS article that sounded to me as if the gang rape was not a one off thing. It was when one of the rapists was told that “we had to do it and you do to” or something to that effect.
Yes, it sounded like it was a requirement for pledges before initiation.
Yeah, great, but it feels like it’s a quick bandaid to make the whole problem go away. These frats need to be put on notice. One complaint and you are suspended until it’s resolved.
For now, all I see is a black/white old photo of a building, as I peer inside, I hear her pleas to stop, and see the RED blood. And want to stop the fucking earth, and jump off.
FSU Gunman Identified As School Alumnus and Attorney: Report
http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/fsu-gunman-identified-school-alumnus-attorney-report-n252271
FSU Student Jason Derfuss Saved By Book Bag in Campus Shooting
http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/fsu-student-jason-derfuss-saved-book-bag-campus-shooting-n252536
Another link–gives shooter’s name and background.
http://miamiherald.typepad.com/nakedpolitics/2014/11/ap-fsu-gunman-was-lawyer-graduate.html
Wow. That’s amazing. I can only imagine how terrifying that would be.
I think I’m becoming traumatized reading about all of this campus violence. I can’t wait to see my daughter next week. I just want to hug her.
The three major broadcast networks will not be televising Obama’s speech to the country on immigration but according to this article, they did choose to broadcast Bush’s speech when he deployed 6k national guard troops to the boarder…
http://www.politico.com/blogs/media/2014/11/white-house-hits-tv-networks-for-skipping-immigration-199015.html
WTF?!
*border (sorry about the typo)
I’ll bet we hear plenty about the Republican arguments against Obama though. The news media are owned now.
I love T-Mac. He’s been an awesome Gov so far.
Hillary Clinton draws her first 2016 challenger
Former Virginia Sen. Jim Webb announces presidential exploratory committee
http://www.salon.com/2014/11/20/hillary_clinton_draws_her_first_2016_challenger/?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=socialflow
whoopee
Yeah. He’s more a Secretary of Defense candidate than presidential.
I wouldn’t want the Senate quitter for that either. I think he’s pushing sales of his memoir.
http://www.wonderingsound.com/motown-singer-jimmy-ruffin-dies-78/ jimmy ruffin has died
And a great shit storm of butt hurt will descend upon the land.
Charles Pierce: The Gathering Storm On Obama’s Immigration Announcement — An Update
Well the local NBC affiliate here in Richmond is taking a stand and airing Obama’s speech instead of the network’s crap! Here’s what I saw on FB:
ALL 3 MAJOR NETWORKS…have opted NOT to carry the President’s address tonight on why he’s bypassing congress, and instituting his own sweeping immigration reforms (allowing 5 million undocumented immigrants to stay). SO, we here at NBC12 have decided NOT to run NBC – and run the speech instead. It’s the right thing to do. It will cover up part of The Biggest Loser – but here’s a little secret, you’ll probably see them weigh in at the end anyway….
Good!
I tried to get some answers as to why there are over 10 professional people, hired at UVA, who must deal with equality/justice, and sexual harassment, and violence, as to the implementation of Title IX. I asked why was it that the rape and sexual assault of the students, just somehow slips through the system, when they are hired to deal with the policies? Everybody is passing the buck, and will not talk to me, because I make myself very clear, it is time for justice on the campus and in the community. My sole purpose was to put pressure on all of them over the handling of rape/sexual assault. They need to fire them all, starting with Sullivan, and on down the line. When a girl can’t go to a fellow student, can’t get help from female adults hired to help stop violence. They have not made a “safe” environment for students, they have contributed to it, as a long term issue. There needs to be more law suits against the administrators, for failing to do their jobs.
There have been lawsuits, which is why the Feds are investigating. But you’re right that there should be more.
Good for you, Fannie. They need to know that the public will not tolerate this anymore.
http://www.salon.com/2014/11/01/the_sad_twisted_truth_about_conservative_christianitys_effect_on_the_mind_partner/?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=socialflow. Interesting article on interaction of fundamentalists and brain chemistry.
That is fascinating.