Sitting next to her mother, first-year Caro Novick enjoyed the little rest time she was allowed while attending AARO. Excited and anxious about her upcoming year at SMU, her thoughts turned toward freedom, classes and meeting new people. Humming the fight song she just learned, she was not anticipating or ready for the next skit that was to be performed.
“I was pretty surprised they did a skit on date rape, but I’m really glad they did,” Novick said. “It made me open my eyes to what was going on, and it’s made me much more aware of my surroundings when I’m out somewhere.”
Although statistics vary, about one in four women will be sexually assaulted during their lifetime and 80 to 85 percent of rapes are committed by an acquaintance.
Through the course of the academic year about 10 to 14 sexual assaults are reported to the health center, and only one out of 12 assaults are ever reported.
These figures have raised red flags on campus and in student organizations that are working to address the concern. The skit performed by AARO leaders this summer is just one of the things that SMU is doing to alert students, parents and faculty to the risks of date rape and sexual assault.
“Women are very vulnerable during their college years,” said Cathey Soutter, coordinator of psychological services of women at the Memorial Health Center. “First-year students tend to be very vulnerable to things like date rape because they are just getting adjusted and used to the college environment.”
The health center is working to increase programs and support groups for victims of rape and sexual assault. The center is able to treat any type of sexually related injury, test for HIV and obtain the morning-after pill. A rape crisis counselor is also available to speak with concerned students at any time.
“Rape victims are so unclear or unsure about what has happened to them,” Soutter said. “They take a lot of self blame. There’s a person here to help them with whatever they need and to support them.”
In addition to training the AARO leaders on how to present and respond to questions about rape, during the second week of school there was a mock trial concerning the consequences of date rape. Brochures and signs are posted in halls and lectures are given to wellness classes, organizations and residence halls throughout the year. Some students have also taken the initiative to start up their own organizations.
“I’m just really interested in the subject in general,” said junior Courtney Ippolito, who is trying to start an organization called Women Against Rape (WAR). “I really wanted something that I could get started on campus that would get people involved to start standing up and start changing the norms of society where we start saying that rape is wrong and it should not be kept so silent.”
Ippolito plans to hold WAR’s first official meeting this fall. She hopes the group will provide a hotline people can call if they think they have been sexually assaulted and are unsure about what to do.
“Anytime you are on a college campus and there is alcohol around it is a major breeding ground for rape,” Ippolito said. “WAR’s purpose is to be the liaison between students, the school, the counseling center and the judicial system. I had some conflict in naming the organization WAR, but I felt that it is a huge problem in society and we need to fight back against it.”
Other students have also looked at what can be done on campus to increase awareness of rape and sexual assault.
“This year we realized that this issue was much more serious than we thought,” said Kate Parkal, the Student Senate issues chair. “It was brought to the attention of greek women, because of lurkers in Sorority Park.”
Last year, many sororities were told about unidentified people spending time in Sorority Park, bringing the issue of safety to many greek women’s attention. Currently, the students issues committee is working on ways to incorporate SMU police in student programs.
“We are trying to work with Panhellenic to coordinate and facilitate personal safety seminars for each greek house and other student organizations,” Parkal said. “The police would provide us with personal safety training, like a self-defense class or seminar. We want to focus on personal safety, whether or not it was a date rape situation or just to protect yourself.”
Most students don’t know about the programs and judicial procedures currently available.
“We are lucky at SMU to have an internal judicial system,” Ippolito said. “We have a much more intimate system, and they do a really good job of keeping everything anonymous. A lot of girls aren’t aware about all the details under the conduct code, and what counts as actively saying ‘yes’ and agreeing to sex, so a lot of what I want to do is get that out there.”
If an account of sexual assault is brought to the judicial committee, they will use the guidelines outlined in the Student Code of Conduct to rule the case and action will be taken from there.
If a student wishes to file criminal charges in a civil court, she must inform the police and can be taken only to Parkland Hospital. There she will be administered an assault test. A case will be invalid in court if this test is not performed.
“We are on a campus where they will do something about it, and they really care about the safety of the students and not about how many they’ve had on campus,” Ippolito said. “In terms of what has gone on at other colleges, SMU has a really good system if it is being used.”
For Caro Novick and her fellow students, it is just the beginning of programs focusing on issues critical to personal and campus safety.
“On this front we should unite,” Ippolito said. “Hopefully 10 years from now it will stop being such a silent topic and we can say that rape is not something we are going to accept. And I think that SMU is doing a really good job of making that first step.”
