Sexual assault at University hard to trace, often unreported

This is the second part of a five-part series on crime in Oakland and on campus. Read The… This is the second part of a five-part series on crime in Oakland and on campus. Read The Pitt News all this week for more crime coverage.

The first day of classes at Pitt occupies most freshmen minds with buying books, getting to class on time or what parties they’ll go to on the first Thursday night of the year.

Maybe sexual assault prevention should be added to the list.

Female college freshmen are at the highest risk for sexual assault from the first day of school to Thanksgiving break, according to the Pittsburgh Action Against Rape Web site.

Sexual Assault Services coordinator Mary Koch Ruiz says that she sees about 30 students each year because of sexual assault — defined as “nonconsensual but non-forcible sexual intercourse,” according to the Pitt Police Web site.

A 2005 Pitt Police crime report revealed that 13 sex-related offenses were reported, more than the 10 reported at Duquesne University and the three at Carnegie Mellon University.

But sexual assault crimes are generally underreported, and Ruiz and Pittsburgh Police officer Brian Johnson agree that embarrassment plays a large role.

Eighty-four percent of sexual assault victims know their assailant, and many times they have the same group of friends. The victims may feel uncomfortable hanging out with their peers in fear that they won’t believe them.

“The individual who gets raped by the stranger, that’s the crime that gets all the attention, but it’s far less likely to happen,” Johnson said.

He said that sexual assault occurs every day, and he sees date-rape-drug use frequently — despite the meager three or four unconfirmed cases Ruiz has seen in her 12 years at Pitt. The drugs cause students to remember the sexual assault situation in spots. They can never remember streams of information.

“You’ve woken up the next day, maybe you’re in the guy’s place, maybe you’re by yourself,” Johnson said. “You know you had sex, but you know you didn’t want to. [The date rape drug is] out of your system in four hours.”

Johnson said in most of these sexual assault crimes, there is no DNA present for evidence, something he calls the DNA factor.

“Everybody watches television now and thinks there’s DNA on everything,” he said. “We can get [DNA] in the first 36 hours. After that, it’s not usable for us.”

He added that showering, which many victims do because they don’t feel clean, destroys a large amount of evidence.

Oftentimes, women who think they’ve been given a date rape drug do not have a coherent statement, which Pitt Police chief Tim Delaney said happens with 80 percent of sexual assault cases.

“Most of the ones we get and there’s parties and drinking, they can’t even tell us where they were, they can’t even tell us what street they were on,” he said, adding that they drive the victims around so they can remember where they were.

“We don’t quit on them,” he said.

Pitt Police officer Ron Bennett added that most cases occur off campus because there are more ways to track on-campus assaults.

Bennett referred back to freshman orientation when peer facilitators performed sexual assault skits to help the incoming students prevent these situations.

“I can talk all I want about blue lights on campus and give out our phone number all I want,” Bennett said of the emergency police centers around campus, but added that when it comes down to a real issue, he wants the students to start thinking about the decisions they make.

“We know it’s legit because it’s real,” Delaney said of the crime.

He said that when a person is sexually assaulted, she’s lost a sense of control. The department tries to provide the services necessary to help the student and give her a support system.

“What I’m doing is giving you your autonomy back in your life, the control that that bastard took away from you,” he said. “I can’t stop what happened, but I can offer you enough services that you can be a productive person.”

According to a 2000 U.S. Department of Justice report, fraternity members committed 55 percent of the reported gang rapes by college students in 1980 to 1990.

Researchers said that the large, unsupervised parties with free-flowing alcohol make some fraternity property more rape-prone than other areas.

Greek Life director Chris Meaner recently spoke to the Interfraternity Council presidents about a sexual assault allegation made against a Pitt fraternity about three weeks ago. He said that it is the only allegation he has seen in his tenure at Pitt.

The Greek community will have a presentation called “Kristen’s Story,” a mother’s account of her daughter’s date rape and eventual suicide, according to a University of Oregon Greeks Web site.

Meaner said this will make the students more aware and educated so they can prevent sexual assault.

When students start pledging fraternities or sororities, they are required to attend three classes, Greek 101, 102 and 103. One of the sessions covers sexual assault and date rape.

Ruiz leads the sexual assault session and brings in peer facilitators to do a mock trial of a sexual assault case.

Interfraternity Council president Dan Morrison said the monthly fraternity presidents’ roundtables held last week concentrated heavily on sexual assault.

“We talked about safe practices as far as at parties or social events,” Morrison said. “We try to keep everyone down in the main room, just for safety in general.”

But sexual assault can also result from simple miscommunication between two people, Ruiz said.

The victim, the assailant or both have been drinking alcohol in 90 percent of sexual assault cases, she added, and the poor judgments lead to sexual decisions that shouldn’t be made under the influence.

But despite the victim’s unclear thoughts, responsibility should not be placed on the victim, said Marlo Svidron, program director of Crisis Intervention Services at PAAR.

“I don’t want the victims to feel like if they do drink they’ve done something wrong,” she said. “The only person who’s going to stop a rape is the rapist.”

Jaime Sidani, a health educator in Student Health, said people can never know the concentration or the contents of a drink if it comes from a large container, like a punch bowl.

She said eating while drinking or alternating drinks with non-alcoholic beverages can prevent a person from getting drunk enough to allow a drug to be slipped into her drink.

“Women need to know that rufis and GHB (gamma hydroxybutyric acid) are colorless, they are odorless, they are tasteless and they are easily slipped into drinks,” said Jaime Sidani, a health educator in Student Health. “If you’re out drinking, you should never take an opened drink.”

Ruiz said that over the years, dating has unfortunately become obsolete, and students seem lost when it comes to interpersonal relationships and interacting.

“Don’t assume that she’s coming up to your apartment for sex, and don’t assume that he’s coming up to your apartment to listen to music and talk,” Ruiz said.

Ruiz said that after the assault, victims may experience symptoms such as difficulty with coping, organization and even planning their daily activities.

Sometimes, she added, they may start crying for what seems to be no reason and experience mood swings, sleep disturbances or appetite disturbances.

Ruiz said if the victims work through their sexual assault experiences, they will never forget what happened but will be able to function better later in their lives.

However, not treating the issue could lead to problems with sexual relationships, fears of men in general, distrusting people or feeling paranoid.

Ruiz added that if the victim doesn’t resolve the trauma, the stress will internally build up and escape in other ways, like headaches, urinary tract infections or sore throats.

But sexual assault and being slipped a date rape drug can be prevented, she said, by simply being aware of one’s surroundings and watching one’s drinks.

It is important not to take drinks from anyone, and to be careful even with bartenders. Ruiz mentioned a time when a bartender gave one of her peer facilitators a drink, and shortly after she could barely walk.

Sidani suggested keeping bottle caps or drink stirrers to keep count of how many drinks a person has had.

Svidron added that it’s important for students to stay with a group and not leave it behind, as students are most vulnerable when they are alone.

She said that it is alright to do anything — lie, run or say “No” — to get out of an uncomfortable situation.

“Trust your instincts,” she said. “If something is feeling wrong, it probably is.”