It is with a sigh of grateful recognition that sexual assault is finally being discussed and reported within the student community at Ohio University. This is not an unfamiliar issue in my family. My daughter was sexually assaulted on campus just last year. I am sick to death about how these girls are pawed at, poked, pushed, hit, assaulted and raped. My own daughter, who was a student living on campus at OU, was sexually assaulted with the perpetrator’s goal of rape. She fought a horrible fight that left her with deep bite marks, bruises, thick swelling along the side of her body, muscle soreness and a bushel or four of emotional and psychological damage. The OU police, in their interrogation of her, treated my daughter like a tramp. She was so humiliated by what they said to her that she ran out of the building when they were done with their questioning and interrogation. As a result, she refused to press charges. She did not want to go through this again in a hearing or possibly in court.
The coward who did this to her lived across the hall from her in her dorm. My daughter stayed very much to herself, rarely went Uptown and never went out to drink. She did not use drugs to party — as a matter of fact, she hardly used Advil even when she needed it. This perpetrator invited her to watch a movie with other people in the room. When she arrived, they all left at once, leaving the two of them alone. As soon as they left, he put the “moves” on her. She kept telling him “no” and that she had a boyfriend at home and was faithful to him and was planning on marrying him.
This person continued to attempt to rape her that night, she fought him off and it became very ugly. The police did nothing; the kid got off the hook and was free to do it again to another young woman. My daughter became clinically depressed and needed psychiatric treatment in the form of therapy and medication.
She left OU immediately following this incident and has decided that she will not attend college anytime in the near future. And most of all, it will never be at OU.
OU currently lacks a well-written and informative formal policy on bullying, abuse and assault. The student advisers and counselors do not discuss it to the depth that it needs to be discussed when you have a captive audience. That would be in orientation. The students must attend training on what constitutes bullying, abuse and assault, whether physical or sexual. This is a process of educating students who do not understand these concepts; how to recognize it, avoid it and most of all, report it!
The student who suffers at the hands of another is being denied a most important student right: that is, to obtain the best possible education that OU has to offer without unnecessary fear and anxiety regarding their safety.
Ideally, at the conclusion of the training, each student would sign a form that states they promise to refrain from abusive behavior. The university and each student would have a copy of the signed and witnessed promise.
May I suggest that OU follows in the steps of other universities and install rape cords in the walls of each dorm room and to have rape alerts installed throughout the campus to be used should an assault occur. This small gesture could help. And, yes, it will cost money.
Is there a formal group made up of students, faculty and Athens residents that meets to help solve this issue? If not, I certainly believe that there should be one. As a resident of Athens, a mother of a severely injured OU student and someone who has friends’ children attending OU, I am outraged at the lack of action taken on this issue.
Are there volunteers walking around to show support for the safety of our students as many neighborhoods create “watches” to keep residents safe? Would it be possible to formulate one that has been trained well by our own law enforcement agencies? Is there enough lighting on campus? Does everyone understand that they can be accompanied by an officer when feeling unsafe? A friend of mine recently had her RA walk with her to her destination and back. Brilliant on the student’s part and a big “thank you” to that RA for keeping her company when she did not feel safe to walk alone.
Praise be to all of the women who have stepped up and reported these assaults this school year. Your courage is to be recognized, and may it be your courage that will enlighten many more young women to follow in your footsteps.
Until this behavior is no longer tolerated (and I don’t give a damn if the perpetrator was drunk or on drugs), the rumors and the lack of safety and respect for female students will eventually hit the bottom line – you know, the bottom line being lack of students who refuse to come here for higher learning. It looks so safe here, but we all know that there is a well-hidden, very dark side.
Amy Whitney Salzman resides in Athens.
