I’ve been finishing my degree online for the past few years. And because I’m part of a state university college campus, I receive daily correspondence directed to all students (traditional, commuter, and online).
This week, I received a familiar notice (i.e. this was not the first time I’d read a similar report):
The Police Department reports that a female victim was sexually
assaulted in the early hours of Saturday, October 3, 2009, by a suspect known to the victim. Sexual Assault refers to a range of crimes from unwanted or offensive sexual touching to battery,attempted rape and rape.
The email went on to include:
-- Sexual Assault is non-consensual sexual activity. No means No!
-- For any sexual activity to be consensual, it must be clearly communicated.
-- Sexual Assault includes sexual activity with a person whose judgment is substantially impaired by drugs or alcohol. Only those who are sober can give consent.
When I first returned to college in 2004 to finish my degree, I wrote a paper that included the following research:
Robert DuRant of Wake Forest School of Medicine in 2003 found that 63% of college students drink and 54% of those who drink get drunk weekly . Research and studies done by New York University Health Center report that “84-97.8% of sexual assaults are perpetrated by men known to the victim and alcohol was involved in 74% of all sexual assaults.”
According to the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, “It is estimated that 97,000 students each year are victims of alcohol-related sexual assault or date rape, that almost a third (31%) of college students meet the criteria for a diagnosis of alcohol abuse…and 6% of college students meet criteria for a diagnosis of alcohol dependence (also referred to as alcoholism.)”
I was compelled to do this research because 30 years earlier, I had been a binge-drinking college student who was almost raped by a rugby team from another college. (I say, “almost raped,” because a few of my friends pulled the guys from the other campus off of me before it was too late.) The next morning I dropped out of college. I walked away from that traumatic event and didn’t tell anyone about it. Neither did I take any responsibility for my excessive drinking.
What was still is a deadly combination—high school and college girls who drink too much and lose control of their faculties and big, athletic, popular guys who drink and are physically stronger than the girls (they know or don’t know) at a party.
I’ve always been a crusader about alcohol abuse, especially with underage students. But when I returned to the same campus thirty years later and realized that alcohol and sexual assault are still way too common, I’ve become more and more out-spoken.
Most of all, I want to alert parents of the prevalence of alcohol abuse and sexual assault on every kind of college campus (religious, private, or state).
So, parents, I'm begging you talk with your students about these statistics. Talk about binge drinking. Ask them about their friends, their habits, and about weekend activities, friendships, and sorority or fraternity policies. Be diligent and unashamed to protect your children by talking about what you see, hear, and know is going on. And consider all of your options—same sex dorms, alcohol-free dorms, etc. Talk to the universities about how they are protecting your children and enforcing the dorm rules, and insuring your students’ safety. You can’t be over-protective in my opinion.
Students, you have to be smart. You have to stay sober in mixed company. You have to find friends and outlets for your passions that support your beliefs in faith, family, education, and the sanctity of life and marriage. Otherwise, you will become a statistic.
I encourage you to become a little part of making big changes in our culture by helping this young generation make wise decisions and live whole, healthy, and meaningful lives.
In all sincerity,
Becky
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