With the idea that information is power, a consortium of campus and community groups has teamed up to “start a conversation” about sexual assault prevention and create an online resource that gives students very specific and clear information about what to expect if they decide to report a sexual assault.
ONLINE @ www.sexualassault.wsu.edu, students (or anyone else) can follow the links to an interactive map showing six different locations where students can report a sexual assault, seek medical assistance or discuss the assault with a counselor. A student can then click on a location — the Pullman Police Department, for instance — and see an interview with an officer who explains the procedure and answers commonly asked questions. Other locations include WSU’s Health and Wellness Services, WSU’s Counseling Center and Alternatives to Violence on the Palouse.
The website, which has a wealth of information about sexual assault prevention, from research to support groups, was originally developed by Patricia Maarhuis, coordinator of WSU’s Alcohol and Drug Counseling and Prevention Services and co-chair of the Sexual Misconduct Prevention and Response Task Force. The site has become a central component of WSU’s Campus Campaign against Sexual Assault.
Crimes unreported
“It’s a campuswide concern,” said Thomas Brigham, executive assistant to President V. Lane Rawlins. Brigham, a psychology professor, has been working with WSU’s Social and Economic Sciences Research Center (SESRC) since 2005 to survey students about campus security issues, particularly sexual assault.
The survey — which has been conducted three times — confirmed what surveys at other college campuses have found, he said, which is that about one in 10 students will experience a sexual assault during his or her college experience. That works out to about 250 unreported sex crimes on the Pullman campus each year.
Not only do students not report the crime, he said, but only about 20 percent of students who have been assaulted seek assistance of any kind.
“Overwhelmingly, what we found is that students are not comfortable talking about it,” said Stacey Hust, assistant professor in the Edward R. Murrow School of Communication. Hust, whose area of expertise includes health information campaigns, said the survey showed that not only do most students not report the crime and not seek help, but nearly 60 percent of students didn’t even know where they could go if they did want to report or get help.
Creating understanding
Hust is co-chair of the WSU Campus Campaign against Sexual Assault along with Paula Adams, communications coordinator for Health and Wellness Services. But, she said, the campaign really involves dozens of faculty, staff and students working together. The video guide, for instance, was created by communication doctoral student Rebecca Van de Vord and a team of students with WSU’s Cable 8 Productions. Other students helped write curricular materials, run focus groups and brainstorm campaign strategies.
“We’ve really tried to make the campaign from and for the students,” Hust said.
The campaign aims to not only demystify the reporting process but, as the campaign says, to “start a conversation” about what it means to give sexual consent.
Brigham, who created Psych 106 at WSU (Psychology Applied to Daily Living: Dealing with Friends, Alcohol and Sex), said students arrive at college with various ideas about what is expected — or accepted — regarding both alcohol and sex.
“There is a lot of ambiguity about what is acceptable and not acceptable, and that is part of this campaign,” he said. “We want to make a common understanding that non-consensual sex of any sort is not acceptable.”
According to the Revised Code of Washington (RWC), “consent” means that at the time of the act of sexual intercourse or sexual contact there are actual words or conduct indicating freely given agreement to have sexual intercourse or sexual contact.
Unless both parties actively give consent, a crime has been committed. But, says Cassandra Nichols, head of the WSU Sexual Misconduct Prevention & Response Task Force, it is still the victim’s right to decide if she or he wants to report or not.
Getting help
If a student who has been assaulted comes to WSU’s Counseling Services, Nichols said, this is what that student will hear from a counselor: “I believe you. It’s not your fault. You don’t deserve to be assaulted.”
Nichols said she would never pressure a student to report a crime, but talking with a counselor after a traumatic event is important for a number of reasons. An unresolved traumatic event can lead to depression, anxiety, relationship difficulties, poor academic performance and drug or alcohol abuse.
Getting help as soon as possible can be crucial for a student’s emotional well-being, but it is important for practical reasons as well. Victims of sexual assault need to be screened for health concerns, from sexually transmitted diseases to pregnancy, but they might also want to complete a rape kit. Evidence must be collected within 24 hours, but the victim then has a year to decide whether to open a criminal investigation.
Another aspect of the campaign is an experts directory of 30 WSU faculty and staff members who are available to discuss issues of sexual assault, either with the media or in classroom situations.
For more information, go to WSU Health and Wellness Services, ONLINE @ www.hws.wsu.edu and follow the links to the Campus Campaign against Sexual Assault.
