2008 Woodie Awards
Sexual assaults often go unreported
Carol Johnson
Issue date: 4/17/08 Section: Opinion
In reading the latest edition of the Collegio, I came across an alarming statement that at first angered me by its ignorance but later I had to reason with. Ignorance is not knowing while stupidity is blatant disregard for knowledge.
I would like to say that the statement that I found offensive was hopefully ignorance. It was in the article about Greek ("More than this," 4/10/08) life and how fraternities are misrepresented.
The article focused a lot on roofies, even mentioned or reference drugging a girl six times. I'm not a member of the Greek system and I have had my fun at frat parties but when the author of the article mentioned that if girls were really being drugged wouldn't we hear more about it? If you drank too much at a party and were raped by a stranger would you go running to your parents? Being raped or molested is a horrible thing and is very hard to talk about if you have ever been a victim.
Ask any support group on campus and you will hear about stories of shame and fear and how many cases do not go to the police to report incidents because they don't want to be that girl that was raped. No one wants to be the girl who drank too much or didn't watch their drink all night; no one wants the world to know that they did not do everything to protect themselves.
Also why should women always have to protect ourselves? Why can't we go out and have a fun night without worrying as to whether our drink has been drugged? Why can't we be worry free? Because drinks DO get drugged, whether at a frat party or a bar, this does happen, and women do get raped.
"If (this) were going on, wouldn't there be police reports and lawsuits for people to see?" Many sexual crimes do not get reported because of the great sense of shame its victims feel.
Fraternities are not about raping women or drinking beer but to close one's eyes to the fact that these things occur is what I hope is ignorance and not stupidity.
I would like to say that the statement that I found offensive was hopefully ignorance. It was in the article about Greek ("More than this," 4/10/08) life and how fraternities are misrepresented.
The article focused a lot on roofies, even mentioned or reference drugging a girl six times. I'm not a member of the Greek system and I have had my fun at frat parties but when the author of the article mentioned that if girls were really being drugged wouldn't we hear more about it? If you drank too much at a party and were raped by a stranger would you go running to your parents? Being raped or molested is a horrible thing and is very hard to talk about if you have ever been a victim.
Ask any support group on campus and you will hear about stories of shame and fear and how many cases do not go to the police to report incidents because they don't want to be that girl that was raped. No one wants to be the girl who drank too much or didn't watch their drink all night; no one wants the world to know that they did not do everything to protect themselves.
Also why should women always have to protect ourselves? Why can't we go out and have a fun night without worrying as to whether our drink has been drugged? Why can't we be worry free? Because drinks DO get drugged, whether at a frat party or a bar, this does happen, and women do get raped.
"If (this) were going on, wouldn't there be police reports and lawsuits for people to see?" Many sexual crimes do not get reported because of the great sense of shame its victims feel.
Fraternities are not about raping women or drinking beer but to close one's eyes to the fact that these things occur is what I hope is ignorance and not stupidity.
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