The College of William and Mary Rape Victim

Identity Named in Campus Flyers

Current events

Overview:

W&M paper names rape accuser

A student publication posts flyers across campus. The charges in the case were dropped last month. "A vocal William and Mary student publication has demanded accountability from a female student who accused another student of rape.

On Tuesday and Wednesday, the student-run Remnant newspaper covered campus with flyers naming the accuser in the case..."

"The handbills were posted by staff from the libertarian newspaper. They named a female student who accused another student of sexual assault at an off-campus sorority formal in October. The fliers pointed readers to the Remnant's Web site, which contains names and information about students who attended the party."

The school policy is to leave up fliers that are not anonymous. If you disagree with this you may contact the College of William and Mary:

the College of William and Mary: tpjone@wm.edu

This is not the first set of flyers directed at this victim

W&M to propose programs to deal with sexual assault

"Unsigned fliers appeared on campus naming one of the accusers and saying: “I know what you did last semester. Care to revise your statement?”

Nichol issued a sharply worded e-mail Wednesday , calling the action “cowardly” and “unworthy of any member of the college community.”

The female student named in the flier had accused a senior of raping her at an off-campus sorority party at a college board member’s house in October ....

“I’m sure there are constructive ways one could raise such questions,” Nichol said Thursday . “Writing anonymous handbills and posting them on the walls at night is not one of them.”

Nichol said the college is not looking for the people who distributed the flier. “I’m not trying to sanction who wrote this. I’m trying to say, 'This is not what we stand for.’ "

At W&M, some say too much detail

Constant information about sexual-assault case creates unease

""The Remnant and another student publication, The Virginia Informer, have taken the male student's side and have posted as much information as they can obtain about the court proceedings and campus judicial process in hopes of making their point.

In its fervor, The Remnant put up fliers on campus bulletin boards under the headline "Rape Case Blown Open," and college officials took them down.

After the publication's staff saw a school official ripping down the second set of fliers on Thursday, Nichol sent out an e-mail saying the school official had erred, and The Remnant had a right to put them up....

"I'm kind of shocked," she said. "The parents I know whose daughters are interested in William and Mary, they're having second thoughts.""

""In response to The Remnant's fliers and Web article, another student group, the Alliance for Sexual Assault Prevention, posted its own fliers criticizing "poor journalism" that attacks sexual-assault victims "and hurts all of us by sending the message that we are not a supportive campus community.""

What is secondary victimization?

Secondary victimization is the re-traumatization of the sexual assault, abuse or rape victim. It is an indirect result of assault which occurs through the responses of individuals and institutions to the victim. The types of secondary victimization include victim blaming, inappropriate behavior or language by medical personel and by other organizations with access to the victim post assault. (Campbell et. al., 1999)

Other current events stories on William and Mary:

Campus Rape Victim Silenced By Abuse Of Power At The College Of William And Mary- from Security on Campus Inc.

Do universities do enough to prevent and condemn campus sexual assaults?

'Road Rules' with a message -- Four W&M graduates take rape prevention program nationwide

William and Mary unveils new programs to prevent rape, help victims

William & Mary begins program to combat rape; new assault report

Related article from another student paper, another school:

"Diary of a drug rapist - no means no, but if they can't talk, they can't turn you down"

"An issue of a student magazine which contained a "how-to-guide" on drug rape has been banned...The magazine's claimed 'theme of offensiveness' never discusses the nature of offensiveness, and does not acknowledge the ability of articles appearing to endorse sexual violence and misogyny to cause injury to the public good."

Online resources

Acquaintance Rape of College Students

http://www.popcenter.org/Problems/problem-acquaintance.htm

Rape is the most common violent crime on American college campuses today. This guide describes the problem of acquaintance rape of college students, addressing its scope, causes and contributing factors; methods for analyzing it on a particular campus; tested responses; and measures for assessing response effectiveness.

Crime Victims and the Media*


"In its rush to be the first with the news, the media can often inflict a "second victimization" upon crime victims or survivors. Common complaints that victims have include: interviewing survivors at inappropriate times; filming and photographing gruesome scenes; searching for the "dirt" about the victim; seeking interviews with friends or neighbors', interviewing or photographing child victims; printing victims' names, addresses or places of employment; and scrutinizing victims' past. After a crime, victims are frequently physically and mentally numb. They are confused and disoriented. More about the media and rape.

Journal articles

Martin, P. Y., & Hummer, R. A. (1989). Fraternities and rape on campus. Gender and Society, 3, 457-473. Find this journal in a library

Boswell, A. A., & Spade, J. Z. (1996). Fraternities and collegiate rape culture: Why are some fraternities more dangerous places for women? Gender and Society, 10, 133-147. Find this journal in a library

Sanday, P. R. (1996). Rape-prone versus rape-free campus cultures. Violence Against Women, 2, 191-208. Find this journal in a library

Fischer, B., & Cullen, F. (2001). Sexual Victimization of College Women. Retrieved Jan. 19, 2006, from http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/abstract/svcw.htm

"Most of the sexually assaulted women knew the person who victimized them. For completed and attempted rapes, nearly 90 percent of the victims knew the offender, who was usually a classmate, friend, ex-boyfriend or acquaintance."

Copenhaver, S., and Grauerholz, E. (1991)Sexual Victimization among Sorority Women: Exploring the Link between Sexual Violence and Institutional Practices. Sex Roles: A Journal of Research. 24(1-2): 31–42. Find this journal in a library

Schwartz, Martin D. and DeKeseredy, Walter S. (1997). Sexual Assault on the College Campus: The Role of Male Peer Support. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. Find this journal in a library

Books

Fraternity Gang Rape: Sex, Brotherhood, and Privilege on Campus Find this book in a library

Sanday, Peggy Reeves. (1990) Fraternity gang rape : sex, brotherhood, and privilege on campus. New York : New York University Press, 203.

HV6561 .S25 1990

NCJ Number: 132833

ISBN 0-8147-7902-6

"This study documents how gang rape occurs with regularity in fraternities, athletic dorms, and other exclusively male enclaves. The book begins with one incident at a fraternity that involved one woman having sex with five or six fraternity members after a party. Perspectives on what happened were obtained through interviews with the victim, the participants, onlookers, and university administrators. As background for understanding the incident, the analysis reconstructs daily life in the fraternity as it identifies the roles played by pornography, male bonding, degrading jokes, and ritual dances in shaping the fraternity's attitude toward women and sexuality. Two fraternity members detail the degrading fraternity initiation rituals they were compelled to undergo. The discussion also covers gang rape on other campuses in other fraternities. The evidence reveals a common pattern; the "brothers" target a vulnerable "party girl" who wants acceptance or is high on alcohol (sometimes her drinks have been deliberately spiked); she is taken to a room in the fraternity house where she may or may not agree to have sex with one man; she then generally passes out, and a "train" of men have sex with her. Such incidents of gang rape are rarely prosecuted or even labeled rape, reflecting an institutional attitude that grants men sexual privileges and accepts sexually aggressive behavior. The book's analysis concludes that the subculture of many male groups on college campuses conditions men to view women as objects to be used for confirmation of their masculinity and as vehicles for acceptance into the male fraternity. Women, on the other hand, are manipulated and conditioned to accept this role as a means of attaching themselves to men of power in the male community. 53-item bibliography"

Bibliographies

Find more books and articles by searching for bibliographies on college and fraternity rape:

Groups, gangs, fraternities, and violence against women

http://mensbiblio.xyonline.net/violence.html#Gangs

Resources to research this subject:

Journals and articles

Search the NCJRS Abstracts Database

Google scholar or Findarticles

Finding books at the library

Online Libraries on sexual assault

Encyclopedias and Dictionaries

Search terms: fraternity rape, college rape, rape on campus, sexual assault on campus, College students--United States--Sexual behavior--Case studies, Sexual harassment in universities and colleges--United States, Sexual harassment--United States--Prevention, Women college students--Crimes against--United States, Male college students--United States--Psychology, Rape ; Students ; Physically handicapped ; Higher education ; University or college dormitories ; Female victims ; Campus crime, William and Mary

Related links: Victim blame, College and Fraternity Rape, Womens week events, Victim blame, Secondary victimization, Lesson plans, Current events, Vocabulary, The effects of rape / psychology, Feminist sites on rape, Films and music

References:

Fischer, B., & Cullen, F. (2001). Sexual Victimization of College Women. Retrieved Jan. 19, 2006, from http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/abstract/svcw.htm

Sanday, P. R . (1990). Fraternity Gang Rape: Sex, Brotherhood, and Privilege on Campus. New York. New York University Press: 228p. NCJ Number: 132833