OUPD investigates alleged dorm sexual assault
Published: August 30, 2011
The OU Police Department is looking into an Aug. 19 sexual assault incident in the dorms.
The student who reported the alleged assault said she visited another student in his Cate Center room when the resident grabbed her and initiated the contact, according to an alert on OUPD’s Campus Crime Alert Bulletin.
The suspect was identified and questioned. The victim was advised of resources available and how to pursue additional legal action against the suspect, according to the bulletin.
While the case remains open, the investigation is complete, OU police Lt. Bruce Chan said. No charges have been filed at this time.
OUPD advises students to take precautions to avoid incidents like these.
“Trust your instincts,” Chan said. “Those would be my parting words.”
Being alert and aware of your environment can help you avoid finding yourself in an uncomfortable situation.
If you do find yourself in an uncomfortable situation, be assertive about what you want or leave.
LINK: To learn more tips on prevention from the OUPD's website, click here.
Holly Davis Walker, Staff Reporter
Comments
eightbitgirl 5 months, 3 weeks ago
You know what would be an awesome "precaution?" Not sexually assaulting someone.
justasatellite 5 months, 3 weeks ago
Sexual assault is the fault of the person doing the assaulting, not the victim. This is an embarrassing excuse for journalism.
blueblanket 5 months, 3 weeks ago
Want to know another great precaution? Not writing an article that is victim-blaming. This is disgusting. Why can't we switch to writing articles about how not to rape people? Oh, because that would oppress rapists. We wouldn't want that.
annika 5 months, 3 weeks ago
This is offensive. Don't teach how not to get raped; teach NOT TO RAPE.
StellariaMedia 5 months, 3 weeks ago
This is so backwards, like the perpetrators of sexual violence are so helpless and ignorant, that the people being abused have to do everything they can just to keep their basic human rights.
SDawn 5 months, 3 weeks ago
This is victim blaming. I took the liberty of editing the article for you: INSTEAD OF "“Trust your instincts,” I'm sure that Chan meant to issue a warning about how seriously the University of Oklahoma takes allegations of sexual assault on it's campus, and warns violators that they can be legally prosecuted as well as expelled from the University.
AND THEN, I'M SURE YOU MEANT TO WRITE, INSTEAD OF: "Being alert and aware of your environment can help you avoid finding yourself in an uncomfortable situation." (Since sexual assault is a little more than "an uncomfortable situation")--Maybe something like ' Don't assault people. It's never okay to rape, sexually harass or assault people, so if you were thinking about it, just don't. '
Lastly, I think it would have been important to include information for other victims, since most rapes go unreported, you can guarantee that this person is not the only victim this year. Perhaps information on where on campus victims should go if they are raped, such as the Women's Resource Center in Norman 364-9424. Or links to mental health resources such as the one at Goddard, 325-2911.
And to those who write articles like these, please remember, we live in a rape culture that blames victims for their circumstances and doesn't hold rapists responsible. If you would like a list of better ways to prevent sexual assault, visit the University of Oklahoma's Step in Speak Out page, or their facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/OU-Steps-In/236752800018
braceyourself 5 months, 3 weeks ago
@eightbitgirl - Yes, that would be ideal. Unfortunately, we don't live in an ideal world, and we still need to tell people to be careful and take precautions. It's kinda like murder. Should people have to take precautions to avoid getting murdered? No. Is the victim to blame at all for something that happens to them? No. Is it still a good idea not to walk down a dark alley alone at night without protection? Yes.
Nobody should be blamed or feel responsible for being assaulted...but discouraging people from taking precautions (like not accepting drinks from people, etc.) and being safe is a horrible, horrible thing to do (unless the goal is just to prove a point).
braceyourself 5 months, 3 weeks ago
And let's get one thing straight, @hmm. Rape isn't a crime just committed by men, and it's not a crime that affects only women.
So statements like, "Articles like this one shouldn't be telling women we need to watch out for ourselves" are offensive, at BEST, and illustrate that you look at this as a gender issue and not a human issue.
lasercats 5 months, 3 weeks ago
Yeah, women need to stop deciding to be raped. Don't they know how uncomfortable it is?
Here's a tip OU Daily: Your next article should be "How not to rape." It's pretty easy. You just don't rape people.
jsand 5 months, 3 weeks ago
Ten rape prevention tips:
Don’t put drugs in women’s drinks.
When you see a woman walking by herself, leave her alone.
If you pull over to help a woman whose car has broken down, remember not to rape her.
If you are in an elevator and a woman gets in, don’t rape her.
When you encounter a woman who is asleep, the safest course of action is to not rape her.
Never creep into a woman’s home through an unlocked door or window, or spring out at her from between parked cars, or rape her.
Remember, people go to the laundry room to do their laundry. Do not attempt to molest someone who is alone in a laundry room.
Use the Buddy System! If it is inconvenient for you to stop yourself from raping women, ask a trusted friend to accompany you at all times.
Carry a rape whistle. If you find that you are about to rape someone, blow the whistle until someone comes to stop you.
Don’t forget: Honesty is the best policy. When asking a woman out on a date, don’t pretend that you are interested in her as a person; tell her straight up that you expect to be raping her later. If you don’t communicate your intentions, the woman may take it as a sign that you do not plan to rape her.
lasercats 5 months, 3 weeks ago
Did this case happen in a dark alley, braceyourself? Nope, it happened in a dorm room. It also doesn't appear to have resulted from anyone being drugged.
collegestudent 5 months, 3 weeks ago
I think you guys are reading into this too much. This isn't a matter of placing blame on the victim. We all recognize that there are bad apples in the world and try to stay away from them. This short note on a crime on our campus merely reminds people that, while not at fault for being assaulted, etc., they can be aware of their surroundings and be less likely to be a victim. It's preventative. Kind of like getting a semi-annual dental cleaning to avoid cavities or gingivitis?
SDawn 5 months, 3 weeks ago
@braceyourself, I think the point is that the article doesn't mention anything, not even consequences for sexual assault, but it warns people to be more aware. This makes it sound like the girl should have never gone into the person's dorm room, and basically says 'she should have known better, and so should you' Plus, just so you know, "precautions" such as not walking alone in a dark place at night really aren't all that helpful, as most women are raped by someone they know, in only about 7% of cases are survivors not familiar with their attackers. So, yeah, you're much, much more likely to raped by someone you know and trust than a stranger, and it's a bit more difficult to just "be more aware" when you think you're in the company of friends. Perhaps you should check out some statistics on rape and sexual assault: http://www.rainn.org/get-information/statistics/sexual-assault-victims
noh8 5 months, 3 weeks ago
In an ideal world, we could tell rapists not to rape, and they would listen, but we don't live in an ideal world so I would guess the next best thing is to give tips on how not to find yourself in this situation. Believe it or not, common sense isn't so common anymore and there are women (and men) out there who do need to hear this. Do any of you honestly believe that you can tell a rapist not to rape and expect them to listen? Please!! Good article!!!
theonenonlyrach 5 months, 3 weeks ago
You know what is offensive? Supposed college students reading far too into an article that is essentially just saying to be careful. I'm confused. It's victim-blaming to kindly remind people to use common sense? OBVIOUSLY the ideal situation is for there not to be murderers, rapists and pedophiles out there but considering that isn't the case... it makes sense to remind all you non-psychopathic killers/rapists out there to follow your gut instinct.
braceyourself 5 months, 3 weeks ago
@SDawn - I could read all the statistics you want, but as someone that did, unfortunately, get to experience being raped, I can tell you firsthand that I would much rather be "offended" than raped. Does that mean that it was my fault when I was raped? No, it doesn't, but I do wish I would have listened when someone told me not to go over to a stranger's house at night alone, get really drunk with said stranger, and pass out.
And you know what else? The time that I was roofied at a party after I took a drink from a stranger? Yeah, that wasn't my fault, but I do wish that I had listened when someone warned me not to take drinks from strangers. And thank god I had friends with me then, or much worse could have happened that night.
So maybe you should put down your statistics for a second and realize that the reality of the situation is that it is still a good idea to warn entering freshmen to be careful and watch out for themselves. You can't put your safety in other people's hands and rely on a hope that they won't hurt you. You are CLEARLY not actually concerned with preventing rape so much as deciding where the blame of past-rape should be placed.
@lasercats - The author doesn't blame the victim. The author does the equivalent of reporting about a robbery and then reminding people to lock their doors.
hmmm 5 months, 3 weeks ago
@braceyourself - Pretty sure most people living in Norman don't walk around worrying they're about to be murdered. Exactly what precautions do you take to avoid murder? On the other hand, women such as myself often worry about being raped or sexually assaulted, even in situations during which we should expect to be safe - such as at a party with friends or even in my house with the doors locked. Why should I be responsible for making sure someone else doesn't decide to sexually assault or rape me? I shouldn't - no one should ever think it's okay (or void of consequences) to do that.
Articles like this one shouldn't be telling women we need to watch out for ourselves, it should tell anyone who has the urge to rape or sexually assault someone that it's not okay and that they will be held accountable. Precautions shouldn't even be necessary.
Kirsten 5 months, 3 weeks ago
What are the reasonable precautions women should take? Never going out alone? Never going out without a male family member to accompany them? Never going out after dark? Never being alone with a man who isn't a family member? Never going out without being dressed in a burqa, with a chastity belt underneath for good measure?
Unless all rapists and sexual assailants wear signs round their necks telling people to beware of them, there are NO reasonable precautions women can take because rape and sexual assault can happen anywhere, by anyone. The only thing a woman can do to prevent rape is to make sure she's never in the presence of a rapist. If you don't have a suggestion as to how women can manage that, stop the victim-blaming.
braceyourself 5 months, 3 weeks ago
@hmmm - I think I need to clarify, since you and several others don't seem to get this: NO ONE IS SAYING THAT PEOPLE SHOULD HAVE TO PROTECT THEMSELVES. Obviously, they shouldn't HAVE to. No one should HAVE to protect themselves from anything. Unfortunately, that's not the nature of the world, and it's bad to tell people to ignore the nature of the world because they SHOULDN'T have to.
These are not mutually exclusive ideas: 1. Don't rape. 2. Be careful because, unfortunately, people do rape.
noh8 5 months, 3 weeks ago
@hmmm-I'm pretty sure the message is out there that it's not okay to rape and that there are consequences for it. But who is going to look out for my well-being, if not me? It's a fact of life that these things do happen, and precautions are necessary, unfortunately. I wouldn't want my daughters going out into the world, blindly trusting that every person they come across won't want to harm them but that is unrealistic, hence the precautions to keep themselves safe. It's not always going to work but at least they will have tried to avoid dangerous situations because I taught them to TAKE PRECAUTIONS.
hmmm 5 months, 3 weeks ago
@noh8 - Actually, the message isn't out there enough because many assailants often either don't get jail time at all or don't get enough, often because the survivor is blamed for "asking for it" by wearing revealing clothing or being under the influence of a substance (neither of which are "invitations" for rape, btw). Also, we're taught that we should be ashamed or it's our fault if rape or sexual assault happens to us, so they often don't get reported and the assailant lives consequence-free.
@braceyourself - I understand that rape isn't just committed by men towards women, and that other forms of rape are obviously big problems that must also be addressed, but the context of this article is that a woman was sexually assaulted by a man. Additionally, the commentary that people should protect themselves from rape and sexual assault is directed pretty much exclusively towards women, so my comments are valid.
The problem with telling people that they should take precautions to protect themselves from rape is that if a rape or sexual assault does occur, since the survivor presumably knows all the precautions they "should" be taking, it logically follows that the person wasn't protecting themselves as well as they should have. And with that comes the victim-blaming. If knowing all these precautions is the way to prevent rapes, then they should rarely happen, which is obviously not the case. No one has control over what someone else decides to do. And it makes it much harder to protect yourself if the assailant is someone you know. You can't be responsible for making sure that everyone you know doesn't try to rape you. The point I and other commentors are trying to make is not that you should go around trusting everyone you meet, but that women (who this precautionary commentary is generally directed towards, as @noh8 showed when you only mentioned that you would precaution your daughters) are expected to take more precautions than men. And as I said earlier, if we fail to do this and get raped or sexually assaulted, it's our fault because we should have known better. We need to stop telling people that it's their responsibility to protect themselves from what others decide to do and concentrate on increasing prosecution and punishment for these crimes, decreasing the shame associated with surviving them, and changing societal gender norms so that there are fewer people around who think it's okay to take advantage of someone else.
braceyourself 5 months, 3 weeks ago
@hmm - NONE of what I said was directed toward women; the ONE mention of gender in the article was in using the words "her" and "his" (ONCE). Check yourself and your biases, please.
Again, let me point out that not ONCE have I said that enough is being said about how wrong raping people is. WHAT DON'T YOU GET ABOUT THE FACT THAT THESE TWO IDEAS ARE NOT MUTUALLY EXCLUSIVE?
"We need to stop telling people that it's their responsibility to protect themselves from what others decide to do and concentrate on increasing prosecution and punishment for these crimes,"
THIS RIGHT HERE. This is so incredibly offensive to me. You are taking something serious and saying that you care more about punishing people than preventing it in the first place (even if these precautions only prevent one rape, then it's a good thing). You can call me offensive all you want for wanting my friends not to be raped, but just like I tell friends to watch out for drunk drivers when they go out and party, I tell me friends to be careful with people that might hurt them (sexually or otherwise, thanks). We don't live in a bubble.
frosty 5 months, 3 weeks ago
Don't take precautions? Is that what I seriously just read up there? And why... because... rape is bad? Is that the point that was made? Just don't rape? Come on people. Are you serious? Sexual assault happens way more often than it's reported. Sexual assault, not always full-blown rape. (It's even questionable among some people whether or not "date-rape" should be considered "rape.") You really think that people who have assaulted someone don't know that rape is bad? Obviously, if they've done it, they really don't care about the consequences! Maybe they think that just because it wasn't full-blown rape, that it's not that bad, they just won't do it again. Or maybe it's just that not everyone is a saint. Most people are pretty morally sound, yes, but not everyone. If it was good enough to just say "Don't do that because it's bad" then there would be no crime. I'm getting off track here. The point is, you are NOT immune to bad things happening just because you're a student at OU, or because there's a slide card lock on the door. You want to turn a blind eye to reality just because you don't like what you see, that's your deal. But keep your ignorant opinions to yourself. This is just bringing an incident to the attention of the student body. Security measures don't protect you indefinitely from bad situations, you're on your own with that. Use your head and if you can keep yourself from harm, then that's great, it worked. It's not victim blaming. It's just plain smart. It might help you a little to remember that it's not the majority of people who believe that it's the victim's fault for being victimized. Watch out for yourself, because you can't rely on the simple fact that "bad things are bad and shouldn't happen."
Kirsten 5 months, 3 weeks ago
I don't understand what precautions women are expected to take. You can get a taxi home to avoid walking home, and then be raped by the taxi driver. You can spend the evening with friends rather than go out to a bar alone, and then be raped by a friend. You can decide never to go out at all and then be raped or assaulted by the guy who comes to read the electricity meter or the policeman who stopped you for speeding on your way to work, or the doctor examining you, or the man who breaks in through your ground floor windows. Unless any of you "take precautions" people can explain exactly what a woman should do to avoid ever being in the presence of a rapist, your comments are meaningless. The only thing that causes rape is rapists. The only thing women do to cause rape is be in the presence of a rapist, and that's just sheer bad luck rather than anything the woman can control. Rape is a horrific crime, but there is nothing women can do to prevent it because there is no way of knowing who the rapists are.
noh8 5 months, 3 weeks ago
@hmmm- I only mentioned teaching my daughters to be aware because I don't have any sons. If you go back and read my first comment, you will see I was the first to mention that it happens to men, also. Anyway, my point is, while you never know who is going to be the bad guy, it can't hurt to do whatever you can to avoid situations where these things can happen. Obviously, you can't prevent every bad thing that happens but you can try to keep it from happening to you. That's all I'm saying. Do you really want to teach your children that it does no good to be aware of what is happening around them? Seems to me, that would make it more likely to have something bad happen, whether it be rape, murder, or whatever other crime. This article is merely informing us that this thing did happen and we should all be aware but nowhere in there did I see even a hint of blaming the victim.
braceyourself 5 months, 3 weeks ago
I'm not going to argue anymore about this, but I'll leave this one last note to anyone that hasn't had someone remind them of this:
Don't ever let anyone tell you that you're powerless or that you have no control in your life. Don't let people like @hmm and @Kirsten convince you that you're helpless. You have control, and you have power. Don't ever feel helpless.
Kirsten 5 months, 3 weeks ago
How do you try and keep rape from happening to you then?
noh8 5 months, 3 weeks ago
@Kirsten-Take self-defense courses, be aware of what's happening around you, and try to avoid situations where it seems likely it could happen. Again, it's not always going to work but it's better than sitting back and just letting it happen.
hmmm 5 months, 3 weeks ago
"It's better than sitting back and just letting it happen."
Seriously??? So if I don't take a self-defense class, I should just expect to be raped, and then it's my fault because I didn't take the class, or I left my cup unattended for 30 seconds, or I wore something revealing? VICTIM-BLAMING!!!
There's a difference between taking normal-everyday precautions and being told by authorities that it's your responsiblity to take even more precautions so that someone doesn't decide to rape you. As @Kristen said, how are you supposed to prevent someone else from deciding to rape you? You can't. Rape can happen at any time and in any situation. All this extra-precautionary language just contributes to the fact that many believe that those who are sexually assaulted or raped are asking for it because if they didn't want to be raped or didn't care about being raped, why would they wear a mini-skirt, or have a drink, or not know self-defense? How many times have you heard about rape cases where the sobriety or clothing of the survivor was examined? None of those things should matter because the reason the rape was committed was because someone decided to do it, not because of anything the survivor did.
The point is not that people should never take any action to protect themselves in everyday life, it's that when a rape or sexual assault happens, the first thing people say to warn against rape shouldn't be "make sure you do these things to protect yourself from rape" because that's impossible. We need to take the focus away from telling people that they need to make sure no one rapes them and turn it toward preventing would-be perpetrators from ever deciding that it's okay, and the way to do that is to change the way our culture treats women and survivors and enforce punishments because, contrary to what some people seem to have imagined, even if the assault is reported, rapists and sexual assailants often don't get much punishment because the victim is often blamed for drinking or wearing skinny jeans, and those who commit more minor sexual assaults often get no punishment at all because the assault goes unreported due to the shame our culture places on experiencing rape or sexual assault.
noh8 5 months, 3 weeks ago
Now there is a statement I can agree with. I am not powerless or helpless. That is why I take measures to try to keep it from happening to me. I think @hmmm just enjoys arguing. I do not blame the victim or expect that we are supposed to dress a certain way so as not to invite rape. It doesn't work that way. How I am dressed has nothing to do with it. I do keep my eye on my drink when I go out so no one has the opportunity to "roofie" me. I have no way of knowing who might be a rapist so I do what I can to keep it from happening to me. What we have to remember is rape is a crime of violence, not a matter of, "Oh, she/he looks like she/he wants it." We can say all we want to just don't do it, it's wrong but there are people out there who just don't care. Have you ever looked at the statistics of how many have served time for rape and, when released, went out and raped again? That tells me that some people just don't care about the consequences and it IS my responsibility to look out for my safety. If you want to think I'm blaming the victim, that is your problem, I'm not going to make it mine. If you get raped, I will feel sorry for you but I won't blame you for it, not even if you did nothing to try and prevent it.
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