Quinnipiac University’s most recent annual Clery report came out in the middle of the Kavanaugh hearings. The report documented two formal reports of rape on campus and one instance of fondling. But, the report doesn’t provide the full picture of sexual harassment and violence on campus.
The numbers documented in the Clery report are low, but there’s a reason why they’re are like that.
“More students deal with cases of sexual harassment and intimate partner violence, but don’t formally report them to the school,” according to Megan Buda, Quinnipiac’s director of student conduct.
“I think students are concerned about coming forward for sexual assault for obvious reasons,” said Buda. “Sometimes we receive complaints about intimate partner violence maybe from their friend group or from their family and they’re too concerned to come forward on their on own.”
Senior Stephanie Martinez said going through the long, formal process is one of the reasons that stop people from reporting sexual harassment.
“Sexual assault can sometimes be traumatizing so maybe somebody doesn’t want to go through that again, live through that again,” Martinez said. “Going through that long process of being asked questions, ‘What happened?’ ‘Where did it happen?’ ‘What were you wearing?’ ‘What was he wearing?’ ‘What were you doing?’ It’s just something that people don’t want to go through.”
Researchers from the University of Missouri-Columbia recently reported some of the biggest barriers people face when it comes to reporting rape and sexual assault.
According to the research, “Students rated ‘shame, guilt and embarrassment,’ ‘confidentiality concerns’ and ‘fear of not being believed’ as the top three perceived barriers in reporting rape among both men and women. However, students rated shame, guilt and embarrassment as a much larger barrier for men than women.”
Barriers that impact women than men were lack of resources to get help, language barriers to obtaining help and “financial dependence on perpetrator/perpetrator interference in seeking help.”
In light of the recent Kavanaugh hearings and the latest verdict convicting Bill Cosby of sexual assault and rape charges, the “#MeToo” movement and #WhyIDidn’tReport has given women the courage to come forward and speak out on their experiences, including women college campuses.
While many Quinnipiac students have not wanted to publicly share their stories about being a victim of sexual assault, one staff member at Quinnipiac shared on Twitter why she didn’t report her experience of being sexually assaulted in high school.
Courtney McKenna, Quinnipiac’s director of student affairs, was in high school when her relationship became “increasingly violent.”
“For me, it’s hard a lot of times to separate out the difference between where were the pieces interpersonally, emotionally and sort of physically the violence were and then also some of the sexual violence that was in the relationship,” McKenna said. “I can remember sort of snapshot pieces of it, but it’s not this like chronological movie of memories of specific things, because a lot of it for me was all entangled together.”
“I think for me some of those pieces were not listening in terms of boundaries. I think then the other pieces were going along with things further in some places because of fear of the physical violence on the other side if I didn’t move forward with certain different things,” McKenna said.
Reporting her situation was never something McKenna thought to do as she was focused about her safety.
“In a partner violent relationship there’s this cycle. There is this part of the relationship where its really good and it’s happy and then the tension builds and there’s some type of episode whether its some type of violence or emotional outburst,” McKenna said.
“Once that happens there’s usually some type of ‘I’m sorry’ pieces in whatever that looks like and then its happy and then it cycles. Looking back for me I was really focused on ‘how do I stay in that like really good part’ and ‘how do I make sure that I can be as safe as possible in those bad parts.’”
Another reason why McKenna didn’t report the behavior was because she wanted to keep what happened to her quiet.
“It because of that shame of disappointing others or not being the person who knew better,” McKenna said. “It was even until probably years later that I recognized some of the sexual violence in the relationship as pieces because to me its all together. Even at the time I categorized all as dating violence.”
Kayla McQuade, an alumna of Quinnipiac, thinks reporting something so personal like being sexually harassed leads people to not want to report.
“People don’t want to relive it again. They might be embarrassed that it happened so they would rather just hold it in instead of telling people,” McQuade said. “Then there’s also the issue of sometimes when you’re a victim of an assault like that, there’s a lot more questioning going into, ‘Are you sure that really happened?’, there’s a lot of victim blaming.”
“A lot of people are afraid of what people may say about them,” Martinez said. “Especially women being told ‘oh you’re asking for it’ just because of what they’re wearing or of the way they’re acting.”
Some organizations at Quinnipiac have been trying to educate their members by holding trainings, but also by making resources available to anyone who experiences an assault.
“Every organization goes through formal training where we have speakers come in, we have presentations,” President of Alpha Sigma Phi, Robert Martinez said. “A lot of it is the day- to- day interactions with your members on a personal basis.”
“When people talk about their private matters and things of this nature, I think it’s better to shut that down right away, because if you don’t tolerate it on a private basis then it’s not going to be tolerated with anyone. I think it’s should be taken more away from the formal training and a lot more just personal you know bystander intervention, just don’t tolerate that personally.”
Senior Kappa Alpha Theta member Hannah Meyer noted that her sorority has resources available to its members if something ever happened to them.
“I know that I have resources if a friend or I were to encounter a situation in which we needed help with an assault,” said Meyer. “My sorority has a hotline and crisis text line that I can reach out to. My sorority has been through sexual assault prevention awareness education which is the first step.”
“I do believe that the Kavanaugh hearing has struck a chord for many victims at Quinnipiac and in our community,” said Meyer.
That’s what people expect from someone who has just survived a sexual assault.
Support.
That’s what survivors expect from others after having just survived a sexual assault.
But as Christina, then 19, sat in that cold room for a hearing in front of a board of strangers who were forcing her to relive the details of the night it happened, tears never came.
To make matters worse, her assaulter was sitting in the same room, just beyond a divider. She couldn’t see him, but she could feel that he was there. She didn’t speak to him, but she could hear his voice.
And as Christina left that room without a ruling to give her closure, support never came.
One in five women and one in 16 men are sexually assaulted while in college.
More than 90 percent of sexual assault victims on college campuses do not report the assault.
Christina was part of the minority who do. But, as she left her Title IX hearing, she knew changes to the process had to be made.
The U.S. Board of Education knew this, too. But it had other changes in mind.
On Sept. 22, U.S. Education Secretary Betsy DeVos introduced new interim guidance for schools on how to investigate and adjudicate allegations of campus sexual misconduct under federal law. These sexual misconduct cases fall under Title IX—a nationwide federal statute applied to grades K-12, higher education institutions and other educational agencies and intended to protect people from sex discrimination in education programs or other activities, according to the Department of Education.
“The interim guidance will help schools as they work to combat sexual misconduct and will treat all students fairly,” DeVos said in a statement. While she wants sexual misconduct issues to be handled “head-on” on college campuses, DeVos said she believes the process needs to be more equitable for the accused student.
Perhaps the biggest change outlined in the guidance allows universities to modify the standard of evidence by which they rule on campus sexual assault cases. Schools are now able to move from a “preponderance of evidence” to a “clear and convincing” standard of proof.
The higher standard of evidence makes cases of sexual misconduct more difficult to prove. The new standard requires more evidence, closer to the “beyond-a-reasonable-doubt” standard employed in federal court cases. This is where the guidance stirs up controversy: Proponents of the higher evidence standard claim that this will allow for a fairer process for both parties, while opponents argue that it will discourage students from reporting sexual assaults.
National Sexual Violence Resource Center, 2015.
National Sexual Violence Resource Center, 2015.
Title IX is best known for helping to bring equality to women’s athletics, but it also governs sexual misconduct cases at educational institutions — which is what the new interim guidance focuses on.
Quinnipiac senior, Ian Zeitlin.
Quinnipiac senior Ian Zeitlin, senior class representative for the Student Government Association and president of WISH (Women in Support of Humanity), is opposed to the idea of schools implementing the higher standard.
“When it comes down to it, going to that higher level of evidence is really damaging,” Zeitlin said. “We’re coming from a society where we already have a number of untold cases that are not reported because of the pressures put on by other people in a system that doesn’t always work in favor of survivors. Putting forward a message that you need more evidence makes it harder for people to think that, if they come forward, they’ll be treated fairly or that people will be on their side.”
However, it is ultimately up to the schools to decide whether or not they choose to adopt this new guidance. Seann Kalagher, the associate dean of Student Affairs and deputy Title IX coordinator for students at Quinnipiac, said that the new guidance is simply supplemental.
“The thing is, with the new guidance, it didn’t tell us what we have to do,” Kalagher said, sitting at his desk with his hands folded neatly in his lap. “It really just said, ‘Some things we told you that you couldn’t do are now available to you.’ ”
Terri Johnson, associate vice president of operations and Title IX coordinator at Quinnipiac, sent an email to students regarding the new guidance on the Monday following DeVos’ initial statements. The email was sent to clarify what was proposed by DeVos and outlined how Quinnipiac plans to respond.
How does Quinnipiac plan to respond?
Thanks, but no thanks, Mrs. DeVos.
“It is important to note that the Quinnipiac Title IX team carefully and continuously reviews our policies to ensure timely and equitable treatment for both the reporting and responding parties; we will certainly continue to do so as the Department of Education changes evolve through the current administration,” Johnson wrote. “It is equally important to note that the action last week does not change Quinnipiac’s obligations, policies or procedures.”
Associate Dean of Student Affairs and Deputy Title IX Coordinator, Seann Kalagher.
The email also highlighted the fact that Quinnipiac has no plans to adjust the appeals process either. Quinnipiac currently allows both parties to appeal a decision and will continue to do so despite the guidance’s suggestion that only allow the accused student be allowed an appeal. Johnson concluded the email by listing resources for support.
Kalagher refers to the new guidance, however, as a “placeholder” – certain that it was issued temporarily until the Department of Education can conduct a more comprehensive regulatory process in which it will negotiate changes to overhaul Title IX policy regulations.
Zeitlin agrees. “I think this year’s “trial period” essentially is being used as more of a “cooling-off” period before they say they’re going to possibly put forth guidelines that make it harder to prove or accuse someone of sexual assault,” Zeitlin said.
With the likelihood of a Title IX overhaul in the future, officials on both sides say it is important for colleges and universities to be on the same page as their students in order to brace for the impact of a potentially permanent and mandatory revised policy. The conduct process is where faculty members and students have the greatest opportunity to work together to ensure that students aren’t discouraged from coming forward.
Courtney McKenna, director of Student Affairs and a Title IX investigator at Quinnipiac, defended the school’s adherence to the original standard of evidence while describing the process by which sexual assault cases are handled.
“I think our process is really fair and student centered,” McKenna said, smiling. “It’s always about, ‘How do we make sure we find as much information as we can as appropriately as possible while keeping the students in mind?’”
McKenna described the sexual assault case process as “equitable” — and adding that this is what makes Quinnipiac’s approach successful. Once a student comes forward, the process begins. In each case, Kalagher appoints two impartial investigators who conduct interviews and acquire as much information as they can in order to reach a conclusion.
Once sufficient information has been gathered by the investigators, which can take several weeks depending on the case, the findings are brought to a board hearing. The board reads all reports, identifies questions and implements a sanction as it sees fit during a hearing that generally takes place in a single day. Sanctions can range from writing a reflective essay to removal from residential housing on campus and even expulsion from the university.
As an investigator, McKenna takes her responsibility to seek an equitable outcome seriously and refers to the process as “trauma-informed” in order to avoid what she calls “revictimization.” Revictimization can occur when the victim is forced to relive an event by retelling his or her story too many times or experiencing a lack of support during the recovery process itself. For McKenna, this is something she and her fellow faculty members try to avoid throughout the process.
“We’ve set it up so that the student isn’t having to have to share with a lot of different people. They can choose if they want to share and bring a counselor or support person or friend with them to a meeting,” she said. “The students involved know that if they ever need something throughout the process, they can reach out to the investigators.”
Christina, a junior who did not wish to share her last name to protect her identity and works as a graphic designer for Quinnipiac, had her own thoughts about the investigation process. Christina, who was in a verbally abusive relationship with a fellow Quinnipiac student that “had its breaking point” in an incident on campus just over a year ago, described the process as equivalent to repeatedly ripping open a wound.
“It’s hard because you’re literally forced to relive the night over and over again. They keep going through it,” Christina said, her glassy eyes staring straight ahead. “They ask you a ton of questions because they want a very thorough investigation. My case took three to four months. There’s weeks where they don’t need anything from you, and those are good weeks, but they rip open the wound again next week when they need more information from you. Each time it gets appealed, it’s like a fight to come up with new information so you can prove yourself.”
A timeline outlining the steps of a typical Title IX investigation at Quinnipiac, as described in detail by McKenna, can be seen below.
After the incident occurred, she had to rebuild her life. She still avoids certain places on campus because she doesn’t want to run into her attacker. Even after being charged on five out of the six accusations, he still attends Quinnipiac. Christina chose not to exercise her right to appeal his sanctions because, she said, she was tired and “didn’t want to deal with it anymore”.
Christina said Quinnipiac, in lieu of the new guidance, could make a change to the Title IX process to unite students and faculty since the biggest divide between them isn’t the process itself, but what happens after.
“I completely agree to a fair process,” Christina insisted. “But after the whole thing is done and over with, I feel like there’s no transition from the process to moving on. I feel like they want to dig up all of this information but when it’s over with, they’re like, ‘Oh, it’s over. You’re done here … you’re fine’.”
Providing students with an outside person trained in Title IX who is available to provide support as the victim moves on after the process concludes would be a major improvement, Christina said. It would ultimately help encourage students to continue to come forward because they would know they’d have the help of someone who understands what happens after the process is over.
Students like Tatyana Youssef, vice president for student experience for the Student Government Association at Quinnipiac, agree that changes need to be made — even if they aren’t what DeVos proposed.
“Events and panel discussions regarding the issue should be mandatory for all students on campuses,” Youssef said. “Revictimization is the worst thing next to a sexual assault case, so professors should implement these social issues into the curriculum for awareness.”
Senior political science major and Quinnipiac student, Peter Carusone, defends DeVos’ new “fair” guidance proposal based on what he says are constitutional rights that affirm individuals as innocent until proven guilty from the very beginning of the process.
Quinnipiac senior, Peter Carusone.
“I think people over analyze decisions sometimes. They’ll take too much from it. They’ll say, ‘Oh Betsy DeVos is protecting bad people,’ but that wasn’t her intention, and that’s not why she did it,” he said. “There were too many good people being harmed by [the preponderance standard], and I think all she did was say, ‘Let’s go back to our criminal justice system. Let’s go back to innocent until proven guilty.’”
Carusone argues that returning to the “clear and convincing” evidence standard would allow colleges and universities to function more like a courtroom while upholding the Constitution – something he says is a priority.
“You should want constitutional rights. You should want due process. You should want equal protection. Those things are good,” he said. “We should be wanting more of that, and I think it’s innocent until proven guilty for a reason.”
When asked how he would respond to opponents of the new guidance who argue that implementing a higher evidence standard would discourage victims from coming forward, Carusone said that particular issue already exists with sexual assault cases – higher standard or not.
“The problem throughout history is that there is a stigma: People won’t talk about it, and they won’t even go to law enforcement,” he said. “But, now, we’re seeing people talk about it, at least. It’s on us to fix it and talk about the commonality of [sexual assault] in order to prevent it in the first place.”
Tamar Birckhead, a 52-year-old attorney and former law professor at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Law, Duke School of Law and Yale Law School currently living in Guilford, Connecticut, has defended university students accused of sexual assault before and agrees with Carusone that universities should adopt DeVos’ higher standard of evidence.
“It is beneficial because of the lack of due process afforded to accused students, although I recognize that the higher the standard of proof, the more traumatic the experience could be for the complainant,” Birckhead said. “But, given the grave potential consequences and sanctions for the accused, it is a tradeoff that I would support.”
In her experience, she said, accused students in these cases are often treated unfairly in the process. Birckhead says that, to fix this, investigations and adjudication of sexual assault cases should be handled by law enforcement – not universities.
“Alleged victims should be referred to the local police, and if a conviction or other sanction results, it should be reported to and evaluated by the university, which then could determine its own sanction, if any, and should consider mediation and restorative justice models,” Birckhead explained. “If these cases automatically were reported to and investigated by local law enforcement in this way, it would serve as a greater deterrent to assailants than the threat of mere academic discipline.”
While the process didn’t necessarily yield the outcome Christina hoped for, she decided to use her experience to help spread awareness and advocate for other survivors by writing articles for The Chronicle—a Quinnipiac student-run newspaper. Her most recent article was an opinion piece on the new guidance titled, “DeVos missed the point with Title IX,” commending Quinnipiac for its decision not to follow the new guidelines while highlighting the bigger issue: revictimization.
“I don’t agree with DeVos’ changes because I don’t think the issue with Title IX lies in the amount of evidence we are collecting to prove the accused,” Christina wrote. “The issue lies in sanctioning the guilty, providing support in helping victims readjust to school and in making an effort to prevent Title IX violations all together.”
This is where faculty members and students, like Christina and Youssef, agree. Encouraging students to come forward by implementing new educational programs and promoting other changes in lieu of the new guidance, regardless of what they believe the outcome might be, is more important than any changes that DeVos proposed, they say.
McKenna plans to roll out a program in February called Haven, which is similar in style to the alcohol education course that incoming Quinnipiac freshman take. She says that her department is excited to get the program up and running to educate the student body.
“We’re constantly always looking to see what would be impactful,” McKenna said. “Something could work well for a couple of years, but then it gets stale. So how do we change that to make it relevant?”
Campus officials hope that programs like these and events that spread awareness will lead to a decline in sexual assault cases on campus, and an end to revictimization over all—without needing a higher evidence standard to prove a case.
Although the process was taxing on Christina, speaking up was most important.
“Even though things didn’t end in my favor, I don’t regret reporting it to the school at all. I think just going through the process is a symbol of strength that you’re fighting back and trying to get justice for what happened to you, and you deserve that,” Christina said. “Title IX is in place so that you have the opportunity to feel safe at school, and take advantage of that because you shouldn’t have to walk around campus feeling unsafe.”
Ever since dozens of women accused Harvey Weinstein of sexual assault six weeks ago, there has been a steady flow of new allegations against the men of Hollywood and beyond. Now, at least 25 high-profile men have been accused.
While the highly publicized allegations have been centered on the entertainment industry, sexual assault and harassment are highly pervasive in our entire society.
“It could be, like, endemic to the culture of Hollywood, and in some ways it is, except that it’s endemic to all cultures,” Jennifer Sacco, the director of Quinnipiac’s Women’s and Gender Studies program, said.
Victims of sexual harassment are not limited to actresses. According to a survey from 2015, 1 in 3 women has been sexually harassed at work.
“Virtually, every adult woman I know has been sexually harassed at work,” Sacco said.
That includes Sacco. She said she was sexually harassed while working at a department store when she was in her 20s.
These actions and comments can have many negative effects on the victims.
“They can cause serious anxiety which prevents us from doing our jobs, from feeling safe, from doing what we need to or want to, and generally from flourishing. And they are normalized,” Melissa Kaplan, a Quinnipiac professor who teaches English and women’s and gender studies, said. “A cat-caller is only scary at all because we don’t know when one might follow us home. And a guy who aggressively pushes for sex wouldn’t make us so queasy if we felt 100 percent sure he’d listen if we said no.”
To raise awareness about these issues, an online movement was started where thousands of women have used “#MeToo” to share their own stories about sexual assault and harassment. On Sunday, Nov. 12, the movement took to the streets of Hollywood for the #MeToo Survivors March. Hundreds of people joined in to show their support.
The #MeToo campaign and subsequent widespread discussion about sexual assault and harassment have allowed men to learn more about the issue.
“There are things to like and dislike about this #MeToo campaign, but I appreciate that it seems to be getting at a few basic things that I think are important for men—since they stand to benefit from a rape culture—to understand,” Kaplan said.
The movement has also had an educational effect on women.
Credit: Cosmopolitan
“Women are afraid to react because they don’t want to be told they’re overreacting,” Zara Khan, a Quinnipiac senior and president of Women Empowered, said. “I think the ‘Me Too’ movement is a great way to educate others on what is considered sexual harassment by being able to read these raw personal stories.”
The allegations themselves against men like Harvey Weinstein have also had a positive impact.
“I do like the fact that so many women came forward so quickly and included really prominent women” Sacco said. “I think that was helpful. I really do.”
However, the movement has not been all positive. In some ways, it has highlighted some deeper issues.
“I think it’s great that women are joining forces to support each other. However, it’s saddening how many women had to come forward in order for there to be consequences,” Khan said. “It shouldn’t be her word against his. We need to take these women seriously as soon as they come forward instead of sweeping this under the rug.”
Victims are often not believed and when they are, the focus is sometimes entirely on them.
“One of the more valid critiques of the #MeToo trend is that it is focused, as these conversations so often are, on the survivors, rather than the perpetrators and enablers; that it asks women to bear their pain instead of asking men for reflection and accountability,” Kaplan said.
Sacco also noted that this may be a flaw in the movement.
“Why do we ask more of the victims? You know, why do they have to bear themselves again in some way in public for people to take this seriously?” Sacco said.
The tendency to focus on the victims rather than the perpetrators is one of the many underlying issues of sexual assault and harassment.
“I think the biggest issue behind sexual assault (and) harassment is that the victim is often blamed,” Khan said. “That she shouldn’t have worn that skirt or shouldn’t have drank so much. That a woman should change the way she dresses and behaves because then she is ‘asking for it.’”
Kaplan says that gendered violence is a problem that stems from “systemic sexism.” This leads to women being silenced and bystanders not speaking up about the abuse they know is happening.
Credit: Cosmopolitan
“Women are taught to obscure the signs of our abuse, and our communities are taught to pretend they don’t know what’s really going on. Lie about our bruises. Claim we missed work because we had a cold. That we did poorly on an exam because we didn’t study,” Kaplan said. “Whether by pressuring women not to speak up in the first place or dismissing them when they do, the system insists that reports of gendered violence remain private rumor rather than public record.”
In order to combat this system, the #MeToo movement may be a good first step.
“Everyone needs to make this as vocal as possible because, collectively, maybe we could enforce some sort of change here,” Sacco said.
The key is that this movement is finally acknowledging the problem.
“Making radical change means acknowledging and confronting the injustices around us,” Kaplan said. “If we don’t acknowledge that something is a problem, we cannot transform it.”
After Harvey Weinstein, the 65-year-old American film producer and former film studio executive who allegedly sexually assaulted and raped multiple women, was fired, victims all over the world came forward with their stories.
Alyssa Milano, an American actress, activist, producer and former singer, started a trending hashtag that went international: #metoo.
Although not many Quinnipiac students opened up about their stories, they did react to the news and the resources available on campus.
Quinnipiac University provides multiple resources for victims of sexual assault and rape.
Confidential resources on campus include health services, counseling services and clergy. Any information shared with people in these departments is not required to be reported.
There are also “responsible employees” on campus – also known as mandated reporters – who are required to report incidents of sexual violence, harassment or discrimination to the university Title IX coordinator immediately. People in this category include all faculty, administration, athletic, human resources, public safety, student affairs and student paraprofessionals (resident assistants and orientation leaders while they are still under contract).
According to the student handbook, “prompt reporting of such incidents makes investigation of the incident more effective and enhances the ability of the university to take action on a complaint.”
Quinnipiac’s Title IX coordinator is Terri Johnson. The Deputy Title IX coordinator for incidents involving faculty, staff and vendors is Stephanie Mathews, and the Deputy Title IX coordinator for incidents involving students, visitors and persons who are not affiliated with Quinnipiac is Seann Kalagher.
If a victim wants to open up a Title IX investigation, they can choose to end the investigation at any point. The coordinators will only share information on a need-to-know basis throughout the investigation, but it’s important to note that these investigations can sometimes take a very long time – weeks or even months.
If a victim chooses to go to the health center, they can be tested for gonorrhea and chlamydia and given medication for both. The health center also provides plan-B medication. The health center will go over the options with the victim, should he or she want to report it to the Title IX coordinators or to the police, or go to the hospital.
The hospital can provide a few things that the health center can not– a rape kit, HIV testing and HIV post-exposure prophylaxis, which is medication taken so that the infection does not develop.
Christy Chase, director of student health services at Quinnipiac, is one of three sexual assault nurse examiners (SANE) that works in the health center. SANE nurses are registered nurses who have completed specialized courses related to medical forensic care of sexually assaulted or abused patients. She says the Title IX coordinators and police officers have a job to get information out of the victim as soon as possible, but she tries to shelter them from that.
“We’re very protective of the student in that moment,” Chase says. “Our first priority is finding out medically if this person is okay. That’s gotta be the first thing.”
Since the situation can be overwhelming, Chase tries to protect the privacy of the victims as much as possible.
“I don’t want it to become a circus with students and staff,” she says. “We need to keep the perimeter, and when I was on nightside I would almost throw people out of the waiting room.”
Chase says many students choose not to go to the health center because of the misconception that it will immediately start an investigation.
When it comes to sexual assault, investigations are only started when a victim goes to a non-confidential resource, and parents are only contacted by the health center if a student is transported to a medical facility by ambulance. But, health services does not have to say why the student was transported by ambulance.
Chase used to work in an emergency room as a sexual abuse examiner. She stresses the importance of getting a rape kit done, saying it’s vital to collect the evidence right now even if one doesn’t want to press any charges. If a person is to change their mind in the future, the hospital will be holding onto the kit.
The #metoo movement has empowered many victims to come forward, but Chase says if anyone feels triggered by the posts, confidential counseling services are a great resource as well.
“I don’t want there to be barriers for students to not come in and get the help that they need,” Chase says. “We don’t want them to be afraid.”
