After a stressful week of homework, tests, and activities, many students turn to partying, which often involves binge drinking. The exponential increase in alcohol consumption on the weekends among college students, however, can have disastrous repercussions, including risky behavior, sexual assaults, and health complications.
On Thursday, John Huber, A&S '09, and Meaghan English, A&S '09, organized Sexual Assault Awareness Day (SADD), which aimed to shed light on the serious issues of drinking and sexual assaults.
"It has become such a taboo to discuss these issues. The gravity of the issues of sexual assault and rape is seriously understated, which makes it harder to solve them," English said. "I have a love-hate relationship with SADD. I am happy to get the words out there, but at the same time frustrated to see the students becoming uncomfortable."
English and Huber started SADD last year, after Huber worked for the Rape, Abuse and Incest National Network (RAINN) in Washington D.C. Huber began to pay close attention to women's issues and was frustrated to see that such issues often remained untouched on the Boston College campus. English and Huber agreed that something needed to be done.
"We got a lot of help from Women's Resource Center, which has already recognized the importance of raising awareness on these issues," English said.
"Unfortunately the CARE week, which is concerned about rape education, is not scheduled until the second semester, and most of the sexual assaults happen during the first two months of the year. We thought that it was important to make students aware [of this]."
English, Huber, and about 30 volunteers made poster boards and fliers that contained statistics on sexual assault-related issues and presented them at the Dustbowl. There were seven poster boards, offering statistics on sexual assault on BC's campus, means for prevention, and available resources on campus for survivors.
"It was surprising to see that 35 percent of males on university campuses indicated that they might commit a violent rape against a woman if they were assured of getting away with it. As a woman, I always knew that such danger existed, but I rarely think of the possibility that I can be a victim," said Beatriz Martinez, CSOM '10.
While most women don't think they are at risk, Huber said that statistically they might be. "According to the Department of Justice, the estimated victims of sexual assault on BC campus this year can reach up to 135. But even this number is drastically understated considering the fact that only less than 5 percent of sexual assaults are reported, and the majority of them hushed," Huber said.
As indicated by the statistics of the Boston Area Rape Crisis Center, 9 percent of rape survivors on college campuses know their attackers. This makes it harder to report the incident, as there is a considerable amount of pressure from the peers in the same social circle, not to mention the feelings of guilt and shame that the victims are often subjected to. Also, a case of sexual assault may take up to a full year, which can be arduous for the survivor.
According to the study by the National Institute of Justice, half of all campus rape survivors do not consider what happened to them to be rape. Massachusetts law defines rape as "the penetration of a bodily orifice by any body part or object against a person's will or without his or her consent."
"The whole point of SADD was to inform the students about the possible danger that they are in so that they can prevent any sexual assaults. The second purpose of SADD was to support the survivors by introducing them various support groups that are available on campus," Huber said.
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