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Brevard College, Brevard, N.C.
Tuesday, November 10,1992
Volume 60 Number 3
College officials say responsibility is a 'gray area’
Date rape at BC: it does happen here
■T—1 suspected male students. Brevard to talk. I felt okay about it because we not,
by Lorrin Woli ^ , j ■ r , . .... .. j
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by Lorrin Wolf
Clarion Asst. Editor
The names of the alleged victims
and assailants in the following article
have been changed to protect the
privacy of those individuals.
Webster’s definition of rape is “the
crime of forcing another person to
submit to sexual intercourse.” In 1990,
the Santa Monica Rape Crisis Center
found that one in six female college
students was raped or sexually assaulted,
while at school. The center also found
that one in 15 male college students
admitted to using sexual aggression in
the past year.
Acquaintance rape involves an
armed or unarmed assailant previously
known by the victim. It can happen at
any timie, to anyone, anywhere. The
Brevard College campus is no
exception.
In the past two years, two separate
cases of alleged sexual assaults on the
BC campus invol\jedp4he police. Both
females pressed criminal charges against
the accused persons, but the charges did
not lead to the arrest of either of the
suspected male students. Brevard
College has no documentation of males
being the victims of rape.
Often victims do not report rapes or
sexual assaults to law enforcement
officers. Instead, they seek help from
medical persons or counselors. “There
have been several questionable reported
rapes - none where evidence was
gathered, but I am positive that last year
one girl was definitely forced to have
sexual intercourse. Still, I feel that there
are rapes committed on this campus that
are not reported to anyone,” said Patricia
.lenkins, an RN in the campus
infu'mary.
According to Dean of Student
Affairs Norm Witek, “I assume that
most date rapes occur off-campus.”
However, one unreported alleged date
rape took place in the victim, Jill’s,
dorm room. She described the events of
that night as follows; “We went out to
dinner - a big group of us - and he paid
for my meal. I knew him, but not really
well before that night. I hadn’t expected
him to pay for me, but I thought it was
really nice of him. We went back to his
room, but there were so many people
there we decided to go back to my room *
to talk. I felt okay about it because we
hadn’t been drinking and he seemed so
nice. Anyway, he sat on my bed and I
sat at the desk. He kept patting the bed
and asking me to join him. He sounded
so cute -1 just laughed.”
Jill remained where she was until
her alleged attacker stood up and forced
her towards the bed. She did not
understand his intent until he kissed her.
She said no. “He raped me. I never
reported it. Only three people on
campus know exactly what happened
and who did it,” Jill said.
“Tbe number of acquaintance rapes
increases greatly with the use of
alcohol,” said Jenkins. “For one thing, a
male becomes more aggressive and a
female less defensive.” Susan, a student
at Brevard College, alleges that she
experienced an alcohol-related sexual
assault. She had consumed a six pack of
beer and several shots of hard liquor over
the course of the night. Susan believes
that a male student then sexually
assaulted her. Unable to leave the
situation, Susan repeatedly said no. “I
was so wasted I don’t remember what
happened, but after it was over, all of
my clothing was undone . . . Drunk or
Phi Theta Kappa Inductions
On October 28 a full slate prospective PTK inductees became members of Brevard
College's Delta Pi Chapter of PTK. For a full listing of the names of the inductees, see Page 12.
not, when I say no, I mean no,” she
said.
North Carolina law states that
second-degree rape is engaging in sexual
intercourse with a person who is
“mentally defective, mentally
incapacitated, or physically helpless, and
the person performing the act knows or
should reasonably know the other
person” is any of these three things.
Intoxication can cause mental
incapacity, so a person can be convicted
for 12 to 40 yeai's for having vaginal
t intercourse with a drunk person.
Had Jill or Susan decided to report
these alleged incidents, they could have
talked to the infirmary staff, a
counselor, or the Dean of Student
Affairs. Jenkins urged rape or sexual
assault victims to come forward
immediately following the incident.
“Unless you have evidence gathered
within 24 hours, you have no case. But
a lot of girls don’t wish to press ctiarges
- they just want to talk. Anything that
is reported to the infirmary staff is
confidential information between a
medical person and their patient,” she
said.
(See Date Rape on Page 3)
Soccer team
wins Regional
Championship
by Lorrin Wolf
Clarion Asst. Editor
Last Saturday afternoon, the Brevard
College mens’ soccer team won an
exciting game against Spartanburg
Methodist College. The win propelled
the team into the Regional
Championship spot, and earned them a
place at the National Championships in
Jackson, Miss.
The game was hard fought on a
chilly, grey afternoon, but the men
prevailed, dropping a goal into their
opponents’ net in the final minutes of
the second half, making the final score
2-1..
In the first half, the BC team scored
and Spartanburg kicked a disallowed
goal. Spartanburg then tied the score in
the second half until the final minutes
of the game.
Earlier that day, the womens’ team
battled to a 4-0 defeat against Anderson
College. This loss gave Anderson the
Regional Championship.