THE
Pendulum
yolume XX, Number 15
Serving the Eton College Community
March 10,1994
Rape victim "discouraged” by police
Mary Kelli Bridges
Staff Reporter
Editor’s Note: This is the third
in an occasional series on rape.
An Elon College student says
local police “discouraged” her from
prosecuting her alleged rapist last
summer.
The 19-year-old woman said a
police official told her that she could
have escaped and that her case would
not have stood up “five minutes in
the D.A.’s office.”
“When I heard him (the police
official) say what he said, it made me
feel like a liar. When I think about it,
it still makes me feel like a liar. It
Wade me feel as if it was my fault and
almost as if I had made it up,” the
woman said in an interview last week.
{The Pendulum is withholding
ihe woman’s name because she is the
alleged victim of a sexual assault and
she has asked that her name not be
used.)
Elon College police officials
Monday denied that they told the
wcxnan she could have escaped
”It made me feel
like it was my fault
and almost as if I
had made it up."
from her attacker. Detective Mike
Woznick, however, said he prob
ably told the wcxnan that her case
would not be prosecuted by the
Alamance County District
Attorney’s Office.
District Attorney Steve Balog
declined Monday to discuss spe
cific cases.
In talking about rapes cases in
general, Balog said that “whether
an arrest occurs depends on the
results of a police investigatirai.”
“The problems with the date
rape situations and the acquain
tance rape situations is: When is
the line crossed? How did he cross
it? What could have been done to
jffevent it from both their perspec
tives,” Balog said.
“She’s got to be just as ag
gressive in not giving him sex as
he...is being aggressive in trying
to get it,” Balog said.
No one has been arrested in
the eight rapes reported on Elon
College’s campus since 1992.
Elon College police have said
no one was arrest^ because none
of the women wanted to pros
ecute.
One woman tells a different
story.
In the early hours of July 23,
the woman told police she had
been raped in her Jordan Center
See Rape, page 4.
Police refuse to release
rape victims' names
no one has been arrested.
Maury Kelli Bridges
Staff Reporter
Elon College Police Chief
Dan Ingle says he won’t release
tife n^es of alleged victims
in order to prot^t them.
Ingle and City Attorney Rob
ert J. Wishart, however, said they
are reconsidering the policy after
being contacted by the North Caro
lina Press Association’s lawyers
and by the state attorney general’s
office.
The Pendulum has requested
the names in an attempt to find out
how the cases have been handled
by the school and by police.
Of the eight rapes repcMted on
ElonCollege’scampussince 1992,
One of the alleged rape vic
tims told The Pendulum that Elon
College police “discouraged” her
from prosecuting h«r attacker.
According to the young
wwnan, who is an Elon College
student, police toW her that she
could have escaped and that her
case would not have stood up “five
minutes in the D.A.’s office.”
A 6-month-old state law says
the name of “a complaining wit
ness” shall be “temporarily with
held” if release of the information
will “pose a threat to the mental
health, physical health, or personal
safety” of the person or “materially
ccMipromise” an investigation.
According to the law, which
See Names, page 8
Rezoning proposal withdrawn
Marco OrmMtXM/ The Pendulum
Students take advantage of wami weather
Friday last day to turn in election petitions
Friday is the last day to turn in petitions lo run for SGA ofiiccs.
The completed petitions must be turned in to die second fkxjr of
Student Center by noon. .
The elections will be held March 22 from 9 a.m. to4 pjn. m front
ofLong Student Center.
^nistees scheduled lo have met Wednesday
The Elon College Board ofTrustecs was scheduled 10 meet Wednes-
to docide possible tuiUon and salary increases.
Student tuition may increase up to 7 J percent
Faculty and staff pay raises could increase up to 4 patent.
TlfTany Edmondson
Staff Reporter
Plans for an apartment
complex at Lebanon and
Manning avenues have been
dropped for at least six months.
The developer withdrew his
proposal to rezone the land after
Elon College aldermen objected
to the apartment complex
Tuesday ni^L
Ernie Koury, owner of the
lot, wanted to rezone the land
from business to multi-family
residential.
Koury, owner of Trollinger
Apartments on West Trollinger
Avenue, first prc^wsed the change
in October.
The planning board voted 3-3
in January.
Koury reduced the number of
apartments from 32 to 16. The
Ekm College Board of Aldermen
held a public hearing on the
rezoning last week.
The aldermen were scheduled
to vote on the rezoning Tuesday.
At the meeting, motion to
approve the rezoning died for lack
of support.
Alderman Gerry Francis
made a motion to deny approval.
“I’m not convinced what is
the best use for the property,”
Francis said. “I have some
unanswered questions on the
whole thing.”
“If this comes back in six
months I might change my
vote,” Frances said.
Alderman Chuck Cantos
said, “This is one of the hardest
decisions I’ve had on the board in
14 years.”
Koury now plans to “wait
six months and see” what he will
do with the land.
Area residents opposed the
rezoning. They said another
apartment complex would create
more trash and noise from
students.
Some of the residents are
currently looking for a new place
to live.
Koury said before the vote,
‘ "^he biggest issue to the
..uOnts is the trash. They have
created a homeowners as.w.iatinn
and are finding ways to keep the
area clean.”
INSIDE
1
I One-year clause
questioned by
senator, See page 9.
Tennis finishes
perfect week, See
page 11.
Police searches for
assault/robbery
suspect. See page 8.