NEVADA SAGEBRUSH SERVING THE UNIVERSITY OF NEVADA, RENO SINCE 1893
THE
TUESDAY, JANUARY 23, 2018
FIRST COPY FREE, ADDITIONAL COPIES $1.00 EACH
NEWS in REVIEW By Karolina Rivas
INTERNATIONAL
VOLUME 124, ISSUE 17
SURVIVING SEXUAL ASSAULT Why some UNR students, alumni decided to come forward
ACTIVE VOLCANO FORCES THOUSANDS TO EVACUATE An active volcano is putting people in the Albay province of the Philippines on edge after ash erupted from Mount Mayon on Monday. The Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (PHIVOLCS) has since raised its alert level to four out of five. “The evacuation has been ongoing since [the volcano] started showing signs of instability,” Mark Dambal, information officer at the Philippines’ Office of Civil Defense, said in an interview with CNN. “Because of the volcanic activity, the danger zone was extended from six kilometers to eight kilometers [from the volcanic summit].” Dambal says that around 24,000 people have been moved to evacuation centers while another 3,100 have moved to stay with relatives and friends. According to CNN, the agency’s director, Renato Solidum, has warned residents that this eruption could be similar to that of 2001 which included a pyroclastic flow.
In a Sexual Conduct & Campus Safety Survey of 2016, 6,439 students responded and 516 students identified as victims of physical sexual assault or rape.
27% reported the assault
86% 52%
of victims Knew the perpetrator.
65% of victims indicated
LOCAL
On Saturday morning, a motorcyclist was killed in an accident when he crashed into an ambulance. The 50-yearold man has been identified as Kenneth Dixon of Sun Valley. Reno Police say that Dixon was riding his motorcycle westbound on North McCarran on US-395 when he collided with a REMSA Paramedic Ambulance. The ambulance was responding to a call when entering the intersection of North McCarran and the Southbound 395 off-ramp. Dixon was immediately rushed to the hospital where he was later pronounced dead from injuries. Although the investigation is ongoing, the Reno Police Department’s Major Accident Investigation Team say that neither speed nor impairment appears to be the cause. Karolina Rivas can be reached at mpurdue@sagebrush.unr. edu and on Twitter @karolinarrivas.
48% of victims deal with it on their own
81% Victims were more likely to report drinking alcohol prior to the assault if the perpetrator was an acquaintance.
they were drinking alcohol prior to the assault; of those drinking, 80% identified as drunk.
ONE INJURED IN TEXAS SHOOTING
MOTORCYCLIST INVOLVED IN FATAL ACCIDENT IDENTIFIED
27% of victims told no one
Identified their perpetrator as another student.
NATIONAL A 16-year-old boy opened fire at Italy High School in Texas Monday morning causing a 15-year-old girl to be airlifted to the hospital. The suspect has since been taken into custody. According to Ellis County Sheriff Charles Edge, police responded to a call of a shooting in the cafeteria at Italy High School. “The male student engaged the victim in the cafeteria and fired several shots,” Edge said. The weapon, a semi-automatic handgun, “was recovered at the scene and is in evidence,” he added. In an interview with Fox News, Italy High student Cassie Shook said that she has complained about the suspect who has not been named for his behavior. She said that he allegedly made a “hit list” in eighth grade with her name on it. Ellis County authorities do not know the motive of the attack nor if the 15-year-old girl was a target.
affected their desire to stay at unr
identified their perpetrator as male.
Women ages 18-24 who are college students are 3 times more likely than women in general to experience sexual violence. By Karolina Rivas As the #MeToo or #TimesUp movements continue to bear down on the media world, so too are they bringing to bear lingering issues of unreported or underreported sexual crimes on college campuses. In 2016, the Clery crime statistics for the University of Nevada, Reno’s main campus — the sum total of all reports made to UNR’s police services — showed a total of just two rape-related cases for a campus with a population of over 20,000 students. In addition, the Title IX office counted around 42 individuals that sought resources for sexual assault or misconduct that occurred either on or off campus in the past year.
But according to a web-based assessment from 2016, the Sexual Conduct & Campus Safety Survey, of the 6,439 degree-seeking students that participated, eight percent or 516 individuals identified as victims of physical sexual assault or rape. Of those cases, only nine percent actually reported their case to a university official or office. The report notes a majority of these cases are not reported due to feelings of shame, wanting to forget these experiences or feeling responsible for the assault inflicted upon them. One UNR alum, Haley, recounts being sexually assaulted and possibly drugged at a party in August of 2016. “I don’t know exactly what hap-
pened, but I woke up and I was in a lot of pain,” Haley said. “I had bruises on my thighs, I had a bite mark on my shoulder and I knew I obviously had sex that night and I felt very, very, violated.” Despite being 21 at the time, Haley decided to not report her case in fear of not being taken seriously because of the involvement of alcohol and placing the blame of the assault on herself. “I didn’t want to necessarily call it rape or sexual assault because what if I was drunk?” Haley said. “What if I did come on to him?” The report shows 65 percent of victims indicated that alcohol was involved prior to the assault, and approximately 80 percent of those victims self-identified as drunk.
Denise Cordova, the Title IX coordinator at UNR, says alcohol-related incidents, underage-drinking or not, are never reported from the Title IX office to police or police services. “The only time that we ask about drinking is in order to make a decision based on consent,” Cordova said. “Because if they’re incapacitated due to drugs or alcohol, then they’re not able to give consent. [...] That’s when the issue of drinking comes into play or the issue of drugs. But it’s all about consent and determining that. Not to judge them or blame them or anything like that.” Even though Haley says a large part of her regrets not reporting her case, she also had no idea how
Schieve optimistic at annual speech
Coffee, sandwiches, sushi opening around UNR
By Madeline Purdue
By Paolo Zialcita
Reno Mayor Hillary Schieve gave her third State of the City address on Thursday, Jan. 18, where she talked about the issues Reno is battling every day and her plans for improvement. She focused on Reno’s housing shortage, as well as the shortage of police officers and Reno’s continuing growth in the arts community. Schieve said that the city has 40,000 apartments planned with many in construction — including a tower on Sierra Street with 52 lofts and 40 new apartments on Park Street. She also mentioned plans for more affordable housing projects. She said that she is in the works to fast-track these projects through the planning process. She also talked about the city’s lawsuit against opioid manufacturers, which cites these companies are the root cause of homelessness. “I am optimistic as a community that we can make a change when it comes to caring for our homeless population,” she said. “I am proud to announce that we stayed dedicated by making the pharmaceutical companies accountable for their actions by becoming one of over 200 cities in the nation to see them in court.” Schieve also talked about the city’s lack of police officers and firefighters but applauded the current responders for their work over the last year. “Doing more with less is a challenge our first responders combat on a daily basis,” Shieve said. It has been a busy year for the responders as the fire department responded to a record 42,000
See CITY page A2
See FOOD page A3 Paolo Zialcita/Nevada Sagebrush
People line up to buy coffee from Dutch Bros. on Monday, Jan. 22. The popular coffee chain opened its first location in Reno last week.
reporting might negatively affect her life. Now, however, she says she will always encourage a victim of sexual assault to report their case no matter what. “I want women to understand that there is a toll that it does take on you and some people are stronger than others and they’re able to take that toll,” Haley said. “I want to say I’m one of those women that was able to take the toll on and face it head on, [...] but in the end reporting it would be worth it because then you get someone like that off the streets.” Today, Haley has continued to move forward from her case by
See ASSAULT page A2
Low-magnitude earthquakes rattle Reno By Madeline Purdue
Things got shaky in Reno over winter break as the Biggest Little City was rocked by almost 100 earthquakes on Thursday, Jan. 11. However, if you were in Reno at the time of the quakes, you probably didn’t feel them. Out of the 90 earthquakes recorded by the University of Nevada, Reno’s Seismological Laboratory, the highest recorded quakes were four 2.0 magnitude earthquakes. Only 38 people reported feeling these quakes, but most of the time these type of earthquakes don’t cause enough commotion to be noticed. “We’re monitoring the swarm closely and updating local emergency management officials in case this sequence evolves to a larger, damaging earthquake,” said Ken Smith, associate director at the UNR seismological lab. Officials are encouraging people in Reno and the surrounding areas to make sure they are ready should larger earthquakes occur. “When we feel these small earthquakes, it’s nature’s way of telling us that Nevada, and Washoe County, is earthquake country,” Washoe County Emergency Manager Aaron Kenneston said. Ready.gov encourages people to secure items in their house or workplace that could fall over and cause injury should an earthquake occur. These include bookshelves, TVs, mirrors and more. They also encourage people to plan ahead by storing supplies and important documents that could be useful in an emergency situation. Families should have an emergency communication plan in place to
See QUAKES page A2