Paisano Volume 51 Issue 11

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Independent Student Newspaper for the University of Texas at San Antonio 2014 Columbia Scholastic Press Gold Medalist

{SINCE 1981}

UTSA On April 17th students organizations will help kick off Fiesta with food, music, games and entertainment at the Sombrilla from 11a.m-3p.m

San Antonio Mayor Ivy Taylor introduced SA Tomorrow, a three tiered plan to accommodate the estimated 1 million new residents in the next 25 years

U.S. Hillary Rodham Clinton and Marco Rubio announced their candidacies for the 2016 Presidential nomination.

Legislature Jason Villalba, RDallas, rescinded HB 2918, which would have criminalized filming police within 25 feet.

Volume 51

Issue 11

April 14 - April 21, 2015

Countless sex offenses likely going unreported Alysha Gallagher Staff Writer

@ThePaisano news@paisano-online.com Despite being one of the largest universities in the state, a disproportionately small number of forcible sexual offenses are committed each year. UTSA’s 2014 Annual Security Report only recorded a total of seven forcible sex offenses for on-campus and non-campus properties in 2013, contradicting findings by the National Institute of Justice’s (NIJ) Bureau of Justice Statistics. For every 1,000 women attending a college or university, there are 35 incidents of rape each academic year, with less than 5 percent of completed or attempted rapes against college women reported to law enforcement, according to the NIJ. Over 28,000 students were enroled at UTSA for the Fall 2014 semester. “There is no way that there have only been seven (forcible sexual offenses) on our campus (in 2013),” said Lilian-Ann Bonaparte, senior political science major and president of The UTSA Collective. Bonaparte argues UTSA’s low reports of sexual vio-

Marcus Connolly, The Paisano Despite an enrollment approaching 30,000, the number of reported incidents of sexual violence at UTSA is in the single digits.

On April 1, the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR) released a list of 106 Higher Education Institutions with Open Title IX sexual violence investigations for mishandling sexual assault cases — including Texas’ Cisco Junior College and The University of TexasPanAmerican — to bring attention and awareness to the importance of fighting against sexual violence. Section 9.01 of UTSA’s Handbook of Operating Procedures defines sexual assault as “any criminal offense under the Texas Penal Code of a sexual nature, including rape, sexual assault, sexual battery, sexual coercion or other acts of sexual

“No one really likes coming out and no one really likes being public about it.” Lilian-Ann Bonaparte

Senior political science major lence misrepresents campus safety and is rather an indication of victims’ reluctance to report incidents. “We live in a society where rape is normalized. We live in a rape culture, and I think such a low result is not realistic, and it’s not something that UTSA should be proud of.”

violence.” “While I think it’s very likely that there are students who have not reported incidents of sexual violence, I think UTSA’s low number of reports probably has a lot to do with our on-campus life,” said Misty Blaze, vice President of Sigma Tau Delta’s Beta Omega Chapter. “I think we’re really dif-

ferent from larger universities,” Blaze continued. “We don’t have a really big community living and playing on campus—we don’t even have Greek housing. Yes, a lot of students do live in the dorms and the apartments, but I think for the most part, students come to class and then they leave. I think that if an incident occurs off-campus, students are less likely to report it.” Venessa Onwuchekwa, a psychology and pre-nursing major, argues UTSA’s 2014 Annual Security Report is inaccurate based on her knowledge of incidences when sexual violence remained unreported. “One (incident) was by an athlete and they didn’t want to get the athlete in trouble,” said Onwuchekwa. “There was a sense of fear, and they didn’t want their family to look at them any different. He wasn’t a complete stranger, she had been around this person, she partied with this person and woke up and this person was on top of her. He drugged her— things like this happen all the time. If they can get away with it once, what is stopping them from doing it again?” Onwuchekwa asked. UTSA’s 2014 Annual Security Report recommends that “anyone who is a victim of any form of sexual as-

sault, domestic and dating violence and stalking should immediately call the

cerns that victims of sexual violence face when they decide whether to report the incident. “If she were to tell on him, first of all, who would believe her, second of all, what would be done, and third, was she ready for the backlash that she would have received?” “We live in a rape culture,” Bonaparte stated. “People are going to find a way to blame you or tell you that you are just making it up and trying to bring a good man down. A lot of people like to deny the fact or just reject survivors testimonies of what happened.” According to the Centers for Disease Control and

“If they can get away with it once, what is stopping them from doing it again?” Venessa Onwechekwa

Psychology and pre-nursing major UTSA Police Department by dialing 4911 on campus or by calling 210-458-4911. Victims may also report in a confidential manner to the University Counseling Services (210-458-4140) or Student Health Services (210-458-4142).” Investigations by UTSAPD are conducted according to the guidelines established by the Texas Penal Code, Code of Criminal Procedure and the Bexar County District Attorney’s Office. Despite the available resources, many victims often forgo the option to report a sexual offense to the university and choose to remain silent. “I know someone that was sexually assaulted off campus, I know she was just one of many,” Bonaparte alleged. “She left UTSA and didn’t report it because he was very prominent, very active on campus and highly known in clubs and fraternities. Bonaparte voiced con-

Prevention (CDC), one in five women and one in 59 men in the United States is raped in his or her lifetime, and most assaults occur before the age of 25. However, because the majority of incidents go unreported, the numbers for sexually violent acts are artificially low. English major Doris Waid also believes the emotional impact of rape can affect the victim’s decision to report sexual violence incidents. “When sexual violence occurs, power is forcefully removed,” Waid said. “When power is removed, it often leaves one hopeless and ashamed. People struggle dealing with this, which makes it difficult to face, discuss and report.” Bonaparte agrees. “I think it’s evident that so many women and men are not reporting. No one really likes coming out and no one really likes being public about it, especially when you are going through something as

trigued by seeing students as creators and will ask them to create their own superhero and supervillian. His students will be graded on “the kind of world they would create if they could create their own comics.” There will even be a costume contest at some point. Another topic stu-

dents can expect to examine in the Anthropology of Superheroes is the subculture aspect of comics and understanding the fandom itself. “We’ll be doing an ethnography of Alamo City Comic-Con together. I’m calling it a swarm-ethnography. We’ll swarm the event, gather data and come back to write about it and create some sort of collective piece about our experiences there,” Halvaksz said.

See ASSAULT, Page 3

Get schooled in the social science of superheroes Sports UTSA football plays in the Fiesta spring game at the Alamodome Saturday, April 18 at 2p.m.

Caroline Traylor

News Assistant

@ThePaisano news@paisano-online.com Coming fall 2015: the Anthropology of Superheroes — a social science elective — courtesy of Associate Professor of Anthropology Jamon Halvaksz. An avid comic book reader and pop culture enthusiast, Halvaksz believes the course will be an avenue for students to explore basic anthropological concepts such as race, ethnicity, gender roles, na-

ture, culture, utopias and dystopias, violence, security and vigilante justice, to name a few. “We’re going to be reading about becoming a cyborg and the real-world issues comics address,” Halvaksz explained. The textbooks for the course will include four to five graphic novels and articles posted to Blackboard. “By mixing the comics with an article or two that deals with more real-world sorts of issues, students can see comics as a way of exploring possibilities and see pop culture as a way of

exploring those possibilities, which it always has been.” Halvaksz notes the importance of thinking critically about the pop culture we consume and how it informs the future. He is also in-

Photo Courtesy of Jamon Halvaksz

To finish reading, visit paisano-online.com

Sports - Football

Arts- Books

OPINION - Point-Counter-Point What’s holding feminism back?

UTSA loses road series to UNT.

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UTSA quarterbacks compete for starting position in spring game.

Coverage of San Antonio’s 3rd annual Bookfest.

SPORTS - Softball

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