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Action Project Issue, March 2017
An independent student newspaper, serving the University of Wisconsin-Madison community since 1892 Volume 126, Issue 45
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Editor-in-Chief Theda Berry
Managing Editor Negassi Tesfamichael
News Team News Manager Peter Coutu Campus Editor Sammy Gibbons College Editor Nina Bertelsen City Editor Gina Heeb State Editor Lilly Price Associate News Editor Noah Habenstreit Features Editor Hannah Olson Opinion Editors Sebastian van Bastelaer • Samantha Wilcox Editorial Board Chair Ellie Herman Arts Editors Ben Golden • Samantha Marz Sports Editors Bobby Ehrlich • Thomas Valtin-Erwin Gameday Editors Ethan Levy • Ben Pickman Almanac Editors Marc Tost • Ayomide Awosika Photo Editors Morgan Winston • Katie Scheidt Graphics Editor Amira Barre Multimedia Editor Lisa Milter Science Editor Julie Spitzer Life & Style Editor Cassie Hurwitz Special Pages Editor Allison Garcia Copy Chiefs Katie Gvozdjak • Audrey Altmann Yi Wu • Sydney Widell Social Media Manager Jenna Mytton Historian Will Chizek
Understanding sexual assault on campus BY THEDA BERRY AND NEGASSI TESFAMICHAEL management team The fact that one in four women at UW-Madison will be sexually assaulted during their time here on campus has been discussed and reported on. In our second Action Project issue, we aim to go beyond previous reporting and survey results to give insight into how this number affects life on campus and what actions are being taken to address this violence in our community. In the context of the highprofile case against Alec Cook—a former UW-Madison student who is facing 21 criminal charges and reportedly assaulted 10 women— this topic has become all the more
urgent to explore. One focus in this Action Project Being intentional about lan- is explaining how UW-Madison guage is something advocates for handles sexual assault, including sexual assault survivors com- what constitutes evidence in unimonly stress—and the word “sur- versity decisions, and resources vivors” is a significant part of that. survivors may not be aware of As a managelike no contact ment team, orders. There are we decided to We hope this issue will give so many avenues use the term a more human and reflective of reporting on survivor over perspective on the statistics sexual assault victim in all that aren’t we hear so often. cases, except always explored direct quotain daily coverage, tions and in reference to survey but so badly need to be accessible data and reports framed with that and understandable to students. term. Many survivors of sexual We worked to make it evident assault tend to self-identify in this throughout this issue that The way, and we respect this choice, Daily Cardinal is a platform for partly due to our own understand- student voices to be heard. Aside ing of the power words have. from providing information about
The Daily Cardinal would like to recognize
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Editorial Board
Board of Directors Herman Baumann, President Phil Brinkman • Theda Berry Tyler Baier • Negassi Tesfamichael Grant Bailey • Janet Larson Don Miner • Ryan Jackson Nancy Sandy • Jennifer Sereno Jason Stein • Tina Zavoral Caleb Bussler © 2015, The Daily Cardinal Media Corporation ISSN 0011-5398
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THANK YOU!
A cultural shift is required to fix or change rape culture
business@dailycardinal.com Business Manager Grant Bailey Advertising Manager Tyler Baier • Caleb Bussler Marketing Director Ryan Jackson
Theda Berry • Negassi Tesfamichael Ellie Herman • Jack Kelly Amileah Sutliff • Dylan Anderson Sebastian van Bastelaer • Ben Pickman Samantha Wilcox
resources for survivors of sexual assault, we hope this issue will give a more human and reflective perspective on the statistics we hear so often. Do you have a story to tell you’d like to share? Is there an issue related to sexual assault on campus we missed? We want to hear what you think. Please send all comments and concerns to Theda and Negassi at edit@dailycardinal.com. Our third installment of this series will come in April. This issue will be on stands through the end of this week and over spring break. If you’re looking for our daily coverage, check out dailycardinal.com and stay up to date.
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There is a need for a campus attitude and culture shift about sexual assault at UW-Madison, as well as nationally. MARIAM COKER opinion columnist
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ape and the fear of rape is a part of the American college experience for women. On American college campuses, one in four undergraduate women will be sexually assaulted or raped by the time they graduate. Indicated by UW-Madison’s Association of American Universities Sexual Misconduct and Sexual Assault Climate Survey, our precious UW-Madison is no exception, with 27.6 percent of undergraduate female students reporting experiencing nonconsensual penetration or sexual touching. This climate survey had over 9,000 respondents, reflecting over 22 percent participation on campus—far more participants than in similar surveys by other institutions. As women, we are taught to walk in pairs or triples, carry pepper spray, learn self-defense, walk in well-lit areas, and go to the bathroom together, all to prevent being sexually assaulted. Even within the first week of being at UW, I was warned never to go on “Rapeshore” path.
To change rape culture we need to think about sexual assault realistically. Sexual assault and rape hardly ever happens by a stranger in a dark alley that you will never see again. Life is not “Law and Order: SVU.” To change rape culture, there needs to be a change in how rape is talked about. To most people, a sexual assailant or a rapist looks like Alec Cook —a diabolical stranger. However, UW-Madison’s recent AAU Campus Climate report reiterated a commonly known fact about rape, that perpetrators “were overwhelmingly identified as fellow students who are male, often a friend or acquaintance.” The perpetrator is a friend, a boyfriend, a Tinder fling, a lab partner, a classmate, a neighbor, etc. At UW, perpetuation usually starts at a party, and often ends up at the dorms. The perpetrator is often a drunk college man. Why? On most American college campuses, alcohol is a key factor in sexual assaults. And expectedly at UW, recently named as the number one party school in the U.S., alcohol also plays a key role in sexual assaults. The aforemen-
tioned report also indicated that female students who experienced nonconsensual penetration (ie. rape) indicated that “the offender was drinking alcohol 76.1 percent of the time.” However, at UW there is an additional factor: Greek life. The same report indicated “assaults were disproportionately reported in Greek residences.” It was found that over 25 percent of sexual assaults reported to UWPD in 2015 happened on Langdon Street, or “frat row.” Taking into account rules enforced on sorority houses that are not enforced on fraternity houses—like guest visitation limits, curfew and the lack of alcohol at parties—it becomes easier to pinpoint where these sexual assaults happen. However, finding out where sexual assaults happen was never an issue—it’s Langdon and residence halls. The report also indicated “assaults most commonly occurred in student residences such as private apartments and campus residence halls.” In 2015, about 25 percent of reported sexual assaults to UW-Madison Police Department happened in the residence halls, particularly ones with majority freshmen populations. We should be asking: Why these locations? What do they have in common? How are these locations related? The answer: They house and welcome primarily male and heteronormative communities and there is access to and the encouragement of experimentation with alcohol. These places are not necessarily filled with bad men, rather these men were not getting consent. When talking about a sexual assault or rape survivor, the focus is on them and what they did wrong, if they were dressed or acting a certain way. We should be asking the perpetrator: Did you get consent? Did you get a clear and direct “yes”? With the combination of alco-
hol and the encouragement of hypermasculinity, rape culture broods—there is entitlement to women’s bodies. There is no need or acknowledgment of consent. The root of rape culture is hypermasculinity. Men often have to prove their masculinity, and often times is proved involving violence against women. I have deduced all of this from my favorite speaker from UW-Riverfalls It’s On Us Summit, Keith Edwards. At this summit, over a hundred UW System leaders congregated for the purpose of learning about sexual assault as it pertains to college campuses. It was amazing to hear such wonderful speakers, like Edwards and Lynn Rosenthal, who served as the first White House Advisor on Violence Against Women from 2009-2015. It was also great to hear what other campuses and other students are doing to face these issues. From it I realized that one person alone cannot fix or change rape culture, it takes a cultural shift—an unlearning and relearning. We need to unlearn toxic masculinity and relearn something else. It is an issue if a quarter of all women who attend college will be sexually assaulted. This is a preventable issue. What can you do? Cut rape jokes, don’t negate people’s experience, and most importantly check your friends. If you see someone is way too drunk to do anything, do not let them go away with a stranger. Take that last drink from someone. If your friend is being creepy, tell him to back off. Walk someone home. Don’t be a passive bystander, and we’ll all take a big step in the right direction. Mariam is the vice chair of ASM. How do you think sexual assaults could be prevented on campus? Please send all comments to opinion@dailycardinal.com.