WHAT’S INSIDE
NEWS 1–2
SPORTS 4–5
OPINION 3
CULTURE 7–8 I SSU E
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The Independent Student Voice of Boise State Since 1933
Volume 22
First Issue
F R E E Apirl 26, 2010
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Kyle Wilson drafted No. 29 to the Jets!
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Rape mitch esplin/THE ARBITER
The Greenbelt stretches along the Boise River across campus. In 2000, Boise State student Samantha Maher was raped and murdered on the Greenbelt. On Feb. 26, a woman was groped by two homeless men after stopping for a drink while riding her bike.
Dispelling the myths
patrick trujillo Journalist
A recent report by the Department of Justice on incidents of rape occurring among college women indicates that one in four women will be victims of rape, and that 90 percent of college women who are raped will know their perpetrator. “We (society) spend so much time teaching women to walk with their keys and have pepper spray -- and it’s going to be the dude sitting next to them in English class, not some guy jumping out of the bushes,” said Adriane Bang, interim director and violence awareness and response coordinator for the Women’s Center. Of the myths that surround rape, one of the most common is that “date rape” is somehow less of a crime than the traditional stereotype of rape involving an unknown assailant who violently attacks an unsuspecting woman.
The before mentioned circumstance is rape, not just a “simple misunderstanding that lead to unwanted sex.” This stigma, that somehow a woman is responsible for her victimization, is a prevalent thread that runs through our culture, manifested in a variety of attitudes that project. For example, some believe “women secretly desire to be raped,” or that a woman who is a “tease” wants to be conquered. Rape is about control. Studies conducted by David Lisak at the University of Boston reflect that a perpetrator of rape is driven by two things: anger and a desire for power. Rape offenders are often victims of childhood sexual assault and, or abuse themselves, and the need to become dominant over a victim, to assert control as an abuser instead of the abused, leads to rape. Rape is not about sex; sex is merely the utmost method in which to control and humiliate.
The cultural misconceptions about what rape is -- what it entails and what it does psychologically -- have to be addressed. These misconceptions, these delusions of fact and truth, are the very things that permit these staggering statistics to continue, and further drive the issues to a position of blame, reflected in studies that indicate up to 48 percent of women do not consider their assault as rape. Rape prevention is not only about recognizing situations, it is about addressing the crime before it occurs. “It’s about changing cultural values and changing men’s ideas, and it’s about engaging bystanders -- when people are at a party and someone’s stumbling drunk and somebody they’ve just met is taking them home -- recognizing that might not be the safest situation, that that might be an opportunity for someone to be predatory, and to step in and not let that happen. It’s about changing the scope
of how men and women interact,” Bang said. “Rape supportive cultures are infused with sexism, which is a tool used to justify and perpetuate a spectrum of violence against women: sexist jokes, sexual harassment, rape and murder. This is one reason the Women’s Center focuses on helping men and women to understand what feminism is really all about. When women are treated with dignity and equality, instead of as a joke or an object, violence against women becomes less likely,” Bang said. Located on the second floor of the Student Union, the Women’s Center can be contacted by calling (208) 426-2406 or by visiting http:// womenscenter.boisestate. edu. Included on the Women's Center website is advice for what to do if you or someone you know has been sexually assaulted, and what you can do to prevent violence if you are a bystander in a situation where a rape might occur.
Jazz Festival jams on BSU campus
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Is Thomas Jefferson still important?
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ARBITERONLINE.COM
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Election confusion Why did we have two ASBSU elections? Rebecca De Leon Journalist
The first election results were declared null and void. What went wrong?tThe official statement from the election board following the first election was that due to problems with the electronic system surrounding online voting, some votes were entered in as blank votes and some students said they could not vote at all. So the election board met and decided that the fairest course of action was to re-do the election. “The election board was totally unbiased in every step they took and made a good decision to keep the first election results confidential,” said Charlie Varland, assistant director of Student Involvement and Leadership. Unanswered questions However, it left many questions unanswered for many students. Former ASBSU Sen. Justin White was one of those students. “I must ask myself: Who am I representing?” White said in an interview with administrators and a member of the judiciary board the day of the winners’ inauguration. “Did every student have a voice?” White was one of three people who had to sign the results of the election in order to validate them. Before doing so, he asked questions about the validity of the elections. “There were nearly 2,300 people that voted in the first election, and only 1,289 that voted in the second election,” White said. “I am not questioning whether or not the election board made an unbiased decision or not. Our attempts at handling the problem were noble and good, but it caused 800 less votes.” Of the people White talked to, all confirmed that the glitches in the online system did not allow for anyone to determine beyond a reasonable doubt what the true results of the first election were. See Election I page 2
Election Timeline Wednesday, April 7: Online voting begins. Thursday: Online voting ends. Friday: Problems with software discovered. Results of election are not released. Saturday/Sunday: Meeting between election board and ASBSU judiciary. Monday, April 12: Judiciary decides on second election run-off between two top executive candidates and those running for senator using paper ballots. University counsel recommends including all candidates. Wednesday: Paper ballot election begins. Thursday: Paper ballot election ends. Friday: Unofficial results announced. Monday, April 19: Results certified by signatures. Inauguration is held and new officials take office.
Mental illness causes stigma on campus David Gasch Journalist
Note: The names of students interviewed for this story have been changed to protect their identity. Isolation, stress and fear are negative elements of attending college that often accompany the fun of new experiences. Some students, however, deal with these along with various types of mental illness -- as well as a potentially menacing amount of stigma. The public today consistently views people with a mental illness cast in a negative light in media, music, conversation and more. A college campus offers exciting opportunities but can also present a harmful environment if others on campus unknowingly strengthen the stigma and indirectly segregate those with mental illness from societal norms. Supporting those with a mental illness and eliminating negative outlooks takes little effort
and could dramatically improve the lives of others.
Stigma Stigma finds its roots as a biblical term used to signify that people should shun or reject those who live or think in a way unlike societal mainstreams. They were treated with shame, ignored or assumed dangerous. “I think that’s quite a prevalent attitude even today,” associate professor Peter Wollheim said. “I’ve heard colleagues of mine, people with Ph.D.’s and really educated, make laughing references to Schizophrenia, to depression, to anxiety and to other types of mental illnesses.” Though science can prove mental illnesses are results of chemical imbalances or other physical reasons, these illnesses are treated differently than cancer or heart disease. The most common assumptions are that people with mental illnesses are dif-
ferent than those who do not or their illness makes them dangerous to those around them. These assumptions are untrue. BSU student William has lived with Asperger Syndrome, a high-functioning form of autism, for his entire life. He functions well enough that he generally doesn’t tell others about it and can hide it. However, he often finds difficulty interacting well with others and at times notices that others don’t try to disregard his symptoms. William also finds stigma as an obstacle with employment opportunities. “I tell people a lot of the times when I’m applying for jobs because they can get money for hiring me. They say they won’t have me work up front where I’d interact with people because of unusual social skills,” he said. “And they’ll just straight up not hire me. I think it has ruined a ton of interviews. I can do (the work), but people assume that I couldn’t.”
Students commonly use words including “crazy,” “madness,” “nuts,” psycho,” “freak,” “retard” and more, not only isolating those with mental illness but also often hurting those with mental illness while they subconsciously degrade them in the minds of others. In fear of their peers’ responses, many refrain from getting the help they need or feel the need to hide their struggles from the world. Another Boise State student, Kendra, experienced this with her family after doctors diagnosed her stepmother with schizoaffective disorder. Though her medications allow her stepmother to function uninhibited in every aspect of life, Kendra noticed that others generally think of straightjackets and insanity when they hear “schizo.” “When my dad and I first found
out about it, it was kept a giant secret from the rest of our friends and family," she said. “We were afraid that they would see her as 'a lunatic,' which she isn’t, or that they would look down on our family.” This is the stigma; it can be as hard to experience, or harder, than the mental illness itself.
mct campus
Mental illness in college and on campus Some studies suggest one in every five people deal twith some sort of mental illness. This statistic means that everyday students encounter numerous others
See Illness I page 2
The Arbiter • arbiteronline.com