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The Daily Reveille - August 27, 2014

Page 1

Reveille The Daily

Wednesday, August 27, 2014 Volume 119 · No. 3

breaking the silence on

Sexual assault By graduation, one in four college women will have been sexually assaulted in her lifetime.

Source: OneinFourUSA.org

University resources attempt to combat sexual assault BY RENEE BARROW and QUINT FORGEY news@lsureveille.com EDITOR’S NOTE: This story contains graphic descriptions of an alleged sexual assault. The Daily Reveille agreed to withhold Emma’s real name. Emma said she met the man who would sexually assault her at a party her freshman year. “We exchanged numbers and we started talking,” Emma said. “I thought he was really cool.” He was a college freshman from out of town who asked Emma if he could stay with her the next time he came to visit. Emma agreed. About a month later, he came to Baton Rouge for two nights and stayed in Emma’s Pentagon dorm

room. Emma said they innocently fooled around the first night, and the second night they both went out with separate groups of friends. At a bar in Tigerland that night, Emma said she began to feel nauseous, though she only had one drink. Emma now suspects someone slipped something in her cup. A friend walked her back to her dorm, where she said she met the man who was staying with her. They walked up to her room, and Emma said she went to the hall restroom to lay down on the bathroom floor with her head against the toilet. When she returned to her room, she said the man was in her bed, urging her to join him. Emma said she sat on the floor with her head between her knees un-

FROM THE DAILY REVEILLE EDITORIAL BOARD:

til he carried her into bed, where he began undressing and kissing her. She said she faded in and out of consciousness as he unsuccessfully tried to penetrate her. In the brief moments she was awake, Emma said she repeatedly told him she did not want to have sex until she eventually passed out completely. Emma said she knows she was not raped that night. But it wasn’t until much later, when she described the incident to a friend, that Emma said she realized she had been sexually assaulted. “I didn’t think anything of it because I was young and I was naive and I thought it was my fault for drinking and for inviting him over

Stop what you’re doing and look around. Wherever you are, you’re bound to see women walking around, studying or laughing. Women you have class with, women you’ve run into once or twice and some you’ve never met. If the most recent statistics are to be believed, before they leave LSU, one in four of these women will have been sexually assaulted in their lifetime. And the University leaders, counselors and other adults who are entrusted to protect them don’t provide the adequate resources to do anything about it. University measures largely focus on helping victims of sexual

see SEXUAL ASSAULT, page 3

see EDITORIAL, page 4

Off-campus resources for sexual assault victims: Sexual Trauma Awareness & Response www.brstar.org 24/7 hotline: (225) 383-RAPE

Baton Rouge General (Bluebonnet) 8585 Picardy Ave. (225) 763-5000

Baton Rouge General (Mid-City) 3600 Florida Blvd. (225) 387-7000

Woman’s Hospital 100 Woman’s Way (225) 927-1300

Ochsner Medical Center 17000 Medical Center Drive (225) 752-2470


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