A year ago, Leah Nurenberg received an unforgettable phone call from a missing friend the morning after she disappeared from their party group.

‘She was really freaked … she could remember leaving but not who she left with,’ said Nurenberg, a sophomore psychology major. ‘She woke up naked in her bed, and a used condom was lying on the floor.’

Thinking she had been raped, the bewildered friend took a pregnancy test and blamed herself for drinking too much, Nurenberg said. She also took a shower despite her friend’s insistence to seek a rape kit collection from a health care professional.

Confusion about what rape is and how to deal with it reflects a larger problem for those victimized by sexual assault each year. Rape occurs at high rates across the country -once every two and a half minutes, according to the U.S. Department of Justice. On college campuses such as at Syracuse University, the prevalence of unreported sexual assault cases and reasons why women hesitate to disclose rape are equally high in number.

‘I told her to call the Rape Advocacy Prevention and Education Center, but I doubt she did because she was reluctant to do so,’ said Nurenberg, who added that her friend transferred to another school after the incident. ‘It was really scary – she didn’t go out for two weeks after that.’

In a study of 6,000 students at 32 different colleges in the United States, one in four women had been the victims of rape or attempted rape, according to the University of California at Santa Cruz Rape Prevention Education group. In a similar study by UCSC, 42 percent of rape victims told no one, and only 5 percent reported it to the police.

An invasive crime based on fear and control, the very nature of sexual assault may prevent its victims from speaking out, leaving the issue where abuse originates – behind closed doors.

During the 2004-2005 academic year, 14 incidents of rape and eight other sexual offenses were reported to the R.A.P.E Center, according to the center’s records. Janet Epstein, the associate director of the R.A.P.E. Center, said these numbers have remained ‘fairly consistent’ during the last three years. However, the numbers do not reflect the frequency of date rape on campus because the majority of cases go unreported.

One reason students may be unwilling to come forward is that sexual assault is commonly misunderstood in terms of its various forms, types of perpetrators and technical definition.

Sexual assault is defined as ‘any form of nonconsensual sexual touching or intercourse,’ said Juanita Williams, the director of Judicial Affairs. This definition includes both attempted and completed sexual abuse. Consent is required for any type of sexual conduct – vaginal intercourse, anal and oral sex or any type of touching for the purpose of sexual gratification – according to the R.A.P.E. Center.

Confusion about what is meant by ‘consent’ may also limit a student’s awareness of sexual assault.

‘Consent means the presence of a yes, not the absence of a no,’ said senior Joan Gabel, a member of Students Advancing Sexual Safety and Empowerment. ‘Even if someone is not visibly expressing (reluctance) you may still be committing a crime.’

In legal terms, sexual assault includes ‘sexual contact, intercourse or any type of sexual contact that occurs without consent,’ said Rami Badawy, the assistant district attorney for Onondaga county and prosecutor for the special victims bureau.

According to a health report conducted by the Substance Abuse Prevention and Health Enhancement Office and the R.A.P.E. Center in 2004, 5.8 percent of 396 SU students were identified as having been taken advantage of sexually during the month previous to the survey due to alcoholic consumption.

About 11.8 percent of students surveyed in the study said their main reason for engaging in sexual activity the previous year was impaired judgment caused by alcohol.

Sexual assault may occur with or without the presence of foreign substances such as ‘roofies,’ or Rohypnol, Ketamine and gamma hydroxyburate (GHB) in a victim’s system. Epstein said alcohol is often used alone to facilitate rape.

‘Alcohol is the No. 1 date rape drug,’ she said. ‘Someone interested in assaulting another person seeks an environment where a person is less aware of cues around them.’ About 50 percent of cases that go through the R.A.P.E. Center involve the consumption of alcohol by the offender, victim or both, she added.

Epstein also said a lack of understanding about the dynamics of sexual assault could lead victims to assume an incident was ‘drunk sex’ rather than date rape.

Max Gottfried, a sophomore business administration major at the State University of New York at Oswego, was unaware that alcohol can be a date rape drug in itself.

‘(Date rape) probably happens and people don’t even know it’s happening,’ Gottfried said. ‘I always pictured the drug part, not the sexual harassment part.’

Earlier this month, the University of Houston hosted a mock trial between a date rape victim and a defendant claiming the case was simply a matter of ‘drunk sex.’ This program was intended to define sexual assault and what it means for a woman to say no, according to Ken Waldman, the director of Counseling and Psychological Services at the university.

Waldman, who said fewer Houston students report rape than those who go through the experience, emphasized victims should not be blamed for their situation.

‘It’s never someone’s fault if they are raped,’ Waldman said. ‘Even if they walk down an alley with no clothes on, it’s still not their fault.’

Because the word ‘rape’ tends to conjure images of strangers jumping out of bushes or dark alleys, victims may not interpret certain types of nonconsensual behavior as sexual assault. Rape is more prevalent between people who know each other in some shape or form, according to the Rape Abuse and Incest National Network, making offenders harder to distinguish.

‘Rape isn’t always a big strong male who holds you down or puts a gun to your head or that you’re both drunk,’ said Lindsay Pasarin, a junior women’s studies major and a date rape survivor. ‘I didn’t have any of that, and it wasn’t consent.’

Last year, Pasarin spearheaded The Coffee House Journals, a campus magazine covering politically progressive topics and sexual assault. She has also spoken publicly about rape with Professor Joseph Fanelli’s human sexuality class to increase campus awareness through her experience.

A study conducted by the U.S. Department of Justice in 2000 points out that forms of sexual victimization can exist outside of the category of rape. This includes the mere threat of rape or sexual contact. For example, the study found 16.9 female students out of every 1,000 are victimized by the threat of contact without force. On a larger scale, about 66.4 students per 1,000 are victims of attempted sexual contact without force.

Out of all the documented cases of completed rape, the department’s study found 95.2 percent of the incidents were left unreported.

SU students who decide to report an incident have three outlets for assistance at their disposal – the R.A.P.E. Center, Judicial Affairs and the Department of Public Safety. The protocol for each unit is geared toward providing victims with a freedom to decide their own need for support and legal action.

Sexual assault survivors who turn to the R.A.P.E. Center meet with an advocate to discuss personal counseling, legal options and the possibility of a medical examination, Epstein said. If a victim chooses to have medical evidence collected, the person has 30 days to determine whether to report an incident to the police, she said.

‘Everything is up to the individual – it’s what they want,’ Epstein said. ‘We present options and support individual choices.’

The Office of Judicial Affairs refers students to Public Safety, where officers are obligated to notify the police of any reported incidents due to an agreement with the district attorney’s office, said Capt. Drew Buske of Public Safety. If a victim decides not to proceed with a criminal investigation, the department proceeds with an internal investigation sometimes including Judicial Affairs, he said.

If a sexual assault case is reported to the police, the accused perpetrator receives an interim suspension to ensure the safety of the victim, Williams said.

Other reasons why students may be reluctant to report a case are linked to factors such as a survivor’s inability to recall details from a rape incident or the desire to avoid interrogation.

‘It’s a very scary process – it’s why victims resist coming forward,’ Williams said. ‘The authority and questioning is so intrusive I feel bad for the victims.’

The debilitating nature of alcohol and other date rape drugs may induce short-term memory loss after the night of a crime, Williams said. She added these substances pass through one’s system quickly, complicating the process of collecting evidence. Yet she has observed victims who find these incidents ‘so overwhelming’ that they are able to piece together details from the event.

The design of a female’s anatomy further complicates the collection of physical evidence, Badawy said. About 99 percent of victims at the Special Victims Bureau do not reveal any type of genital trauma, and those who do tend to heal very quickly, he said.

Aside from physical trauma, exposing an incident can make survivors feel like they are publicly exposing themselves in the process.

‘As a survivor you open yourself up to public criticism,’ Gabel said. ‘Nine times out of 10, people believe the guy.’

Cases involving one student’s word against another are not dismissed, Williams said. Since the burden of proof is not considered a ‘reasonable doubt,’ a victim only has to prove there is no ‘preponderance of evidence’ to have a complaint decided in the victim’s favor.

Personal factors – such as blame, fear of retaliation or damaging one’s reputation -could potentially limit a victim from revealing an assault, adding to the list of reasons why so many crimes go unreported.

‘Hardly anyone back home knows (about the rape),’ Pasarin said. ‘My parents don’t know the details … I have a reputation back home; I just don’t want to disrupt that.’

Rape is expected in today’s culture, since people view women as lesser beings and use sexual violence as a way to exert power and control over them, Epstein said.

‘Whether it be a stereotype or truth, a lot of guys see women as objects, and see how far they can get,’ said Chris VanDeWeert, a senior political science major, member of Sigma Phi Epsilon and president of the Interfraternity Council. ‘I can’t even fathom that.’

To eliminate the need for reporting rape cases, numerous student groups strive to incorporate proactive practices and awareness about sexual assault into the campus community.

Prominent groups on campus, such as SASSE, A Men’s Issue, SAPHE and the R.A.P.E. Center are working to change attitudes that promote sexual violence and address misconceptions about sexual assault through campus programs.

Last year, the Office of Judicial Affairs spearheaded the ‘Got Consent’ campaign, a program in which students wear T-shirts defining consent. The R.A.P.E. Center organizes ‘Take Back the Night’ week during April, an event intended to stimulate awareness about sexual assault.

To get more students involved, the R.A.P.E. Center oversees the efforts of Sex Esteem, a group of peer educators talking together about sex violence. To educate students about sexual violence early in their college careers, the R.A.P.E. Center collaborates with the Office of Residence Life in a freshman orientation program called ‘Orange You Glad We’re Talking?’. The program, now three years old, features guest speaker Don McPherson, a football player devoted to ending men’s violence against women.

Monica Sears, a senior psychology major and student employee at the SAPHE Office and R.A.P.E. Center, said knowing what consent means is the biggest problem facing students today.

‘People don’t know what consent is,’ Sears said. ‘When someone is drunk, they are no longer able to give consent – the person who’s receiving consent needs to ask for it.’

By creating awareness about sexual assault, campus leaders like Epstein work to change attitudes such as ‘sexual assault doesn’t happen on campus,’ and help victims move forward in their lives.

‘Most of us really want to think it doesn’t happen – it’s not something you want to think about,’ Epstein said. ‘For the most part, there is a lack of awareness that it truly is happening here.’

All colleges need to increase awareness, and not just the campus environments but communities in general, Waldman said.

Epstein’s daily interactions with rape victims evoked a similar sentiment about the importance of tackling issues of sexual violence on campus.

‘We all need to examine attitudes that contribute to sexual violence,’ Epstein said. ‘It takes an entire community to work together to create a campus that is more respectful.’

As one who has lived through abuse she considers physical, psychological and emotional, Pasarin emphasized that rape is a complicated issue; date rape survivors should speak up, but only when they’re ready.

‘(Rape) can happen to anybody,’ she said. ‘Sometimes people are like, ‘Well, if you’re raped you need to report it’ … sometimes someone isn’t ready to deal with it yet – it took me four years to say anything.’

Published on December 7, 2005 at 12:00 pm