STORY BY MORGAN DEZENSKI
The story was called “A Rape on Campus” and it rocked the collegiate world.
The story of a University of Virginia rape case was printed in “Rolling Stone” magazine.
At first, I thought it would shed light on the very important topic that is sexual assault on college campuses.
But a few weeks after the disturbing story was released, the truth was revealed that it was made up.
Not only did I believe this was a huge loss for victims of rape, but I know this will lead to the perpetuation of not reporting a rape after a sexual assault.
As a student on a college campus, sexual assault is one of the acts that you hear about on the news, in email alerts from campus security and through the grapevine.
These incidents can happen any time during the school year, which always makes sexual assault relevant for a college student.
In an article by the Washington Post, the amount of forcible sexual assault reports has increased by 50 percent in the past three years.
Reports occurred at various times throughout the school year.
As these reports of rape increase, psychologists Laura Niemi and Liane Young have concluded that those who hear of rape are more likely to think that the rape was casual and the victim did something to cause it.
This is not the case because there is no way rape should ever be classified as causal.
At the end of 2014 the National Institute of Justice reported that about 18 to 20 percent of college women experience rape or some form of sexual assault in their college years.
70 percent of the time, these acts are preplanned by the perpetrator, said Reel Insight, a company that makes videos to bring awareness to sexual assault.
Reel Insight also reported that victims often blame themselves and experience cognitive dissonance after the event.
Not only are these statistics startling, but they also shed light on the fact that victims are often not comfortable with reporting a rape.
As mentioned earlier, the amount of rapes reported has increased 50 percent since 2012.
However, in a Washington Post study of sexual assault reports, just under 400 universities are not even reporting sexual assault cases.
From 2010 to 2012 our own Drake University had three reports of forcible sexual assaults on campus. Three is too many for me.
I understand that victims will not want to come forward and report a rape, whether it is fear of being blamed, hurting the perpetrator if he/she is a friend or even the embarrassment of the event.
Often, it takes a long time to recover, but by talking to a counselor or a trusted friend, reporting the rape may help one heal after the event.
If a friend comes to you about sexual assault, be understanding and support them, because you never know how much it could help.
While the UVA story may have been false, reporting rape should be taken seriously.
