Tag Archives: Penn State

Leasons Learned Admist a Tragedy at Penn State

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It is difficult to open up any newspaper, news website, or blog related to sexual violence that does not bombard you with Joe Paterno headlines and allegations against Sandusky. Indeed, Penn State has flooded America and left a rumbling of emotion and opinion. I have followed this case closely in the media for the mere purpose of listening to what the media is telling the public. Certainly, this is all anyone knows — including the Penn State community — what the media is saying is what the public knows. The truth about what really happened is in the hands of our court system and we must place faith in that. It is not our role to determine guilt or innocence. With than being said, I am amidst the millions that share outrage and sadness in the aftermath of the disclosure of this tragedy. I believe we can all walk away with valuable lessons from the Penn State “scandal.” I want to touch upon these lessons briefly.

First, I believe Dr. Yvonna K. Fulbright, a writer for the Huffington Post said it best when she wrote,

“If you’re not a Penn Stater, don’t judge. Sadly, you need to do no more than look in your own backyard to find that the same wrongs are being committed against other children. According to the National Resource Council, at least 20-24% of the U.S. population has been sexually abused. It’s an issue affecting every community, and more needs to be done about it everywhere.”

It is extremely easy for us to all walk around with a bad taste in our mouth regarding Penn State. Joe Paterno, as many articles have noted, is Penn State. He is the king (These are not my words, they are those of journalists reporting on the recent events). Indeed, a handful of Penn State faculty, who were prominent in the community and well trusted, let their community down. But the Penn State community is not at fault.  I cannot tell you how to think or feel toward the football coaches and the President of the University, but I can strongly recommend that you do not let those opinions mesh with your beliefs about the Penn State community. After Penn State lost in their last home game on Saturday against Nebraska, my newsfeed on Facebook was inundated with statuses saying they deserved to lose, they were an awful team, and other rude assumptions about the football team. I’d like to believe that these friends were just participating in normative sports banter as they would about the Greenbay Packers or the New York Yankees, but I m afraid that is not the case. Rather, they were letting a handful of people’s actions blur their opinion about an entire sports team. Let us not forget that when these alleged abuses were occurring, the current football players were not on the team.

Second, the tragedy at Penn State emphasizes the reality that most perpetrators of sexual abuse are people that we know and trust. Let us use this story as an opportunity to further dismantle the belief that perpetrators are the ‘strangers in the bushes’ so to speak. Further, and this gets me into my third lesson, we must all fulfill our duty to protect members of our community. The entire under-girding of the outcry about Penn State is that no one reported anything to the police despite witnessing abuse taking place. Of course, we all do not know how we would act in those situations, but it is important to think about it for ourselves now in case we are, unfortunately, faced as a witness in the future. Up until this week, the media lost sight of the victim side of this story, which was a tragedy in and of itself. But we must not forget the victims deserve help, protection, and justice. My heart goes out to the victims, who are now adults and may have never disclosed to anyone, who are likely being re-traumatized by the news stories and public opinions.

Although the victims in this story were young children, the lessons must trickle into campus safety regarding sexual violence. Kayla Webley reminds us that,

“…disclosing campus crime has often been a process fraught with confusion, loopholes, inaction, inconsistencies and, in some cases, negligence and cover-ups.”

The lesson here is two-fold. First, campus authorities must take reports of sexual violence seriously. They must respect the alleged victim’s report and follow through with an open investigation. Favoring a university’s reputation over any individual’s life is immoral and results in a loss of trust and respect within the university community. The response from campus authorities inevitably determines if alleged victims will come forward.  Second, students on campus must become allies against sexual violence and inform their peers that such behaviors will not be tolerated. Peer pressure is a very strong tool. We lay a lot of trust and responsibility in the authorities and faculty — as we should — but we almost must begin to place that trust and responsibility in the student body. If you witness a person being sexually harassed or assaulted, stand up for the victim. Empower him or her to get help. Protect your peers and ensure your own safety.

Overall, the media has made this story about a legendary football network. The media has referred to Joe Paterno as the king. The media has overwhelmed society with implanted emotions. Please take everything you read with a grain of salt, but do not lose sight of the lessons that can be taken away from the general story. Sexual abuse is very real and it does not discriminate across gender, age, race, socioeconomic status, or abilities. Child sexual abuse is a greater tragedy in this world than anything Penn State will ever know.

“Kiss Me, I’m Wasted”

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I’m totally digging the editorial board at Penn State University’s Daily Collegian right now for their editorial taking a stand against the t-shirts being sold for this year’s “State Patty’s Day.”

For some context I had to look into what the hell “State Patty’s Day” is, and apparently it’s an annual pre-spring break student holiday that’s been going on since 2007. It’s basically—surprise!—early St. Patrick’s day, with local merchants pulling out all the usual St. Patty’s stops like green beer and (although this is new for me) green-crusted pizza? Unsurprisingly, State Patty’s Day leads to a lot of alcohol related conduct violations, and last year the event’s founder actually publicly denounced it. In 2009, “police saw students vomiting or urinating on sidewalks in broad daylight. Drunken driving arrests were up, and more than 20 people needed emergency medical services.” The event’s founder called it “despicable…a real black eye for our community.” Despite some local bars agreeing not to participate, in 2010 the event went on as planned and local police got 365 calls, EMS got 53 calls (the majority of both were related to alcohol), and 160 were arrested.

AND it’s going to happen again this year. Which is where the t-shirts come in. Two students started a facebook event to sell t-shirts for State Patty’s Day 2011 that say, “Kiss Me, I’m Wasted.” (Get it! Like “Kiss Me, I’m Irish,” only making light of the serious issue of alcohol and consent! HAHAHA LOL.)

The Daily Collegian editorial touches on the issue of sexual assault (nice job, ya’ll!!), but focuses more on the impact the event has on the school’s reputation, as well as the fact that the t-shirts were not designed by a student:

This seems like another way for students and visitors from outside of Penn State to take advantage of our hospitality, our sense of community and our party-school reputation.

Last year, 150 of the 241 citations issued by police during State Patty’s Day came from non-students.

Now it’s outsiders who are contributing to our infamous party-school standing.

And worse, they are beginning to make money off of it.

I like the “community” framework a lot. We talk about “campus community” all the time at SAFER, the idea being that not only should school administrations be accountable to their students, but students should be accountable to each other and want to create a community that is safe and doesn’t tolerate violence. Speaking up about stuff like this is one way to hold your fellow students accountable.

The Nice Guy

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A topic that comes up again and again is that of the “nice guy rapist,” or “acquaintance rapist.” He might be a good friend or someone that everyone considers a all-around good guy. This type of rapist is more common than the one depicted in movies or stories; the one that looks sinister and lurks in the shadows.

An article from the Centre Daily discusses the confusion and backlash that often follows when a woman is a survivor of an acquaintance rape:

“When they realize what happened to them is not OK, they struggle with, ‘Who can I tell?’ Because everyone else knows him, because everyone else thinks he’s a great guy,” Fishel said.
To one former Penn State student, this profile is all too familiar. Several years ago, she reported to police that she was raped on campus by a man she’d recently met.
“I knew that I was going to be blamed for it,” she said, speaking on the condition of anonymity. “My own mother, when I first told her, was like, ‘What did you do? What were you wearing?’ It’s just a perfect example of the way society treats it.”
She found the backlash for reporting the assault almost worse than the assault itself.
“Someone said she was sorry that I regretted having sex with him and had to bring this out against him,” she said. Other people told her, “He is such a loving and wonderful guy, how could I ever accuse someone like that of being essentially a rapist.”

One woman who had been sexually assaulted used facebook as a creep check. Obviously she couldn’t have known that her attacker would do anything to her, but it does show the extent to which people use social networking sites to see if potential friends or dates pass the normalcy test. Family photos? Check. Normal hobbies? Check. Plenty of friend posts? Must be well-liked… check.

Unfortunately, that leads to an early conviction that the individual can be trusted:

“What I saw of his profile and stuff like that was pictures of him and his parents,” she said. “You’re not going to assume that he’s some kind of, someone that’s going to harm you in any way.”

These sexual assault scenarios are all too common on campuses and to make matters worse, they are often treated as less traumatic to the victim, when the betrayal of trust can make it all the more worse.

Three Months, Three Years, Three Days

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So, if there were a sexual assault reported to the police on your campus, what would you consider a “timely” notification to students that the assault had been reported?

Personally, I think I’d want to know relatively quickly, so I could take appropriate actions to protect myself.

Sooo… About three months after the incident? Yeah. That sounds about right.

According to the Daily Collegian:

The federal Clery Act requires universities to report in a timely manner crimes “considered by the campus to represent a threat to students and employees.”

Though Penn State Police originally reported what they now suspect was an April 5 sexual assault as an “assault on a female,” police said they reported what they thought was appropriate at the time.

“Whether it’s an assault or a sexual assault — that’s just a play on words,” said Detective Bill Wagner, one of two detectives who investigated the incident.

In this case, determining the veracity of the victim’s claims was the first priority, Wagner said.

“We don’t go out reporting sexual assaults that don’t occur,” he said. “We’re going to investigate it.”

Nothing to see here, folks. Just a “play on words.”

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