SAVP responds to rape rumors

Ariel Schwarz Asst. News Editor

Responding to a student-wide e-mail from the security department about the false rumor of six rapes that occurred on campus last year, SAVP (Sexual Assault Violence Prevention) sent another e-mail on Sept. 6 to educate students about resources available on campus for victims. This e-mail was also signed by Dean of College J.J. Jackson and Dean of Students D.B. Brown.

“We recognize that no college is immune to the unfortunate realities of sexual assault,” the e-mail read. “The College has many campus support systems in place for assisting victims. These include SAVP, CARES, a peer listening resource for students affected by abuse, Counseling Services, Health Services and the Sexual Assault Response Team.”

Director of Health Education Michelle Soucy explained, “SAVP was created because rape is an unfortunate reality in our society. I think it’s important to recognize that sexual violence is not rape. It includes sexual assault, relationship abuse, and stalking.” Soucy said that no rapes were reported to SAVP in 2003, but many students came to the group for support. She noted, “More often than not, the abuse has occurred in the past…By contacting SAVP, a student is not required to report and SAVP will not file any report elsewhere.”

Head of Metcalf Sylvia Balderrama was interested in how the rumor got started. “I hadn’t heard students reporting the rumor, or at least not to us.” She said, “What kind of conversations were going around campus that flared up to something that security felt they needed to respond to?”

Balderrama said that security, “was responding to phone calls and e-mails sent to them about this information floating on campus.”

When asked about the quick response of SAVP to the security e-mail, Balderrama said, “If I were a rape counselor advocate, I would also be pretty inflamed to think that the first year class or anybody might think that there are no rapes going on on-campus, because that is inaccurate.” She thought that CARES might have responded to make their services better known so they could reach out to victims of sexual assault who would not otherwise know about the group.

Balderrama encourages anyone who has dealt with sexual assault to visit Metcalf. She explained, “We have trained mental health professionals who have experience in working with sexual assault cases…We work on a daily basis with individuals who are overcoming traumatic challenges and coordinate with other services on and off-campus."