Assault reports up, officials not worried

Four women have reported assaults by men on campus in the past four weekends, but police and administrators say it is difficult to determine if this represents an increase from the norm.\nOf the assaults on women reported to the IU Police Department this semester, three have been sex-related, according to the police reports. Of those three, two were reported rapes and the other was a reported attempted rape.\nDean of Students Dick McKaig said he doesn't believe the recent rate of reports necessarily equates to a rise in the number of assaults.\n"One of the things that I think is somewhat \nfrustrating about my job is that folks don't appreciate how frequently these things happen on a college campus," he said. "We do have a problem, as most campuses do, with sexual assault."\nIUPD Lt. Jerry Minger said the recent number of reports is unusually high, but assaults often go unreported.\n"I wouldn't say that it's actually a normal occurrence to have something like that go on with such frequency," Minger said. "But it's hard to tell whether or not these things have gone on in the past and have just gone under-reported."\nCarol McCord, assistant dean for women's affairs, said the reports may be a positive change.\n"Of course there's not really a way to know -- sexual assault has always been dramatically under-reported," she said. "When we see a spike in reporting, my assessment is that we're seeing an increase in reporting rather than assaults."\nThe increase in assault reports, McCord said, could partially be the product of an aggressive campaign from IU and the Office of Women's Affairs encouraging women to report sexual assaults.\nMcKaig pointed out one prominent factor that often makes reporting sexual assaults difficult.\n"Most people think of a sexual assault as a stranger attacking someone, but in reality most of the sexual batteries and assaults occur in students' rooms, involving people they have met at a party or have known for some time," he said.\nIn fact, all four victims reported they did know their assailants, according to the police reports. Three of the women referred to their assailants as "friends," while the other reported meeting the person at a party.\nSeeing other reports of sexual assault in the news often encourages women to report their own, McCord said.\n"If people see that other people have been reporting, they're more comfortable doing it themselves," McCord said. "You need to encourage people (to report) when it's someone they know, and seeing that other people have reported helps."\nMladen Djankovich, creator of www.Pepperface.com, a Web site that markets fashionable pepper spray for women and strives to promote sexual assault awareness, agreed with McCord and said the recent rate of reports is probably an indicator of positive change.\n"That's really a good thing, actually -- I know it doesn't sound like it," said Djankovich, who graduated from IU in 1999. "Part of the biggest problem is that people don't come forward with it."\nDjankovich said he is trying to help combat this epidemic by designing pepper spray that college-aged women will be more encouraged to carry. \n"This is a way to get the attention and keep the attention for a group who is the most sought-after and inundated group: the young woman," he said.\nProfits from www.Pepperface.com merchandise are donated to the National Center for Domestic Violence. The pepper spray is not available in stores because Djankovich wants women to visit the Web site and look through the information as well.\nAlthough Minger, McKaig and McCord said there is no real way to tell, McCord said she hopes the recent rate of reports of assault represents an increase in reports, not assaults.\n"It's hard for me when people just jump to conclusions instead of trying to figure it out," she said.