Friends of Middle Way House demonstrate for sexual assault prevention

2.\n14. \n58. \nMen and women bearing numbers such as these on their shirts met for Stand Up and Be Counted to represent student victims of sexual assault Thursday outside Woodburn Hall.\nThree percent of college women are victims of rape or attempted rape in a given year, according to a 2001 Department of Justice report Bethany Bey of Friends of Middle Way House cited as she opened \nthe demonstration.\nUsing this statistic, the organization estimates 589 of IU Bloomington’s 19,646 female students have been or will be victimized this year.\n“As many of you know, rape is one of the lowest-reported crimes,” Bey said to her audience of 25-35 people. Bey said the purpose of the rally was to represent fellow students who have been victimized and to tell the University it needs better prevention programs.\nThe Rape, Abuse and Incest National Network reports that one in six women will be sexually assaulted in their lifetime – and college-age women are four times as likely to be assaulted.\nFirst to speak was senior Mike Raunick, the president of Raising Awareness of Interactions in Sexual Encounters. The organization is a peer-education group that speaks to dorms, classes, fraternities and sororities – “anyone who will have us,” Raunick said.\nHe said the goal of his organization is to improve gender communication.\n“People view this as a women’s issue ... This is a men’s issue as much if not more than it is a women’s issue,” said Raunick, the sole male speaker, in his speech. “Men need to listen and respect when women say ‘no.’”\nForest King, Middle Way House’s crisis services coordinator, explained “the victim’s experience” to attendees, citing fear, shock, numbness, guilt, shame and loss of trust as common resulting feelings.\n“For her, the sexual assault was a life-threatening event,” King said. “The perpetrator deprived her of her own self-determination.”\nKing also warned that “she will blame herself,” but agreed with Raunick that “the only one who can stop a sexual assault is the perpetrator” and whatever choices the victim made to stay alive were the right ones.\nIU first lady and Middle Way Board of Directors member Laurie McRobbie spoke next, first thanking everyone for their time and efforts.\n“It sends a very clear message that sexual assault will not be tolerated in our community,” she said.\nAfter giving more disturbing statistics – “about 30 women, while we stand here, will be assaulted” in the United States – McRobbie ended by encouraging all present to “keep up the good work.”\nSophomore Laurie Griesinger, director of activism for the Women’s Student Association, was fourth on the roster and talked about the sexual assault awareness program at her Freshman Orientation in 2006.\n“I was deeply affected by the program, but many of my peers were laughing and not taking the program seriously at all,” she said.\nGriesinger said the subject needs to be more visible and less silent in society.\n“Sexual assault infuses our society with fear,” she said. “There are people who know about it and refuse to acknowledge it.”\nLiz Hannibal, a Middle Way women’s advocate and case manager, spoke next.\n“In the last four years, I’ve served hundreds of women,” she said. “I’ve held hands, I’ve watched rape kits and I’ve seen victims become survivors.”\nHannibal warned that silence allows sexual assault to continue.\n“Stand up for yourselves and the lives of your friends,” she urged. “If you see someone doing something wrong, tell them to stop (or call the police).”\nSenior Francesca Monn read a speech by Eva Feldman, who became active in rape prevention after her daughter was raped in McNutt Residence Center in April 2006. Feldman, who also has a Web site called “Campus Rape,” could not attend the rally due to family obligations. \nFeldman compared rape to “a virtual hand grenade” that explodes into an unsuspecting person’s life and warned that silence only perpetuates the violence.\nSenior Daniel Donner, an on-scene advocate for Middle Way, wore a “Thursdays in Black” T-shirt, a program some groups are doing to publicize that April is Sexual Assault Awareness Month. As a man, Donner is a minority in the program, which he said they would like to improve.\n“The more male volunteers we can get, the better,” he said. “You just have to show a commitment to the cause and the organization.”\nDonner said prevention is always better than responsive action.\n“I am part of a more reactive system and this is a more proactive system,” Donner said. “The more sexual assault awareness is raised, hopefully the less it will occur.”