When a Georgia Southern University student was allegedly sexually assaulted in August, she didn’t report it because she felt it was her fault, she told police.
However, a recent sexual harassment course through the university’s ROTC program prompted her to go to police.
She contacted university police around 5 p.m. Dec. 5 to report having been sexually assaulted in her home Aug. 23, according to an incident report. She told police she felt responsible for what happened until she took the course and realized that she had been raped.
The student met officers at the university police department to report the crime. The report did not list the exact location of the incident but did specify that it occurred within walking distance of a University Plaza bar.
“Cadets in the Georgia Southern University ROTC program are afforded a unique opportunity when it comes to sexual assault and harassment prevention training,” said Paige Fluker, the university’s assistant director of communications.
“In addition to the university’s required training for all new students, freshmen and transfer, cadets also partake in the Army’s Sexual Harassment Assault Response Prevention, or SHARP, training. Both programs work hand in hand by using scenario-based visuals to communicate the importance of prevention, intervention and how not to revictimize the victim,” she said.
This happened in the context of an increased national conversation surrounding sexual assaults of college students. Higher education institutions across the country are under more public scrutiny as some high-profile reports of sexual assaults have emerged.
There is pending legislation in the U.S. Senate that would tighten reporting requirements of sexual assaults on higher education institutions.
At Georgia Southern, six forcible sex offenses were reported in 2013, according to the university’s Clery Act report, the current law governing campus crime statistics reporting. That was up from two in 2012 and three in 2011.
The rape that happened close to University Plaza took place around 9 p.m. Aug. 23, according to the university police report.
The woman told officers she and three men, whom she listed by name, went to a bar that night. One man began buying drinks and the woman said that “by drink number two she was drunk,” an officer stated in the report.
The woman said the man continued buying “shots,” and later stated he wanted to “get out of there.”
She said he walked her back to her building, and then all she could remember after that was being naked in the shower with him, according to the police report.
The woman told officers that she and the offender got out of the shower and he began “pushing sex,” but she refused. According to the report, she told the accused offender she was a virgin, liked women and was uncomfortable because her roommate was home.
However, the man kept pressing her until they were engaged in sexual relations, she said.
She told police she asked him to stop because the bed was making noise, and he suggested they move to the floor, officers stated in the report.
The woman then stated when it was over, she returned to the bed until the offender left. Then she “showered and cried and went to sleep,” the report says.
She told police she sought counseling after the incident, but was told the counseling center was booked. Officers taking her report Dec. 5 made calls to arrange for immediate counseling, reports stated.
The reported rape is currently under investigation by university police, the report states.
Holli Deal Saxon may be reached at (912) 489-9414.