On Monday evening, I ran from my last class of the day—my night class—over to our campus’s auditorium to receive class credit for a speaker. Her name is Katie Koestner. I had never heard of her before, and while I was aware I have to be here for class, I was unaware of what she is going to speak about. However, I did expect it to be interesting, because my professor only has us attend outside events that will give us a lasting impact. And as it turned out, Katie did just that.
Katie began by sharing her story with us. As a member of the audience having no idea what the presentation was about, I was immediately captivated by her attention to detail. She explained her young childhood, her journey to enrolling in college, all of which led up to a date with a really cute boy. In her mind at the time, the date was going so perfectly it was better than anything she could have ever dreamt about. After, the two returned back to their dorm and shared a dance in her room under her perfectly placed glow-in-the-dark ceiling stars. What happened next, however, is as far from a dream as one would ever imagine: Katie was held down and raped on her bedroom floor. Through her cries of “no” her assailant replied, “calm down, everything’s going to be fine.”
The events that followed in the upcoming days are just as horrific. Katie went to health services to report what happened to her and was sent away with sleeping pills. She then went to the Dean of Students, who told her “this was a serious accusation” and she should “rethink” it. At a loss with the lack of support her campus provided her, she turned to her family. She called her father, an FBI agent, and after describing the events to him he replied “it would have never happened if you hadn’t let him into her room,” and he then hung up on her. Even after exhausting every possible avenue, Katie continued to fight. She led the first ever sexual misconduct hearing at her university which then only had a one line policy in their handbook addressing rape stating: “you may not sexually assault someone.” Although Katie’s attacker was found guilty of “date rape,” he was given no punishment.
With the help and support of absolutely no one—not friends, not family, or the school—Katie bravely continued to fight. She wrote a letter to the parents of other college students urging them to do something before her story became the story of their kids. This letter was sent to a newspaper and is what opened the door for dozens of calls from newspapers and talk shows, asking to hear her story. Katie kept talking and eventually people began to listen.
What struck me the most was her insane amount of perseverance. She continued to speak out after 2,000 students signed a petition saying she lied. She continued to speak out after the dean said that her and her attacker “make a really nice couple and he likes you, so maybe you could get back together.” She continued to speak out after both of her parents cut her of financially for what she was doing.
Thank you, Katie, for being the first to speak out about rape on college campuses. Thank you, Katie, for continuously sharing your story so that others would eventually share theirs. Thank you, Katie, for never giving up.