As a part of the University of Denver’s Sexual Assault Awareness Month, Anne Munch gave a kick-off speech on March 30. Anne Munch interned at a family crisis center in college. At this crisis center, there were children who were abused, and they played with other children. This made them feel better, and more like normal children despite what they went through. She decided to go into law to help these children. She states that the stats on sexual assault are the same from when she went to DU compared to the current stats. Munch calls victim blaming as the “second rape”. She talked about how she is amazed that people ask victims in court why they didn’t respond or fightback. Psychologically during trauma, we don’t use our prefrontal cortex (ration), we use amygdala (fight or flight) which is out of our ration control.
She also states that “when fear is in the room, consent is not.” She is concerned with why this happens, the objectification of women. Munch believes that is due to advertising, porn, media which displays a mix of violence with women sexually. Because of how we display women culturally, this leads to objectification. Anne Munch’s main claim was that porn negatively changes our view about sex and about women.
Also, on March 31, was the Sexual Assault Panel Luncheon. There were three panelists: Jon Krakauer, Anne Munch, and Debbie Osgood, all of which came together to discuss sexual assault, specifically on college campuses.
Debbie Osgood is a civil rights lawyer who worked at the Office for Civil Rights before and after the Dear Colleague Letter in 2011. One of her main points was that we need to shift from schools placing responsibility on police. So how do we make sexual assault prevention effective? Osgood states that with training and a change to the culture, we can help solve the issue of sexual assault.
John Krakauer is the author of “Missoula: Rape and the Justice System in a College Town”. He talks about how people slip through the cracks, and how he has heard many stories from countless survivors. In schools, he says, it’s not a criminal matter, but rather a civil rights issue. He also discussed how the criminal justice system is horrible at dealing with rape; only 6% get prosecuted and 3% get jail time. This gives lack of accountability for the perpetrator.
Anne Munich was formally a prosecutor and advocate for victims of sexual assault. She talked about how we need to bring people in as advisors and listen, and ask them how to change it. Since the general public does not want to talk about it, these sexual assult survivors are not able to get what they need.
John Krakauer discussed how if someone is sexually assaulted at a school, FERPA allows the university to use confidential records against them. This is doing the opposite of what FERPA is intended for: to protect privacy. He also talked about if someone is sexually assaulted at a school, to not seek counseling through the school. The school wants to protect their brand, so the student most likely will not receive the help they need if they go to school-funded councilers.
Anne Munch then goes on to say how the number of cases has stayed the same because people do not classify it as rape, don’t report it, or don’t tell anyone. False reporting is what most people belive is the issue here, however the real issue is underreporting. Our culture is already minimizing the crime mentally; however, the numbers point to the fact that the pendulum has not swung too far.
Debbie Osgood claims that this is an issue that is taking away from education. Munch says that this is not only a criminal issue, and law enforcement all around the country is lacking in this issue. She states that responses to people who were sexually assaulted need to begin with the survivor; they need to choose to speak up, and then the universities should help to provide some sort of closure for these survivors. Victims of sexual assault are at high risk of suicide, and schools should be able to help with this issue.
Osgood then talks about how the school can punish students for plagiarism, theft, etc., but when it comes to sexual violence, they sit back and do nothing. It is the schools job to make sure that the students can participate in education, and sexual violence is taking away from this.
All the panelists stressed that we need to support survivors; they are everywhere, and many of them may not have told anyone about what they have gone through. We have the opportunity to be a part of the change and the solution to sexual assault on college campuses. We need to push universities to look at this problem, and have an active voice about this problem.
Thank you to Lily Nussbaum and Ellie Feinberg for their detailed notes on these two events. There are more sexual assault awareness events coming up at DU! Interested? Click here to see the list!