What is Consent?

Imagine yourself at a bar with a group of your closest friends. You’re laughing, dancing and taking pictures all while sipping on your favorite drink of choice. A guy from your biology lab approaches you and starts talking about that exam you took last Tuesday – you carry on conversation and not long after he is asking if he can take you home.

You agree to go home with him and wake up the next morning realizing the two of you had sex, but the night is a little blurry because of the drinks. There is one part of the night that you are unsure about and that is whether or not you gave consent.

Consent can be defined as “compliance in or approval of what is done or proposed by another,” according to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, but things aren’t that clean cut when it comes to sex or sexual abuse.

In a survey done at Kent State, 100 percent of respondents defined consent as being an agreement that both parties verbally make before having sex.

In the same survey, 78.5% of respondents stated that people under the influence of drugs or alcohol cannot give consent, and even if they say “yes” their state of mind does not allow them to do so.

Cassandra Pegg-Kirby, the assistant director at the Women’s Center said “if someone has consented before, it doesn’t mean it will be consent again for future instances. Also, if they consent to one that, that does not mean they are consenting to another thing.”

National averages show that 69.9% of victims know their offender; this type of abuse is known as acquaintance rape.

“I think the percentages of these kinds of rapes are so high because people are more likely to leave with someone they feel comfortable with,” said Mackenzie Lunde, a senior fashion merchandising major. “Unfortunately, I think that also means people are more likely to be taken advantage of.”

The term “date rape” has become more prevalent in society even though the victim might not actually be dating the victim.

When it comes to reporting sexual assault cases on college campuses, national averages show that more than 50% of students don’t report sexual assault because they don’t think the case will be taken serious enough.

At Kent State, the sexual and relationship violence support services have a variety of services available to students in need of help.

Interviews with Lieutenant Michael Lewis
by: Eric Rivers

Kent’s Police Administrative Lieutenant Michael Lewis giving the legal definition of consent.

Lieutenant Lewis explaining what type of misconducts the city of Kent’s Police department classifies as a sexual offensive.

The legal jurisdiction rights between the city of Kent’s police department and the Kent State campus police.

In this clip, Lieutenant Lewis is giving the number of crimes categorized as a sexual offense by the city of Kent’s Police department in 2012, 2013 and 2014.

In this clip, Lieutenant Lewis is giving the number of crimes classified as rape by the city of Kent’s Police department.

In this clip, Lieutenant Lewis explains why the number of rapes may be different from the number of rape convictions in a given year.

The importance of a sexual assault victim getting counseling and where that counseling can come from in the city of Kent.

Green Dot at KSU:
by: Jessa Schroeder

The Green Dot workshop is an interactive group where members learn and discuss issues going on about power based personal violence and learn how to be educated and involved bystanders so we can lower the red dots (which are dangerous indicators of various types of violence) and convert them into more green dots (positive solutions to violence).

Roughly 37 people attended the workshop that was held on November 14th.

The presentation focused on how bystanders can recognize red dots and effectively turn them into green dots. “From red dots to green dots”: A green dot is any behavior, choice or action that promotes safety for everyone and communicates utter intolerance for sexual violence, dating/domestic violence, and stalking. A green dot is intervening in a high-risk situation – a green dot is hanging a prevention poster in your room – a green dot is getting your student organization trained on green dot prevention – a green dot is putting a link on your Facebook page to your local prevention program – a green dot is wearing your green dot gear. A green dot is simply your individual choice at any given moment to make our campus safer — according to the presentation.

Assistant Director at the Women’s Center Cassandra Pegg-Kirby, led the workshop and said “the Green Dot program is research based and their studies have shown that even by attending a Green Dot overview, individuals in attendance are much more likely to do a Green Dot.”

She said she believes Green Dot is incredibly effective. “It is a life skill that can be utilized in a number of situations. It also brings everyone to the table around issues of sexual assault since we are all bystanders to things every day”, said Pegg-Kirby.

During the workshop, the group interactively discussed a variety of definitions of domestic violence, stalking and other violent behaviors in relationship. After, the group came to a conclusion of a definition statement for each.

What is dating/domestic violence? (interactive): Isolating partner from loved ones, control over finances, sexual, physical, mental abuse, using children/family against their will, how they look/dress/eat, control over finances, verbal abuse, humiliating someone, something someone uses to control another.

What is your definition of stalking? (interactive): Stalking is a pattern of behavior that makes someone feel afraid, harassed and unwanted behavior.

Stalking behaviors within a relationship (also common behaviors in relationships):

-nonstop texting each day
-showing up where the person is
-tracking status on Facebook
-calling someone all the time
-giving gifts

Partner violence behaviors (also common behaviors within a relationship):

-feeling jealous and possessive
-wanting to be with the person all the time
-spending less time with family and friends
-checking in frequently to see where partner is

Concerning behaviors that could lead to sexual assault (also common behaviors within a consensual hookup)

-identifies someone they think they can score with
-turns on the charm and tries to get the person to like them
-buys the person a few drinks
-uses some cheesy line like, “your place or mine?”
-sexual contact occurs

After group discussion concerning how to differentiate between what is acceptable activity within relationships vs. such harmful activity, most agreed that a commonground and understanding between both parties of what is acceptable and comfortable for each is necessary. When one or more parties becomes uncomfortable or begins to feel threatened by the other party, that is when violence becomes a red flag.

What is a bystander?

A bystander is anyone in a community who sees or hears about a behavior that could lead to something high risk or harmful. Every bystander faces the same choice. “Do I get involved and try to make things better? Or do I ignore the situation?”

According to points made at the workshop, “doing something and doing nothing are both choices that we need to live with.”

Passive bystander: those who choose to do nothing

Green Dot bystander: individuals who do something to decrease the likelihood that something bad- like a red dot- will occur or get worse.

For further information or to register for the Green Dot Bystander Workshop, contact the SRVSS Office at 330-672-8061.

Where is Green Dot’s primary financial assistance coming from? Is it worth our money?

Jennifer O’Connell, Director of the Sexual and Relationship Violence Support Services (or SRVSS), said all of the money for supporting the Green Dot initiative is coming out of the SRVSS Office budget.

“I think it is a great use of funding (again – we are all bystanders and what is being taught are life skills and adaptable to each individual based on their own barriers, etc.”

Pegg-Kirby said the planning started well before the official kickoff, but Green Dot launch took place in Fall of 2014 and started with 5 trained facilitators. “Last summer, while holding Green Dot training workshop on campus, we were able to train another 25-30 people on the Kent Campus, Regional Campuses and at other universities in NE Ohio,” she added.

“We have held approximately 3 (6-8 hour trainings) a semester over the last 2 years, along with trainings with the football team, USG and Gender and Communications classes. We have also held numerous “overview talks” lasting anywhere from 30 – 90 minutes to FYE classes, fraternities, student groups, residence hall groups, etc.”

O’Connell was also able to give a 10 minute presentation at all of the DKS sessions.

O’Connell  said “I think we are definitely gaining momentum and are continuing to pick up speed. We are really looking forward to a great semester.”

So what results do they hope participants will take away from it?

Here are some things they believe are important:

To convey messages that:

1. Violence will not be tolerated.
2. We each can do our part.
3. Doing something or doing nothing – both are choices and both have consequences. We often think not getting involved is remaining neutral but it’s important to realize that not getting involved can have very real consequences.
4. When you are thinking in terms of a bystander – remember that you might be most connected to the potential red dot generator or the target. Sometimes that is an eye opener for people.
5. The three things we ask people to do as a bystander.
6. Check in.
7. Take a second look.
8. What would you do if it was someone you loved?

“With these key things in mind, I would hope that that as a bystander, people will feel empowered to do something – they may do it differently than I would or you would but even in spite of our obstacles and challenges, we can all still find a way to do something and can change a culture just by the small choices we make every day”, said Pegg-Kirby.

Further research on Green Dot can be found here.

Acquaintance Rape Goes Unreported on College Campuses

By: Brittany Rees

Sitting in a horseshoe on three blue, squat chairs in the Kent campus library, three college-aged women spoke. At first, they spoke very little. Soon, they excitedly spoke over each other, trying to best each other’s knowledge and experiences as survivors of sexual assault.

None of the women preferred to give their real names. Instead, they each picked an alias. Sam didn’t stop wringing her hands during the first 20 minutes of the conversation. Lexie wore an over-sized sweatshirt and was the only woman there who emphasized direct eye contact. Finally, Amanda sat, the first to tell her story.

“It’s pretty much exactly how you’d expect it would go. It’s pretty cliche,” Amanda said of the night she was raped by a man she knew. “All of my friends were at a party. We were drinking, obviously.” She hesitated before giving another alias. “Jacob kept handing me more and more drinks and I pretty much totally blacked out. Then I woke up, pretty much totally naked, alone in a bathroom. My friends told me Jacob carried me in there after I passed out. No one questioned it because we knew each other.”

The other two girls nodded as Amanda spoke.

“But the thing is, he didn’t drink at all. He was totally sober. And he just kept feeding me drinks to get me to blackout,” Amanda said. “I feel like I keep having to justify myself, even when I talk about it with friends who were there.”

What happened to Amanda, as well as Sam and Lexie, is called acquaintance rape. As the name suggests, acquaintance rape is an act of sexual assault in which the perpetrator is someone the victim knows and often goes unreported to the police.

According to the Rape, Abuse and Incest National Network (RAINN), 82 percent of rape incidents were committed by someone the victim knew, while 47 percent are committed by friends of the victim. However, it’s the most under-reported crime in the country.

“That makes sense,” Lexie said. “I mean, none of us reported it to the cops. It’s one of those things where you feel guilty. You feel like it was your fault. Or you feel embarrassed. When it’s someone you know, it’s harder to blame them.”

The other two girls concurred. “Yeah, like I said. Even my friends wouldn’t believe me entirely,” Amanda added. “So if my friends won’t believe what happened, cops sure won’t.”

Sam nodded along.

In the city of Kent, only two incidents of rape were reported in 2014, while 5 were reported in 2013. In both years, no arrests were made for those reports. On paper, the low number of reports seems like something the city of Kent should applaud itself for, verifying its reputation as a safe, quiet town. However, the women weren’t sure those were the conclusions to be drawn.

“The reports definitely don’t match the actual number of crimes there are. That’s just not realistic,” Lexie said.

“I don’t even think Kent is unsafe. That’s not what I’m saying,” Lexie said. “I can walk alone at night and feel totally safe. I live alone in an apartment and that’s totally safe. It’s not the city that’s not safe. It’s the culture within the college.

“The mentality created in colleges, any college, is going to be worse when it comes to crimes like that.”

In a study conducted by Westat for the Association of American universities in 2014, one in four college women are raped. A vast majority of them are raped by people they know. The study also found these rates are rising.

With advancement of technology and the rapid growth of social media, the topic isn’t being ignored, though it isn’t necessarily being helped either.

Peppered throughout social medium Yik Yak, an unrelenting feed of anonymous statements on campus life, are warnings, urging students not to lose their senses at this or that fraternity. Throughout the feed, there are also anonymous students admitting to either having been a victim of sexual assault on campus or even having been the perpetrator.

“It’s true,” Sam said as she looked through a particular comment thread on Yik Yak which accused various fraternities of turning a blind eye to sexual assault. “I’ve had so many friends get date raped at those houses.”

When it comes to lowering rates, Sam believes it comes down to erasing the stigma associated with rape.

“There’s nothing police can really do,” she said. “The actual victims need to stop feeling so ashamed and start speaking out.”

Jane: “I was afraid”

By: Ray Strickland

Sexual assaults on and off college campuses have been a big problem not only for universities, but for law enforcement to track down the suspects. 98 percent of rapists never spend a day in jail or prison, according to the Rape Abuse & Incest National Network (RAINN). What makes it even worst is that four out of five sexual assault victims are assaulted by someone they know—even a boyfriend. Jane, whose name has been changed for her own safety, was sexually assaulted for months by her ex-boyfriend, causing her to become depressed and afraid to say no to him. In an interview by TV2’s Ray Strickland, Jane told Ray about the abuse and why she never reported the incidents.