The biggest problem is that not all victims report rapes on or off campus to the proper authorities, and thus colleges and universities' official tallies do not necessarily reflect the true and full extent of the crimes that have occurred on campus. Diane Clark, a professor at Gallaudet University in Washington, D.C., says that "Part of the problem is simply underreporting," She also says that victims are somtime confused about what constitutes rape and that universities often fail to inform them on the issue. (Campuses May Be Developing Tactics to Hide Rapes. Gretchen Cook. Women ENews. 5/25/03). "I'm not convinced that many college students really understand when their rights have been violated and that they don't feel they're at least somewhat to blame," says Clark who have conducted a study on how male and female students perceive sexual assault. (Campuses May Be Developing Tactics to Hide Rapes. Gretchen Cook. Women ENews. 5/25/03).
In the past "..little effort has been made to monitor the crime nationally," according to Women ENews. "It wasn't until 1990 that the Jeanne Clery Disclosure of Campus Security Policy and Campus Crime Statistics Act was passed, named after a student at Lehigh University in Bethlehem, Pa., who was raped and murdered in her dorm in 1986. The law requires any schools receiving federal aid to notify victims of their right to report their assaults to law-enforcement authorities. Schools must also issue annual reports on crimes committed on their campuses."
Since rape and sexual assault crimes are a national problem on all college and university campuses. But for a college campus full of deaf students who live in dormitories breed their own special problems when it comes to rape and sexual assaults. The biggest problem seems to occur in the dormitories as one the more common places for a rape to occur. Dormitories are seen as central meeting places for socialization (and sometimes fraternization) among students and their invited (or uninvited) guests. Environmental settings and circumstances make rape more likely to occur in dormitory rooms.
The night would began innocently when a deaf female student invites her male friend into her dormitory room on a Saturday night and the two would engage in long conversations into the wee hours of the morning, at a time when her deaf roommate has since long retired and already asleep. A moment such as this provide an opportunistic moment for the male (deaf or otherwise, student or not) to commit a sexual assault against the female student. The victim’s roommate who is soundly asleep unaware of the muffled noises of desperation, screams of help and the shouting and signing of "no" her male acquaintance who is raping her. The whole dormitory is full of deaf students where screams or cries would virtually go unheard. This example has actually happened but not only once but many times. The screams or cries could never be loud enough to attract attention for potential witnesses to see the assault occurring.
This sexual assault tactic may have been a common occurrence in deaf dormitories whether in deaf residential schools or on university campuses simply because the attacker took advantage of other people’s deafness and surroundings. And sometimes these incidents occurred when the victim, the attacker or both were drunk or had taken drugs which worsened the situation to the detriment of the female victim.
During a national survey on how rapes are reported the National Baseline Study on Campus Sexual Assault reported that "Research shows that the accused and/or the accuser were likely to have been using alcohol or other drugs prior to a sexual assault. In order to have an additional gauge as to the degree to which alcohol or other drugs use is a factor in sexual assault cases, participants were asked to report the number of cases heard in the past three years in which alcohol or other drugs use by the accuser or accused was a factor" (National Baseline Study on Campus Sexual Assault: Adjudication of Sexual Assault Cases. A Study by the Inter-Association Task Force of the Association for Student Judicial Affairs. Sophie W. Penney, Ph.D.; Lawrence Tucker, Ph.D.; and John Wesley Lowery. 2000).
There are supporting data regarding rape on school campuses but many are anecdotal evidences from the victims themselves who have come forward. This could have been literally a silent epidemic going on campus for many, many years where everybody knew it was going on but nothing much was being done to counter it. The environment on deaf campuses makes it harder for rape not to occur. The empowerment and knowledge must be given to students entering college for the first time and to live in dormitories such as the case for RIT where there is a large presence of deaf students. However, in reality, many of those who were brave enough to report the sexual assaults were often dismissed because of "insufficient evidence" in a student-led judicial court. Many of the offending attackers were reprieved from charges of sexual assault due to the lack of or insufficient "evidence." Often time witnesses were in short supply. And in the end it often turns out to be the male attacker’s words against the victim’s.
Clearly, there are some differences on how sexual assaults occur on deaf college campuses and deaf residential schools but they all share a common thread and that’s "Deaf culture." Deaf culture is not a religious group of any sort. It is a vibrant community. However, many people may see Deaf culture as being the "cultish" type of society with very different mindsets that exist apart from the hearing society. Common themes reported from deaf students who were sexually abused in the past or were raped while attending at a deaf residential school:
"If I report my rape or sexual assault then the school may close."Their love of Deaf culture was so great, some would fear more for the loss of their Deaf residential school or the college’s reputation than themselves. It is almost akin to a wife or girlfriend that gets beaten but will not leave the abuser because she says, "I love him too much." The Deaf community loved their residential schools so much that even rapes would not budge them into action until many, many years later to the point when it became possible to report these incidents without fear of reprisal or fear for the loss of their school.
Now, this may be somewhat an unfair description on why many do not report these sexual assaults. Other factors were involved compounding the problems with the constant history of rapes and sexual assaults. Some schools or college campuses had little or no support for the protection of students because they lacked the proper awareness or the educational means to inform the community. Victims were often too distraught to report a crime. Apathy sometimes compounded the problem. Threats from abusers prevented many victims from reporting to the proper authorities. Schools sometime had improperly planned protection of students or had poorly designed programs to help reduce the risk of crimes against students. Often times it was the embarrassing stigma of being a rape victim that prevented the victim from reporting or warn other students, even years later, about the perpetrator. Despite all of these possible factors, people must acknowledge that there were certain ideological holds that were quite strong within the Deaf community. It was so strong that many Deaf people had to suffer first so that the ideology of a Deaf culture would continue uninterrupted. This may have helped further the perception that the Deaf community is a "cult" of some kind. Rape among the silent community should never be a silent crime.
Rape on campus is not to be overlooked or shoved to the side simply because it’s not news anymore. Or believe that administrators on deaf school campuses have a fix on these things when in fact official reportings of crimes have gone up while student population have gone down. Rapes and sexual assaults on campus are just as bad of an experience for the victims today than when it happened in the 60s, 70s, 80s and 90s. There is always a victim who suffered. Rape is about power and dominance. Learn how to protect yourself before becoming a victim. Learn to report a sexual assault to the proper authorities as soon as possible no matter how minor the incident may seem to be. Sex abuse, assaults and rapes are not to be taken lightly. If you know somebody who got raped or sexually assaulted, it’s important to try and help that student report the rape as soon as possible.
© Copyright 2006 Mike McConnell
Deaf Residential Schools and Other Dirty Little Secrets - Part I
Deaf Residential Schools and Other Dirty Little Secrets - Part II of III
If you have a story about your rape on deaf college campuses, please send your email to Kokonut Pundits. Or if you are a deaf or hard of hearing blogger and want to report your rape experience, please link your story to my blog.
Knowledge is power.
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