Sexual Assault Awareness Month begins

The Office for Victim Advocacy and Violence Prevention is a service provided by UTRGV for students who are victims and survivors of sexual assault, domestic violence, dating violence, stalking, sexual harassment and interpersonal violence. AALIYAH GARZA/THE RIDER

Clarification: An article published April 1 in The Rider and headlined, “Sexual Assault Awareness Month begins,” stated that 11 reports of sexual assault were reported in the span of three years at UTRGV, according to the Annual Security and Fire Safety Report 2018 for UTRGV. The article also quoted Cynthia Jones, director of the Office for Victim Advocacy and Violence Prevention, as saying, “If I had to guess, I’d say we probably saw between 50 and 60 cases of sexual assault last academic year. That’s roughly a norm.” However, not all 50 to 60 cases occurred at UTRGV or in the last year. Jones also was quoted as saying, “I’ve gone with a male to report assault to the police, when they were ridiculed and laughed at.” Jones was not referring to University Police.

“I still think about it, even now. It’s always in the back of my head. I always tell myself there was nothing I could do, but then it’s led to this spiral of depression,” “Ash” said.

“This happened when I was a sophomore in high school, and for the past, like, six years, I’ve been avoiding it, but at times it snips at my heels, so I just got to keep running.”

“Ash” is not her real name to ensure the protection of her identity.

“My trust in them completely vanished in that moment. I no longer wanted to hang with them. And I didn’t for a long time.”

“I’m OK talking about it now, and I don’t let it control me or my emotions.”

Sexual assault is a “taboo subject” that has plagued people across the world, but some of these individuals often stay silent, whether out of “fear,” “confusion” or “a mix of negative emotions” from this terrible crime, making this issue seem less severe than it actually is. This month, awareness of this prevalent problem will be spread throughout the university with a variety of events.

Cynthia Jones, a philosophy professor and director of the Office for Victim Advocacy and Violence Prevention, said bringing awareness to the reality of what sexual assault is, especially to college students, is important. She said during this month, OVAVP will host several events to help spread awareness of sexual assault to both campuses.

“We’re doing a consent event on [the Edinburg] campus on the 18th of April. … It’s just an event to discuss what counts as consent,” Jones said. “We’re doing a color run on the Brownsville campus on the 25th. We’re also doing something called Denim Day, and that’s an international event and it’s the day before [24th] on both campuses.”

She said the definition of sexual assault, according to any university, includes rape, attempted rape, forcible fondling, incest and statutory rape. But, Texas law defines it “explicitly as rape, so if there’s no penetration, there’s no sexual assault.”

“States get to determine what counts as sexual assault although when they do things like uniform crime reporting in the police report, they’re supposed to report according to the federal definition, which is the broader definition,” Jones said.

According to the Annual Security and Fire Safety Report 2018, only 11 reports of sexual assault using the broader definition were reported in the span of three years at the university. However, the number reported to the OVAVP office was significantly higher.

As reported by the National Sexual Violence Resource Center (NSVRC), “more than 90 [percent] of sexual assault victims on college campuses do not report the assault.”

“If I had to guess, I’d say we probably saw between 50 and 60 cases of sexual assault last academic year,” Jones said. “That’s roughly a norm.”

She said although all 50 to 60 have come in, not all of them may have been assaulted in the last year, a few probably recalling past trauma and seeking support.

“We’re here to make sure people have the resources that they need and to provide people with support, whether or not they want to report,” Jones said.

She said the numbers for sexual assault are “massively underreported,” even more so for men.

“Men can be sexually assaulted, they’re less likely to, but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t happen,” she said. “They face some very significant barriers to reporting. I’ve gone with a male to report assault to the police, when they were ridiculed and laughed at.”

University Police Chief Raul Munguia recommends staying in groups if traveling at night, asking for a safe walk where campus police escort you back to your dorms, being aware of your surroundings, utilizing the CampusShield app, and watching for behaviors to try to prevent assault from happening.

He referenced the recent timely warning emailed to the campus community last Thursday, concerning the most recently reported sexual assault, which listed several “behaviors” to watch out for, such as “controlling behavior,” “ignoring personal limits” and several others.

The warning stated that a student reported she was assaulted last fall by her ex-boyfriend in her dorm room.

“Ninety percent of women of college age who are sexually assaulted are assaulted by someone they know,” Jones said. “So, we’re all taught to fear strangers lurking in bushes, which is fine. Don’t trust strangers who are lurking in your bushes, by the way, but the reality is that most people are sexually assaulted by someone they know. Numbers are a little bit lower in the general community, but it’s still like 80-something percent. For children, it’s even higher, like 95 percent, I think.”

“Typically, sexual assaults are serial-like crimes where you have one victim, more than likely there’s going to be more somewhere and so my advice is to participate,” Munguia said. “You don’t have to be the one that goes to court. There may be someone else that is willing to do so. … Everyone has their way of recovering.”

He said the police department also makes sure that the survivor gets in touch with a victim’s advocate to explain to them their resources, and the types of aftereffects they may suffer from, such as fear, insomnia and depression.

“It’s all about getting the survivor to get back to as normal a life as possible,” Munguia said. “We learn to pick up the pieces and move on and have a happy life.”