The target ages for sexual assault victims are 18 to 24, an age range which includes most of the OU female student population.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, rape runs rampant on college campuses across the nation. Knowing this is an issue, what policies does OU have in place to help you out if you are OU’s next sexual assault victim? Woefully inadequate ones that do not work in favor of the victim.
Believe me, I know from experience.
As a survivor of rape, the healing process is an extremely lengthy one. Dealing with and moving on from the physical, emotional and mental trauma involved with rape is not an easy road.
Factor in that the rapist is a student and I constantly wonder when and where I am going to see him next. All of these factors are what made me decide to look into what policies the school has to offer students.
I was raped in January 2010 at a fraternity party.
This created some serious issues for me. It took me until May to decide I wanted to file a report. The OU Police Department was great working with me, taking my report and officers told me if I decided I wanted to press charges, I could come back at any time and do so.
However, the thought of pressing charges and going through everything involved with it, including confronting my perpetrator, was absolutely horrifying.
Since then, I have continued counseling and in December, I decided to contact OUPD again and see what my options would be for pressing charges and what all would be involved.
The officer called Student Affairs and when OUPD called me back, the department regrettably informed me that OU has a 30-day statute of limitations in the Student Code of Conduct. This means I would have had to make this decision 30 days after I filed the report.
Do you see the problems here?
First, OUPD needs to brush up on the policies it is supposed to be enforcing. The officers should have told me the day I reported that I had 30 school days from that point on to decide if I wanted to press charges. That never happened.
Second, consider this: 30 days. That is absolutely nothing in the spectrum of time it takes for a survivor of sexual assault to heal and be okay with making such a decision.
I think even if the department had done its job and properly informed me, I would have decided against it because I was so mortified by the thought. I had it in my mind that I would have been fighting all of the Greek community if I filed charges against one of its members. Seven months after reporting, I was feeling stronger in exploring options for filing charges. There’s a drastic difference in 30 days and seven months.
This statute is reasonable when it comes to vandalism, theft or getting caught with alcohol — none of which have the same traumatic affects on a person that sexual assault have.
Unfortunately, all of these things are covered under this same statute. The statute needs to be amended and have a policy included for sexual misconduct situations and the statute needs to be extended to a reasonable amount of time for victims to recover before forcing them to act.
The university needs to stop brushing sexual assault under the rug and saying it is not a university issue. When you have students raping students, it is a university issue. Especially when rapists are still walking campus and able to continually rape fellow students if they choose to do so.
Having such a short statute for this issue causes under reporting, something reflected in the university’s incredulous campus crime statistics (10 total sex offenses are reported to have occurred between 2006 and 2008).
These policy failures allow for rapists to go free. They can continually screw up women’s lives while they repeatedly get what they want and move on.
This policy is not all right and needs to be addressed.
— Jordan Ward, social sciences and women and gender studies sophomore
The Oklahoma Daily is pleased to provide you the opportunity to share your thoughts about this article. We encourage lively debate on the issues of the day, but we ask you refrain from using profanity or other offensive speech, engaging in personal attacks or name-calling, posting advertising, or straying from the topic at hand. To comment, you must be a registered user of OUDaily.com. Thanks for taking the time to offer your thoughts.
You must be logged in to leave a comment. Log in | Register
DancingTableLeg 1 year, 3 months ago
Huge kudos to the writer for discussing her dilemma in the public forum. If OU heeds her call (it will be an outrage if it doesn't) then she will have helped many other women by saying what was probably very difficult to say.
Major props, Jordan. I don't know you, but you have my profound respect for this. Hopefully this also inspires other girls in this predicament.
Aphrodisiac 1 year, 3 months ago
It was very brave of you to write this article. However, I understand the 30 days limitation. If I am interpreting it correctly, it is meant to keep women from ex post facto filing rape charges against someone who never assaulted them.
It happens horribly often, as I'm sure you know. Guy breaks up with girl; girl gets mad at guy; girl files rape charges. It's very difficult to judge the time frame here; one must balance between keeping men from being unjustly accused and convicted (which happens) and women taking time to come to terms with their situation (which also happens).
The heads of OUPD definitely need to ensure that all officers inform victims of this 30 day limitation, and encourage them to write a report and press charges.
Thank you for having the courage to write this.
dargus 1 year, 3 months ago
I can't say I fully understand the suffering that comes with being raped, but I do understand it is horrible. However, how does one go about proving a rape occurred more than 30 days after? I'm amazed it is the time of the report that starts the statute of limitations clock. Rapists are terrible people, but not everyone accused of a rape is a rapist. Don't the accused also have rights in our system of laws?
I agree the police should have informed you of the policy, but I'm not sure I disagree with it.
jmstamand 1 year, 3 months ago
30 days? That made my stomach drop. And setting a 30-day limit for pressing charges without telling you there was a time limit is even worse.
Jwer 1 year, 3 months ago
The statute of limitations for rape in Oklahoma is 12 years. I would argue that the limited scope of OUPD makes a limited SoL make sense to me. A lot could happen in 30 days, 7 months, or 12 years especially in the life of a student. (The part where I openly admit I don't know how much jurisdiction OUPD actually has) If it weren't a student would OUPD have the same jurisdiction? If the assailant was formerly a student but isn't anymore? 30 days seems pretty short, but I also don't think that OUPD should necessarily be the ones to deal with this in the long term. I don't argue that rape isn't a university issue, I'm just not entirely sure they are the best equipped to handle the prosecution side. Also, what is a "reasonable time"? I would argue that there is no reasonable amount of time after which it's ok to tell a victim of sexual assault that they can't pursue justice for a reported crime.
okiebiker 1 year, 3 months ago
The university has a stand alone, Sexual Harassment/Sexual Assault policy that is applicable to unwelcome sexual behavior including sexual harassment, sexual assault and rape. Complaints under this policy are investigated by the OU Office of Equal Opportunity under the provisions of the Grievance Procedure for Equal Opportunity in cooperation with the OUPD. Complainants have 180 days to file complaints under the provisions of the EO Grievance Procedure.
Jerry Jensen, Senior University Equal Opportunity Officer
JenniferC 1 year, 3 months ago
It's obvious some myth busting needs to happen:
Comprehensive report on why it might take victims some time to go to law enforcement http://www.ndaa.org/pdf/pub_victim_responses_sexual_assault.pdf
Bureau of Justice statistics on sexual assault http://bjs.ojp.usdoj.gov/content/pub/pdf/rsarp00.pdf
And this is pretty widespread, but the FBI estimates that between 2-8% of all reports of are false. So let's take caution before we throw around comments that false reports are such a huge problem that they'll have a discernible impact on how we structure policy.
GeorgiaGirl 1 year, 3 months ago
Yes, get rid of the Statutes! Here's a story of a woman who "didn't tell" anyone for 44 years: www.georgia-tech-rape-victim2.blogspo...>
That_guy 1 year, 3 months ago
Why would you put your name on this article? If you really just want to raise awareness of this policy, does it matter who it happened to? Sounds like someone's looking for publicity to me...trying to be the next Brooke Myers?
MichaelC 1 year, 3 months ago
With all due respect, why exactly did you report this terrible crime without pressing charges originally? It just seems like that is the logical 2nd statement after arriving at the police station.
lasercats 1 year, 3 months ago
Saying that the 30 day statute of limitations is justified to prevent unlawful pressing of charges is ridiculous and demeaning to rape victims. It rarely happens and does not need to be the exception to prove the rule. This is obviously all a game to reduce the number of police reports per year, thus making the school seem safer than it is.
mustafa 1 year, 3 months ago
“When you have students raping students, it is a university issue”>
It is more than that! Is a matter for the Cleveland County District Attorney? Did you file a complaint with the Norman Police? Did you have a rape kit performed? If not, why not?
How is it that this "rape” was serious enough to bring to the attention of the University but not to state authorities?
You story is rather long on drama but short on details. Did he use a drug ? Were you tied up? Was there violence or the threat of violence? Has the male student involved been notified that he has been accused of rape?
If you filed a complaint with OUPD they would have given you a case number and assigned and investigator. When any female complains to the OUPD that they were so much as sexually harassed (let alone raped) by a student or staff member, the OUPD gets on that person immediately. If they did not do that, you should say so.
Could it be that the reason you don’t want to pursue this further is because you realize you would become the object of criticism and derision for being a flake?
The Women’s Studies Department gets to highlight in the Daily at least one pet issue each semester. Last semester it was domestic violence this semester it appears to be rape. Can you even prove that your story isn’t a tissue of lies, told so you can prove you metal and give the department an opportunity for a “teachable moment?’
Did you tell your parents back in Heath, TX that you were raped at OU? Perhaps we should call them up and demand to know what they’re thinkin’; allowing their daughter to return to a school where she was brutally raped. Would that be OK with you?
MrSmith 1 year, 3 months ago
You mean that the OU Student Conduct Office has a 30 days limit from the time of the incident on filing a charge through their office.
If you are seeking a criminal charge through the Cleveland County District Attorney's Office you should contact OUPD if the assault happened in OUPD's jurisdiction or Norman PD if the assault happend in Norman PD's jurisdiction.
OUPD only has jurisdiction to investigate a crime on the property of the University of Oklahoma. If the fraternity is located on university property OUPD would have the jursidiction, if the fraternity was located in the City of Norman, then you need to report the crime to the Norman Police Department. Either way you will need to request a criminal charge be presented to the Cleveand County District Attorney's office after the investigation is completed.
OUPD is not to blame for the Student Conduct Office's rules in filing a charge against a student in the university's disipline system.
kdbp1213 1 year, 2 months ago
if OUPD drags it's feet, go to Norman PD, to Cleveland County Sheriff's office. duh???
cjmays 1 year, 2 months ago
Jordan, I love and support you all the way. I KNOW personally, that your not after publicity, I KNOW that you are working diligently to ensure that other young ladies dont experience that same horrible event.
All of you who disagree with Jordan or blow this off, because she wasnt able to pull herself together immediately after her assault, are sick and pathetic.
JUSTICE FOR JORDAN!
JUSTICE FOR JORDAN!
MissPeaSoup 1 year, 2 months ago
Oh Mustafa, you adorable thing. Do you even go to OU? Are you some uber amazing guy that sits and monitors The Daily from his studio apartment while watching all those 'sluts and bitches' walk by on campus corner? You really are a nice guy, I can tell. Why don't those whores like you? They are stuck up, that's why. They really should just give you a chance. Imagine all the things you could show a girl, all the potential you have! The dinners of El Patio burritos, watching you masturbate to snuff films, the amount of pubic hair on your bar of soap, your vast dollhead collection. Im sure you'll find a true honorable lady one day. I pray that you do.